I’m seeing people disparaging the social aspect of Goodreads and inferring competitiveness and I’m finding it a little nasty. It’s not as if people who do use reading social media (cough, cough) mock those who aren’t tracking their books.
As for the social aspect…. If you can identify people whose reading tastes are akin to yours, that’s a good thing. If they recommend a book you can expect to like it and if they pan a book, you know to give it a miss. That’s a win.
As for competitiveness, I’m not aware of people in a race with others; goals are just a tool to get more out of your reading. I personally at the end of the year like to think I’ve developed a mild competency in a particular subject or two; at a minimum, goals encourage me to engage a little more with challenging books. If this be competitiveness, make the most of it.
I’m feeling judginess here, to the extent that I think some might try to remove the motes from their own eyes. The Goodreads trackers are just getting on with their reading.
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