This honestly isn’t a problem for me, my enjoyment in the books I read doesn’t change just because I track them/don’t track them.

>The issue with Goodreads is that it makes reading an achievement.

Nobody forces you to use that feature.

Goodreads has wonderful recommandations and great book lists. The website is worth it just for that.

But I use Goodreads exactly to have the achievements D: it feels good to add books, stockpile them in your big digital library and than neatly add by years when you read. And bonus point - it does not take physical space. So basically it’s a matter of preference. You don’t need to use this feature.

I use Goodreads and I don't share your experiences. I use it to log the books that I read so I can remember what I have read. I also use it to read reviews for books I'm interested in. I probably only log in once every few weeks.

In my opinion, reading becoming a contest for achievement goes well beyond Goodreads. I see it on this subreddit and other forms of social media where reading has turned into a lifestyle of buying books just to have a library, reading X amount of books a year, etc..

At the end of the day, I think it is personal to everyone and I'm glad you've realized that Goodreads is causing you to view reading as something you do to cross something off a list.

I stopped using it because I was too lazy to bother lol

Great insight. Feel like I’m racing to finish books just so I can claim I’ve read it

What you are describing feels more like a problem with your use of Goodreads, rather than the website itself. There are other, much bigger, problems with Goodreads: the reviews are hit-or-miss, the community is very biased towards certain authors and genres, Amazon owns it, and some of its key features (keeping track of books, book recommendations, book lists) are mediocre at best.

The only thing for which I find Goodreads useful nowadays is searching books to find their synopsis, page count and ISBN. If you are looking for a better website to keep track of your books, try Libib. It's far from perfect but it allows you to keep track of your books, has a decent UI, is not owned by Amazon and has no public review system (which I see as a pro, rather than a con). Unfortunately, it doesn't do book recommendations.

I don't use goodreads because I deeply don't need my high school classmates go see all my gang bang gay romance novels.

It has reviews which are sometimes okay, a rating system I totally ignore, and if I read you correctly, a piechart thingy that I didn't know existed (and I'm not going to look for it).

If it had a much simpler interface that did nothing but string reviews together I'd look much more often.

As anyone who has been forced to do book reports or meet a reading quota for school knows, reading should be a pleasure and not a chore. For my kids though it was mostly a complaint about having to read the stupid assigned 100 page book instead of the 500 page novel they were currently devouring...

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Totally get what you mean. During covid lockdown I made the mistake of starting a list of every book I finished. I soon caught myself favouring shorter books to help me meet my arbitrary target for the year. Stopped the list and am much happier. The human brain is an idiot.

I use goodreads to get reviews before I read books as we all have limited time. I feel that if I’m going to use it, I should contribute as well.

As someone with three very time-consuming hobbies...I love that Goodreads helps keep me reading even when I'd rather be playing my video games or doing my stitching.

I <3 Goodreads. I use it all the time.

Hey OP, I hear you. I stopped doing a yearly reading challenge for similar reasons a few years ago. I still sometimes give myself a hard time because I haven't read as many books as my ego thinks I should have by this time of the year. I also do not love how every time I finish a book I get excited to mark it as "Read" on the website and that is sometimes what motivates me to keep reading a book. I just want to get back to the feeling I had as a kid where I loved reading because it was simply enjoyable and not something to track. That said, I don't know what else to do because I love the social aspect of it and it is my only social media other than reddit.

It keeps me on track to read as much as I can ; when I want to listen to a mindless podcast I crank out a chapter or two on audio , I go back and forth between audio and kindle on most books I read. But not afraid to say F off to a book I hate. I was close with The Troop but I trudged onward in Halloween spirit

hehe I stopped because I was sick of people I disliked stalking what I read, so I switched to storygraph instead because I enjoy the statistics.

I use Goodreads because a friend does, and it reduces the “what was that book again??” problem. If it’s stressing you, don’t use it.

Before I started using Goodreads I once purchased the same book three times because I didn’t remember that I had already read it until I started reading it.

I use it just as wishlist in steam, nothing with achievement

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I really only use Goodreads to keep a list of ‘to read’ books

I got it because it was easier than writing down all the books in a notebook but whenever friends want to do those competitions or how many books etc I always say no like why would you do that, it would just take the joy out if reading. especially when I love rereading but obviously that doesn't count in the number of books. I'm not very happy about how you said it's owned by amazon, I hope they can't look at it and send me ads or something

I've found Goodreads works pretty okay for me - the recommendations are often poor but as someone with limited physical shelf-space (and frankly a poor memory for books I've read more than a couple of months ago) being able to leave a review just to remind myself what I liked or didn't is really helpful. Plus I find the 'want-to-read' list incredibly helpful, I have over 100 books on the list and would totally forget books I'm recommended otherwise! I do get what you mean though about page counting, personally I've always been a bit of a page counter Goodreads or not, but it doesn't affect which books I choose or how fast I read them so it doesn't bother me. It's more of a 'wow, I'm really enjoying this book!" if I notice I'm reading a book faster or more frequently

I like it to see what my friends and family are reading. But what’s wrong with tracking how many books you read. Reading adds knowledge and experiences you can see that as being an achievement without it being a negative

My problem with goodreads is that I rely too much on their reviews and I could miss out on books I could actually enjoy just because I might be put off by some of the reviews. Though a lot of the negative reviews I was reading were right to be fair.

I just use it for the Reading Challenge, but I ain’t gonna beat myself up if I don’t reach my numbers, especially considering how variable lengths of books are. Like I have a few easy 200-something pagers in there but I’m also currently reading a book that’s over 1000 pages so it’s whatever. I don’t care about any of its social aspects, but I do kind of like some of the book lists people create.

It’s just an app that you can easily delete, don’t give it power over your life or hobbies.

Huh. I just look at it as a back up list. I don't think about it for months at a time, and then add the last 5-10 books and move on.

If it becomes what you're describing, that's no good, but you definitely do not need to use it that way.

I'm not a natural reader. I didn't read a book cover to cover until my mid 20s (yes I just lied my way through every book report and reading assignment through school). I read (non-fiction only) for about 2 years during my lunch breaks only because I worked out of town. This was in the pre-smartphones days.

I started reading again about 4 years ago as a mid-life crisis. With the political atmosphere in America, pundits and media were making references such as the "Orwellian times" we were living in, and I didn't get the references because I'd never read the books. I felt at my age I should be more aware, engaged and "cultured", so I started reading those books. My interest waned for about 6 months during that time, but otherwise I've been fairly avidly reading.

So, for me, given my overall lack of natural interest in reading anf historical lack of doing so, I do view each book as an accomplishment. I do look at the bookmark marching through the book with a sense of achievement. I just started using Goodreads this year to track every book I read, and I look forward to logging the accomplishment each time I finish a book.

I have no friends on goodreads so maybe that helps me keep it pretty chill on there. I have a terrible memory so my favorite feature is just keeping track of all the books I want to read.

I am thankful you posted this because I had no idea it was owned by Amazon! I try to avoid them whenever possible so I will be switching over to StoryGraph ASAP.

I use Goodreads to keep a track of the books I've read, want to read and books I've DNFd. I have set a reading challenge for myself this year for the first time and am also getting into a habit of writing reviews so that I can think and articulate better the things that I liked/disliked about a book. I mostly get my recommendations from various subreddits and mark those as 'want to read' on Goodreads. The reviews on Goodreads are a hit/miss and so is the rating system.

I don't obsess too much over updating regular progress of a book I am reading on Goodreads. Setting up a reading challenge for myself has actually helped me read more and get back into reading instead of wasting time on social media. Also, nowadays I DNF a book very quickly if it isn't working for me and move on to the next book. Doesn't make sense to me to obsessively complete a book just for stats. I add such book to my DNF shelf and add a small review as to why I DNFd it, so I can remember later.

It's all about perspective and how we use any tool/platform. If someone is obsessed over tracking progress, then that can be done through spreadsheet too, the app just makes it easier. Every app/platform is made to be as addictive as possible to make the users spend more time/money on it. It's upto us to use them judiciously to our advantage.

That's a feature of contemporary social media: measurement and reward. If happens with likes, achievements, upvotes and progress markers.

We enjoy these instantaneous and gamified tokens. And sometimes they do make the process less rewarding than the virtual token itself.

Some people don't have this problem, but if it reach the point where our reward systems are getting confused, it might be healthier to simply abandon the platform and seek less stimulating ways of tracking information, like you did.

I abandoned Instagram, for instance, and felt much better for that.

The reviews are the only problem, too many ppl who seem to make their life writing long winded "witty" type reviews. Not sure why ppl follow them or look to them whether or not to read a book I'm sure the majority like myself, simply use it to track which books they have and haven't read.

You make some very valid points and I’m glad you shared them. The only thing I’ve used GR for is to look at a few reviews here and there. I read books as though I consume a meal. I enjoy it while it lasts, and then I move on.

I like using GoodReads. Let’s me know how many books I’ve read in the past year. I add what I’m reading, which is usually 4-5 books at a time, and only go back to update that I’m done or add a new one. As far as the reading challenge, you don’t have to bother with it if you don’t want to. It’s optional.

I've always had a problem with the way Goodreads users appreciate books. The literary discourse had basically boiled down to hyperbolic praise and people listing tropes. Goodreads is ground zero for the nuclear cringe that is BookTok/Tube.

I’ve always kept track of the books I read. Goodreads allows me to do it automatically. I don’t really use it except to find out about books, read reviews, and keep a list of books I’ve read. It never feels like a race or achievement to me, just a list. I do set the challenge each year; but I set it at the rate at which I read, not in order to challenge myself to read more than normal. I don’t find the interface hard to use though, either; I find it very intuitive. I’m very word oriented so it works for me. I don’t use the community aspect of goodreads at all unless you count reading reviews.

What I do is make a list of books every time I finish them, and chuck them all into goodreads at the start of the year

If this was gachas instead of books you'd be a prime whale.

You just made me glad that I've never bothered with it.

I don't have that issue. I'm absolutely curious about how many books ive read in a year, though. I mostly use it to make sure I'm not picking up a book I've already read and to discover new books based on past books I've liked or authors I've enjoyed.

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This is the same with social media. If you're posting it, you're doing it for validation not because it is something that you appreciate.

Umm some of us have to use Goodreads because we can't remember which books we read.

I have seen it become this way for a lot of people! I think it is great that you had the self-awareness to remedy it.

I still use goodreads but I always start a book by setting my intention. Am I reading this for an escape? Is it academic? Etc that helped me a lot.

Tbh, I always forget about Goodreads until it pops up at the end of an ebook and I accidentally dismiss it. I think I'm currently "reading" like 20-odd books on there.

I use goodreads to keep count, but I am not really affected by it to the point of finishing a book being more important than the booknitself. I feel like the ratings are misleading. People can read a slog with exciting last 50 pages and they will rate it highly because the last thing they remember is that last part. I guess that's why mistborn is so popular. I admit, the endings are thrillimg but the buildup did little for me in book 2 and 3. The 1st was OK.

I get it. I found myself finishing books I don't like because I want to have one more "read' book. I think it's good that you are setting boundaries and rethinking websites that don't serve you. After all, the point is to read for enjoyment, anything less is less important.

Holy shit, you probably need some therapy.

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