Goodreads is one of the most iconic and well-known apps for readers and writers alike. Having been around for almost 20 years, the app has built a community for readers to track their books and see what their friends are reading as well. Personally, I’ve been using the app to log all of my reading journeys since 2021, and I don’t think I would ever replace it.
There’s just something about the simplicity of the app that does it like no other. Because it’s been around for so long, it’s garnered one of the biggest followings for a reading community that’s really hard to break once you’ve been using it for so long. I can absolutely attest to this as I’ve got almost 800 books logged into my account, whether they are books I have read or want to read, all categorized in two simple lists. I’m on the simpler end of the Goodreads User Spectrum; however, I have friends who have been on the app for years as well, with thousands of books logged into multiple lists. It is such a database on one app, and I can’t imagine having to start over or move it all to another app. Believe me, I’ve tried; it’s such a pain.
Don’t get me wrong, I have tried so many reading apps that have better aesthetics or fun features that I really love when it comes to tracking my reading habits. One app I tried a while ago gave so many stats for my reading, like page count, a genre pie graph, and more, and while I thought those were fun to know, they weren’t necessary when I was just trying to keep track of what I read and what I rated it.
After many tries with different apps, I realized that for my personal experience in tracking books, I wanted something simple that I don’t have to think about. For some reason, I often fall off those apps–they become a little too complicated for me, or I realize that not many others know about the app, so I can’t talk about it with others. I love talking about books to the people in my life, and especially the goals I make for myself and set on the apps I use, but when others don’t know the reading apps, it makes the conversations just a little less fun.
Are there some things I wish Goodreads would update? Duh, it’s an old app. But truthfully, I love the little quotes that it puts on the loading screen when you first open the app, and I love how there’s years worth of reviews from other readers on every book you can look at, so what more can I ask for? Plus, for me, a lot of my favorite authors are pretty active on Goodreads, so it makes things a lot easier when keeping track of whatever new book they have coming out next.
Just this feeling of community and nostalgia that the app comes with draws me back in every time. I will always be open-minded about new reading apps, trying to find the best one for me and my reading habits, but the simplicity of Goodreads is enough for me.