Happy Sunday lovelies! Today I’m brining you a special and fantastical surprise! And no, it is not. I repeat! It is NOT a unicorn.
Yes, I’m sure I just broke your heart a little, but unicorns are slippery little devil’s and I’m too out of shape for all that mess. But! What I am bringing you today is still pretty awesome.
So I’m sure you have all heard about the Goodreads debacle. I’m not going to get into that, because I can just sense the trolls. Just know:
- I think Goodreads have lost their damn minds
- I DO NOT support their new TOS
- I think it is utter B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T!
Now that we have those facts out of the way, I’m here to show you a few “alternatives” to Goodreads!
100% Just Like Goodreads Alternatives!
I’ve seen many of you yearning and itching for something that is JUST like Goodreads but not them for obvious reasons. I’ve watched you google. I’ve heard your cries of outrage, and today I am going to help you with your 100%, just like Goodreads alternative! Are you ready? Are you sure?? Ok, here it is….
IT DOESN’T EXIST!
Ut oh! Somebody has a frowny face! Look, I know how you feel. You want something that is as easy to use as Goodreads, has a community as large as Goodreads and of course has the vast library that Goodreads has, but that isn’t Goodreads since they’re douchebags. But sweetheart IT DOES NOT EXIST! In fact, when looking for an “alternative”, try using that term loosely. Otherwise you’re just going to be super disappointed and I’m going to have to dig into my stash of Despicable Me gifs.
On to the “alternatives”!
Cool Communities!
If your favorite and most coveted thing about Goodreads was the community, then there are a few different bookish sites out there that may help you in that department!
Like all the sites in this post LibraryThing has it’s pros and cons.
Pro
- The community is HUGE! I browsed a few of the threads, groups and various tags and I can definitely see that there is a large LibraryThing fan base.
- It lets you organize and edit down to the very last detail.
- Starting a new thread/group is just as easy as Goodreads
Cons
- It is U-G-L-Y. Yes this has nothing to do with the community, BUT! I like pretty things, so there.
- All the customizing/organizing is a bit overwhelming and intimidating.
- There is a 100 book limit! Or unlimited books for a one time lifetime fee of 25 bucks. O_O
Pros
- Since the debacle the community has grown…A LOT!
- Thanks to the tumblr-ish reblog feature you’re introduced to even more awesome bookish people.
- Everyone seems to be pretty mellow, which is always a plus in any community!
Cons
- There are no “groups” for you to join
- It is still growing, which means there isn’t as much content to interact with at this point.
Easy to Navigate!
When I first joined that other site, I was blown away by how easy it was to use! How clean it looked! And those are things I thought of with this search.
Pros
- It’s PRETTY!! Oh my gosh it’s pretty!
- All the details you could want, go on ONE page comfortably! It’s never an overwhelming experience.
- Navigating around the site is very common sense based. Just scroll through the page and tada!
- There are list! And samples!
Cons
- Bookish is geared more towards helping you find your next great read, so there isn’t much of a community.
- For them to be so focused on recommending books they aren’t that good at it.
- The list and samples aren’t mind blowing, but they are still relatively good list.
- Any review you post goes “under moderation” before being posted. Poop to that!
Pros
- They changed that stupid “sign in with twitter or Facebook” ONLY mess
- It has a very clean design, making navigating so easy!
- There are list! Made by MEMBERS! Yay for coming together!
- You can take and send bookish notes! It’s like middle school! Only with the internet…and BOOKS!
Cons
- The community is so small, I don’t think we can really call it a community.
- Even though I like the “clean” design, aesthetically it is pretty boring to look at. Sorry, I like pretty stuff.
Pros
- It gets no simpler than The Reading Room. Seriously. You want to browse? Hit BROWSE. Want to check out book clubs? Hit BOOK CLUBS. E-A-S-Y.
- No matter what page you’re own you can easily get to the next one with a simple click.
- Lots of free e-books, and e-ARC’s for the picking
Cons
- It has A LOT of stuff on one page. Three columns worth of stuff.
- A lot of the ARC’s are indie, which I’m not against, but I’ve never heard of most of them. So problem? Yes.
- For them to claim they’re “home of the best book reviews” I’m not impressed. I’ve read enough of the reviews to have my face permanently stuck like this:
And I’m not saying I write the best reviews ever. I’ve even crowned myself “Typo Queen” but THERE IS A LINE!
Moving on!
BOOKS!
The thing I love most about Goodreads is it’s vast and AH-MAZING collection of books! I can search for something 20 years old and find it just as easy as the books scheduled to be released in a week! And the same can be said for books being released months (and sometimes even a year!) in advance. Sadly no other bookish site has a library as extensive and thorough as Goodreads but these two aren’t half bad.
Pros
- If it’s on Amazon (and what isn’t?) then it’s on these two
Cons
- They are BOTH owned (LT partially) by Amazon. Now that pro makes sense huh?
- They are way to complicated to be “alternatives” in my opinion.
- Shelfari automatically uses your Amazon log in stuff. I tried a different way but it kept picking up that log in info!
- I had to google how to leave a review, on both of these.
- It is a business. And it feels like a business every time I search and explore.
Community. Navigation. Books. These were the main things that came to my mind when I tried to break down why people adore goodreads so much. But I didn’t spend a week worth of research and browsing on just these aspects. Oh no I didn’t!
Supports Gifs:
Has a limit to how long a review can be:
Cost Money:
Has “import” books button:
(can take days to import but is totally worth it)
(imports quickly but ONLY imports star rating and book title. Not shelves OR reviews)
One’s that I couldn’t exit fast enough:
Even though I urge you to try a few sites on your own, may I please suggest staying the hell away from these?? Book Glutton has less than 800 books on the whole site, and not one is YA/NA/PNR/UF. BookRabbit made me think of grown up “toys” thanks to it’s name. AND it’s library was total crap!
So now the question I’m sure you scrolled all the way to the bottom for:
Which One is Right for Me?
Ah this is such a sucky and tricky question. If I push all goodreads comparisons out of my head, and focus solely on what I want in a bookish site, I think I’d say it’s a even draw between……drum roll…….
They both have issues. Booklikes has a tumblr feel that I’m just not ready for. I like that you can see more people with all the “re-blogging” and what nots, but I have a blog. I have a Facebook. I have a twitter. I have a YouTube. I even have a Tumblr. I really don’t feel like trying to keep up with another “thingy”. At the same time, it’s pretty, it’s easy and I’ve already imported all my shelves and stuff. They also have a very efficient team! We complained about it moving too slow and they added an additional server the same day! The CEO (VP? I can’t remember, opps) tweeted me about how if I needed help with this post not to hesitate with my questions. And best of all, they will only get better with time! They really are a fabulous site with a lot of amazing features, bells and whistles.
Then Bookish is all super shiny. BUT. There is no import button, there is no community really, and the main thing they’re about (recommending books) is NOT their strong point.
So….
Which One Will I be USING?
A mix between BookLikes and NOTHING! That’s right. Look, I like keeping up with what you guys are reading and vice versa but I really just can’t support Goodreads anymore, and until I find something that’s perfect for me I’ll just focus on Read. Sleep. Repeat. Pretty anti-climatic right? Well guess how I feel after 6 days of research! I spent 3-4 hours playing around with 14 bookish sites! That’s book reading time! I’ll probably take my reviews off of Goodreads and turn the profile to private until I find another way to search books by release months.
Oh and here’s a little gift for all you lovelies that didn’t read a single word but still want an answer:
