Goodreads 101

Welcome to Goodreads 101! Your introductory course into the literary platform that allows book lovers to track, rate, and review their reading escapades. In this episode, we delve into our personal shelving strategies and the star-rating systems that often leaves us pondering over the perfect score for our latest read.  Goodreads isn't just about tracking progress, it's a space that connects us through our shared love of literature, sometimes challenges us to confront diverse perspectives and welcome the occasional algorithmic surprise that shakes up our reading list!

Interested in checking out our shelves and reviews? Find us on Goodreads!
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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:10

Welcome to the Lazy Girl Library , the podcast , where reading is a pleasure and captivating adventures happen from the comfort of your couch . I'm your host , darby , and I'm Mikayla , and if you've ever spent more time rearranging your bookshelf than your priorities , then you , my friend , are in the right place . Hello , welcome to episode five . Welcome back , welcome back . We are here and we're talking about Goodreads .

Speaker 2 0:37

My favorite app .

Speaker 1 0:39

How's your how's your week been going , mikayla ? It's been pretty good .

Speaker 2 0:42

Pretty , pretty chill . Not a whole lot going on for me . How about you ?

Speaker 1 0:46

Not chill . I have a lot going on at work and will continue to have a lot going on at work for probably like the next two months . You got it , you're doing great , but definitely escaping into books and that's been helping .

Speaker 2 0:58

Love it , our favorite way to de-stress .

Speaker 1 1:01

We're so happy to have you guys back , excited for episode five . I love our book talk episodes , but these are also really fun too because I feel like in our daily lives we're not necessarily talking about bookish topics , so I really enjoy like getting into the nitty gritty .

Speaker 2 1:18

I like seeing where the discussion takes off onto , and like all the different sidetracks that we get on .

Speaker 1 1:23

I agree . Well , before we get into things , just wanted to give a quick reminder that our next book talk and book club book for April is the Nightingale by Kristen Hanna , and it's a World War II historical fiction Super popular right now .

Speaker 2 1:38

Really excited to get into this one .

Speaker 1 1:40

Give it a read if you want to join us on our next book discussion .

Welcome to Goodreads 101

Speaker 1 1:45

But in this episode we are talking about Goodreads . So welcome to Goodreads 101 . We're going to be talking about all things , goodreads .

Speaker 2 1:53

So what is it ? For those of you who don't know , how do we use it personally , our ratings and review systems , everything under the sun , anything you can think of , goodreads , this is your introduction to exactly .

Speaker 1 2:07

So , jumping straight into it , what is goodreads ?

Speaker 2 2:11

goodreads is a reading database to keep track of books you've read and books you'd like to read , as well as your friends books and others in the book community it's kind of like a library meets public forum in a way , where they have like an endless like list of books in there , but then they also have a way for like the community to interact and like have kind of like a reddit style discussion um for different groups and things .

Speaker 1 2:38

So it's a really cool , really cool application yeah , I think it's kind of like the truest book social media , or at least most popular . I don't know if there's other ones .

Speaker 2 2:48

I've seen like ads for other ones , but I haven't actually tried them because I feel like everybody's on Goodreads and so that's like where you're going to get the most action .

Speaker 1 2:55

I agree . Something that we found that was pretty neat was this message from the co-founder , otis Chandler , he says . Was this message from the co-founder , otis Chandler , he says when I was in second grade , I discovered the Hardy Boys series . Ever since , I've loved to read , both for fun and to improve my mind , and I'm always looking for the next great book . One afternoon , while I was scanning a friend's bookshelf for ideas , it struck me when I want to know what books to read , I'd rather turn to a friend than any random person or bestseller list . When I want to know what books to read , I'd rather turn to a friend than any random person or bestseller list . So I decided to build a website , a place where I could see my friends' bookshelves and learn about what they thought of all their books .

Speaker 1 3:34

Elizabeth , my co-founder , and now my wife , wrote the site copy and I wrote the code . We started in my living room , motivated by the belief that there was a better way to discover and discuss good books and that we could build it . Goodreads is that site . It is a place where you can see what your friends are reading and vice versa . You can create bookshelves to organize what you've read or want to read , you can comment on each other's reviews , you can find your next favorite book and , on this journey with your friends , you can explore new territory , gather information and expand your mind . Knowledge is power , and power is best shared among readers .

Speaker 2 4:12

Love that .

Speaker 1 4:13

That's so cute .

Speaker 2 4:13

It is . I think it really encompasses what Goodreads is and how it is . It's what you make of it and what you want to get out of it , and it's what you get out of it .

Speaker 1 4:23

Yeah , while reading it I was like like that's exactly why I use it . Yeah , also , I love that . That's how he met his wife , right , the fact that it's their own romance story happening , that's true . Involved with books .

Speaker 2 4:38

They should write like a book on their lives .

Speaker 1 4:41

Yeah , maybe like a novella or something like that , because I'm sure people would love to read that . Yeah , oh , cute Love . We love you , otis and Elizabeth .

Speaker 2 4:51

Thanks for this amazing application . We love you yeah .

Speaker 1 4:55

So do you use Goodreads ?

Speaker 2 4:57

Oh yeah .

Speaker 2 4:57

Like Otis , uses Goodreads I do

Personal Uses of Goodreads

Speaker 2 5:05

so how I use Goodreads , despite it like being a niche kind of like category , because it's like all for books and for readers . There's like so many different ways to use the platform , which I love , and I haven't even dove into like half of what you can do on the app . But personally , as of right now , I use it mainly to keep track of like what books I'm reading , what I want to read . I keep up with like what my friends are reading . I'll go on and scroll the feed to see what people are up to and how far they are in their books . Occasionally I'll find like books that interest me by scrolling through the different articles they put out . So it's like what's new in you know the fiction world kind of thing , because they put together those little like what to read next , or even like the recommendations that they'll send you . It like you like this book , so maybe you might like this book . I like the recommendations , yeah , so I'll use it for that sometimes too .

Speaker 2 5:49

But it also gets dangerous because that leads to the endless tbr . Hey , y'all future michaela here just wanted to pop in really quick and explain what a tbr is . So tbr stands for to be read . So when you hear us a TBR , we're talking about all the books on our list that we want to read in the future . Now back to the podcast . But your TBR is a little long , michaela . It's ridiculous . Let's be honest , it's insane .

Speaker 1 6:16

It's funny because I feel like it really shows our two different personalities . Mine , I feel like mine is so long and I think I have like maybe 30 books or something on there .

Speaker 2 6:23

Yours is like it's like a normal bookshelf on my Goodreads versus like my TBR . It's like 300 books and it's so ridiculous .

Speaker 1 6:33

I want to read more than 30 books , but I'm not . I don't know . I try not to seek them out as much , because then I'll like I want to read this right now , but it's like I wanted to read other books right now .

Speaker 2 6:42

Well , that's why I had to stop scrolling Goodreads , because when I first discovered Goodreads funny story , I found Goodreads on like what there was I don't even remember if it was like TikTok or just like on whatever Google ad or something like that and I texted Darby . I was like Darby . I found this new amazing app . I can track of all of our books . Have you heard of Goodreads track ?

Speaker 1 7:04

of all of our books have you ?

Speaker 2 7:04

heard of goodreads and she's like yeah , michelle , it's been around for forever , but it was new to me and so I thought I was new to everybody . Um , so that when I so yeah , when I first like got onto it , I was like amazed by this thing . And that's where , honestly , all of most of my tbr came from is from the very beginning , where it just like I kept finding new books and like I'm like that sounds good .

Speaker 1 7:25

I have access to all the books .

Speaker 2 7:27

Exactly . Well , because their database is so huge . And so I was like I want that book , I want to read that book , I want to read that book , kind of thing , and it's like the endless doom scrolling of it all and then before you know it , it's like 300 plus pages . Now I don't scroll as much and I try to avoid the recommendations because my TBR is too long right now . So the only time I'll add to it is if I do come across like a book that I really like , think I would really like to read on like Instagram or something like that , then I'll go and add it on there . But I don't scroll and purposely go look for them . It's just more like keeping track . When I do come across something now , then I'll throw it in there .

Speaker 1 8:06

And it's funny because sometimes , like , I feel like I need to go through my TBR and take off some stuff , because sometimes I read it really quickly or read a friend's review and I'm like , oh , let me read that , but then I'll like go back and read the description . I'm like , oh no , I don't want to read this .

Speaker 2 8:21

Yeah , oh no , mine definitely needs some auditing there . I don't want to read this . Yeah , oh no , mine definitely needs some auditing there . But that's something for another time . Yeah .

Speaker 1 8:27

I use it pretty similar to you , I definitely mainly use it to keep track of the books that I've read or I'm currently reading . I don't know if this is crazy , but sometimes I use it as a bookmark . That is crazy , Because you know how you can update like what page you're on .

Speaker 2 8:48

Literally the because you know , how you can update like what page you're on literally the last book I read , I would just have the page . You just close a book without anything in it and you'd go back and find , yeah , oh my god , which I don't normally do . That but it makes sense , like it's a good and I have plenty of book , like um bookmarks .

Speaker 1 8:59

Yes , I have plenty of bookmarks , so it's not like I can't use one or find one , but for some reason I just find myself being like let me just type it in real quick and then close my book it is .

Speaker 2 9:09

It's a good safety because , like , even if you do have a bookmark , if something happens , falls out , whatever , then you have like because so it makes sense .

Speaker 1 9:15

But like for me to think about not putting in my bookmark , I'm like , oh my gosh , I do like double check , like I'll refresh it , and then go back in to like make sure my number's there , like of the page , because I'm like what if it's like doesn't save ? And then I go to my last page then I'm like , oh , I'm so lost , but , knock on wood , that hasn't happened yet , wow . And then I definitely use it to get book recommendations from friends and to see like their point of views of books , because very similar to co-founder Otis , because very similar to co-founder Otis . I don't love book talk sometimes , especially because I think a lot of them well , I don't like generalize , but sometimes I feel like a lot of them can just be like all smut and spice yeah story absolutely , and I'm kind of like over that .

Speaker 1 9:57

So not that I don't love good smut or spice , but just that's just not all . I want to read all the time , every time , a full book of it , um . So I definitely like to use it to see what my friends are reading , because a lot of them also are not wanting to just read straight up spice right .

Speaker 2 10:16

Yeah , I feel like book talk and like , just like the book . Instagram world is like a topic in and of itself that we should dive into sometime , because that it is . It's uh , it's taken over . I feel like at least my social media is .

Speaker 1 10:29

I get a lot of it , but I feel like it's become like a really popular thing and it because of all the spicy books and then it's also making like all of our guy friends think that we're not reading like nice books , like they think we're just like getting after it , you know , and I'm like , no , we're reading like this is a historical book , leave me alone .

Speaker 2 10:48

It's about world war ii .

Speaker 1 10:51

You should appreciate that , yeah it's war , so that also I'm like , it's not it is .

Speaker 2 10:58

It's created almost like a stigma for girls that are reading right now too , because it's what everybody thinks that we're reading , which maybe sometimes but I mean , and a lot of times like there definitely is spice in a lot of the books that I read , like when we talk about pearls and returns .

Speaker 1 11:12

Both of them are definitely spicy books , um , or have some in it . So , yeah , it's not that I don't like it , but I just don't need it to be like the whole thing oh , yeah , yeah , it becomes too much , and I know I totally agree .

Speaker 2 11:24

Yeah , a topic for another time .

Speaker 1 11:26

Anywho , back to Goodreads .

Goodreads Shelving System

Speaker 1 11:29

So I know the answer to this , but our listeners don't . Shelves Do you create your own shelves ? Do you have a sorting system , or do you just use what's ?

Speaker 2 11:38

pre-existing . Oh no , I create my own .

Speaker 2 11:40

I personally am that person that I have very minimal folders on my desktop for my computer because I'm a folders within folders within folders type of person . So you best believe that I am creating all these different bookshelves to organize all of my books on Goodreads . I love that , I thrive in that situation , but I do things like I've created some of the folders that I've created . It's like for my do not finish books , books that I'm listening to on audio , because I feel like even though you're still reading the book , it's different than reading the book . So I like to separate those out . I have our Lazy Girl Library books on there , so for anybody going back and listening you want to read some of our books .

Speaker 1 12:20

I don't . Don't look at mine , look at Michaela's .

Speaker 2 12:23

I have them all listed there for you , so feel free to go and check those out . I keep my five-star reads , just things like that . My favorite , though , that I have is I call it my Q shelf , and it's for those books that I've already purchased . So I own them , but I haven't read them yet , oh , cute . So instead of going to my TBR first , I'll go there to try to figure out what ready to go exactly which ones I already have , because I have too many and I need to start going through them yeah , so that is funny .

Speaker 1 12:50

Not surprising at all , I think . Um similar to our personalities . I don't have any shelves , I just use what's there . I tried to make one shelf and then I got confused and then I never did it again so I don't know if the shelf even still exists . I don't have to delete a shelf . But yeah , no , I just use what's pre-existing .

Speaker 2 13:10

The ones that they have , though , are like good existing books or like shelves .

Speaker 1 13:14

Yeah , Cause I think it's just currently reading , read and then like want to read yeah , that's kind of all I need .

Speaker 2 13:23

It is all you need .

Speaker 1 13:23

It's a good starting point it would be cute to like categorize them like fantasy , but I think because I'm , like , mainly a physical book person and not necessarily , like I do listen to audiobooks and I'm starting to listen to them more now but I am mainly like a paperback girly so I feel like I could just do that on my personal bookshelf of like okay , these are my fantasy ones , here are my favorites , here are ones that I'm trying to give away because I didn't like no , I get that and it doesn't necessarily take them away from other bookshelves too , so , like you're always going to have those books in the preset bookshelves that goodreads gives you , it's almost more like tagging the books , yeah , so that way it's easier to go back and find things .

Speaker 2 14:04

Um , in which I know some people that are like get super detailed and all of theirs where they like , separate it through tropes and different things . I'm like that's a little too excessive for me personally , because I know I'm never gonna go back and try to figure that out , but I do like to add the different categories to go back .

Speaker 1 14:20

Or if anybody else is like looking on my Goodreads , then there's a little shortcut to like find what I do think having a shortcut would be nice , because sometimes I do go back to see like , oh , did I read this book when , like in high school , or when did I read this book ? Or oh , let me share this book with a friend who was the author . And then sometimes I have to scroll and I'm like , where is it ?

Speaker 2 14:41

Right .

Speaker 1 14:41

So I was going to say maybe I'll try again , but I won't try . Okay , it's a fun thought , but I don't think I'll get into it . I'll give you my Goodreads .

How We Rate and Review Books

Speaker 1 14:58

And I will gladly do it because I get so much joy from it . How do you rate and review ? On Goodreads though ? Yeah , we kind of talked about this before on a previous uh episode , but basically my newer writing scale , so my goodreads , is a little skewed for some of the older books , because I have had goodreads since middle school .

Speaker 1 15:14

Um , I brand new out , I used it a little bit in middle school and then barely in high school and I just kind of dropped it , but then once we got back into books , then I was like she's coming back . So I think I have a lot of five stars that aren't actually five stars . But with my new , more regimented system , my five stars are like the best of the best . Nothing can compare . You can't touch it . Like I loved it . So , so , so , so much . Like even if someone pointed out a valid reason to not like the book , it wouldn't affect me because it's just like it was perfect for me . Four it was a great book . I really enjoyed it . I would still recommend it to friends . Like it was definitely good . Like I really , really liked it .

Speaker 1 16:00

Three is like a solid book . I liked it , or I liked most of it , but I wouldn't want to be recommended a ton of those books again . Or it's just like a book for every once in a while , like I can't read those all the times , but they're still good books , right . And then a two . Sometimes I can still kind of like them , but I'm mostly like eh , this isn't really for me . I don't want to read this again . It was hard for me to finish . And then a one is like please don't ever let me see the side of this cover again .

Speaker 1 16:33

This was awful . I'm scarred . I'm traumatized .

Speaker 2 16:36

Don't show me it . Do you ever go back and like change your ratings for books ?

Speaker 1 16:41

Or is it like set ? So I did for a couple of them , like the high school ones or the ones from middle school , but no , like the high school ones or the ones from middle school , but no , I've left most of them . Yeah , but I think that my like weirdest part of my writing skills , that like threes , are still like good books for me .

Speaker 2 16:56

And .

Speaker 1 16:56

I feel like for a lot of people that's not the case , right , but I'm trying to be more like , strict with them because they all can each have their own thing . So three is really like 50-50 . I kind of liked it , I kind of didn't like it , yeah , but .

Speaker 2 17:08

I don't . I don't ever go back Once once it's set . Even if my feelings do kind of change on the book I try to go based off of , I rate it immediately after I finish it . So whatever I'm feeling , I feel like that's the most accurate from my book .

Speaker 1 17:24

So even if I'm going back and I'm rethinking things because , like it's done , yeah well , I wouldn't do it for like that stuff , but I think more so to fit it within like my new structure , if you go back and re-read , kind of thing . Yeah or just like those initial ones , like a couple of them , but there are some of them like I don't care , like they were great books at the time , like it's fine . So how do you ? What is your rating ?

Speaker 2 17:48

I feel like I'm more lenient than you a little bit , especially with , like , my five stars , but I also am much more critical at the same time . I don't know . It's kind of paradoxical a little bit . If that's a word , I think so For my five stars . It's just like if I absolutely loved it and I came across like I finished the book and like , wow , amazing , no notes , then that's a five star , no notes you always have notes .

Speaker 2 18:11

Yeah , well , the notes come later . Let's be honest , there's never a book that I have no notes , but if I finish it immediately , I'm like no notes , fantastic , five stars done . Yeah , no critique , exactly a good . You always have opinions exactly . Yeah , oh no , I am . I'm a very opinionated person , if you haven't noticed . Uh , that's good , though .

Speaker 2 18:28

A perfect example of this is for the Crescent City books . When I think back on them , there are a lot of things that I'm like okay , well , this I didn't necessarily like or this could have been different , but when I finished it , I was like wow , amazing , I loved it . So they're four or five stars and it'll never change . Yeah , you saw Sarah J Massa's post . Yes , of course I did that new book , aka what . Everybody's been speculating . We know it's going to be an ACOTAR book , though I feel like why would she come out with , why would she hashtag it Aka , what ? And it's already been known she's coming out with a new ACOTAR book . Why would it be a Throne of Glass ? Like , where are people getting this from ? I think people think too far into it , unless maybe I just have too much trust in sarah .

Speaker 1 19:11

But yeah , I feel like I can't fully share my thoughts until after you finish crescent city , that's true . So once we do , or once you do that and we're planning on doing a spoiler , not spoiler , uh , episode spoiler thought we're gonna do an sjm episode yeah I feel like that we can really dive into stuff , because I I almost just shared a thought that would have ruined something for you .

Speaker 2 19:34

Anyway , super excited we'll talk about it later , okay , moving on my four stars are like that was pretty solid , like I I pretty much I enjoyed the book . Um , there are some things maybe that I didn't care for , but overall I left it like yeah it was , it was a solid book . Three stars for me is like it has its pros and cons . There's some things I liked . There are other things I don't . If it's more like 50-50 split , then that's kind of like my three stars , two stars , or it might have been a good book , like a well-written book , but it just like wasn't my cup of tea . I didn't really enjoy it and I wouldn't pick it up again or maybe read another book by that author . So that's a two star . One star hard pass . Didn't like it , not so not gonna go back and read anything from it , or I didn't finish it entirely because you gotta give a reading a star rating at some point . So no , one stars are absolutely not . Don't not doing it .

Speaker 1 20:26

I've started to really get into like points like 3.7 , 4.2 . Do you do points at all ?

Speaker 2 20:35

Only if I feel it absolutely necessary to distinguish . The perfect example of that would be our last book talk , where I gave it , like I think , a 2.7 or something like that , because it really wasn't a full three stars for me , but I didn't want to categorize it as a full two star either . It really was better and it was close to that three , but I just couldn't bring myself to give it the three according to my rating , because then it holds more power . Exactly so .

Speaker 1 21:03

if I have strong feelings about it in that way , I will but a majority of the time I can categorize it just within the straight up star system , so I don't need the points . Yeah , I've been getting a lot more into the points .

Speaker 2 21:16

Um , I've been using them a lot more . Do you like the points , and we've been writing more reviews for them too . So how do you how do you typically like write your reviews ?

Speaker 1 21:23

for reviews . I definitely have started writing more reviews . I think part of that has to do with the podcast , but also I forget every book I read . So I'm trying to like share a little bit more reviews . And I really like sharing , sharing spoiler free ones , because I love looking at other people's reviews to get ideas for if I would like a book , but then it's hard when they're spoilers . It's hard when there's spoilers , but at the same time , it's hard to do a spoiler free review because I want to remind myself when I go back and look at the review , like what was happening , like what did I like about it , like specifically right . So I'm still trying to learn how best to write reviews for my own style , and a lot of times they're still very brief right now because it is like right after I read the book , i'm'm like it was great , loved it .

Speaker 2 22:11

And maybe like I've seen people do it before on Goodreads too , where it's like they put their non-spoiler review at the top and then they put like spoilers ahead and then they write below that like their more thoughts about the book with the spoilers . So people who are reading it know not to read like that part .

Speaker 1 22:25

But then I'm a real follower and I'm gonna hit the thing that says spoilers and then no one's gonna click on it , yeah , I don't know , I don't know if I can do it I get that .

Speaker 2 22:35

Um , I've just started to like actually writing reviews , mostly for this book , for this podcast , in case anybody goes on my goodreads and looks at it , because before it was strictly just stars , I didn't care about taking the time to go and write a review .

Speaker 1 22:48

Now our opinions matter . We are important people . We are famous book people .

Speaker 2 22:55

We're getting there .

Speaker 1 22:57

We're Z-list book-lebrities . I just made that up . We've got a ways to go .

Speaker 2 23:06

I've started doing that . I've tried to keep it detailed but brief , so I kind of do like it sounds like a lot , but it's not , I promise , like a three paragraph kind of system , but each paragraph only has like one to two sentences , so maybe like a six sentence total review kind of thing .

Speaker 2 23:26

I like the structure of that though . Thanks , I try to do it like my general thoughts and then the beginning , or in the beginning it's my general thoughts and then it's more specific in that like second section , about what I really liked or didn't like , and then the last section is kind of like overall . This is my feeling is how I kind of try to structure them a little bit , because I know for me personally , when I'm like going back and reading reviews , I want some detail for it , but I don't want these long like novels in themselves .

Speaker 1 23:57

Oh my gosh . Some of them are like full-on blogs , which like more power to you , but not there Is anybody reading them . It's crazy , but I think people are , because sometimes they'll have like a lot of likes . To be fair , though , readers like to read . I mean very .

Speaker 2 24:08

I think people are because sometimes they'll have like a lot of likes . To be fair , though , readers like to read yeah , I mean very valid point , absolutely . So yeah , that's kind of like how I've been doing like my reviews here recently , depending on what I need to talk about in like my more specifics . If I could , I try to keep it general , so it's not a spoilers kind of review . But if it's like like unnecessary for me to talk about a spoiler , then I will , and I'll put on the little tag too .

Speaker 1 24:33

But also , now that I'm thinking about it , I have read some of those long ones , I think for ones that I like , really liked or really didn't like , but it's the far spectrum one . So if it's like an app , like a two to four star book , I'm not going to read those long reviews . But if I feel a certain way about a book , then I want to know like the other people that want to feel that certain way , right ?

Speaker 2 24:52

yeah , so like when you are looking for like more books to read or whatever , do you look at stars and reviews like how do you use good reads in that sense ?

Speaker 1 25:00

so stars . For sure , I'll maybe glance at a review or two before I read , um , but I think the stars are the first thing to catch my eye , and also because people have such differing opinions that I don't necessarily want to be swayed . Sometimes I think it's important to like hear certain things , like if someone says like a trigger warning , or if someone like says like this trope wasn't actually in there , or something along those lines . I like when that catches my eye in a review because that can help set my expectations . But I don't want to know if it's like the female character is so annoying or like well , maybe I I'm gonna think she's cool , right , um , so I don't know , I try not to read reviews before a book too much , and it's more so the star rating for me . But I definitely like take a peek , see kind of like the ones that like like auto populate right , and then I won't click like more reviews , you know yeah .

Speaker 2 25:56

I'm the same way , but for me it's more . I look at the stars before I read a book , I look at the reviews after I read the book , because when I was early on goodreads , I got burned a lot of times where I'm looking at like reviews of books , but then they give spoilers and so I'm like , well , now I know what's gonna go , how on , so do I really want to read the book ? Um , so I try to avoid like the reviews , um , and I'll just look at the stars . I , for me , like with the stars too , it is , you take away the grain of salt . So I like to use it as kind of like a gauge more for expectations the stars won't stop me from reading a book , like if it has like two point .

Speaker 2 26:31

Whatever stars on goodreads , I still might read the book if it's something that really , really interests me . I just will take that with a grain of salt and I'll keep it in mind that it might not be like my favorite book or the best book . So I kind of like sets my expectations low so that way I'm not disappointed , but it will like potentially like exceed my expectations too if it seems really good . So I kind of use it as like a gauge of expectation , more than like if I'm going to truly read a book or not that makes sense .

Speaker 1 27:00

I don't even know if I've come across many books that are below like four stars . I wonder what the average rating on goodreads is .

Speaker 2 27:08

Maybe I'm just it's a good question . I haven't seen very many in the two range . I have come across a couple , but not very many . But I see a lot in the higher threes to fours .

Speaker 1 27:18

Yeah , you're right , I have seen a lot of higher threes .

Speaker 2 27:20

But there are some too . I mean , like I said , it's not a good gauge because everything's so personal . I've definitely read books that had like 4.5 stars , which is really really hard to get on goodreads because people are so critical of their books . So if it's a high rating , then I mean that's like incredible that it has that many stars . But I've read it and I didn't like it . Yeah , so it is . It's something you have to definitely take with a grain of salt that's yeah .

Speaker 1 27:44

That's why ? Um , because I just saw that a friend was reading a book . I don't remember the name of the book , but I like clicked on it and then I read the description . I was like , ooh , sounds like interesting . And then I read reviews , like a couple , and the stars were rated so high . But I read a couple reviews and I was like , oh , this book is not for me .

Speaker 1 28:04

Like this is definitely like no , I won't like this . Like what ? Definitely like no , I won't like this like cool concept , but then sometimes that's when I'll go in and I'll read the spoiler ones because I'm like , okay , tell me what the book was about , but I don't actually want to read it , right ?

Speaker 2 28:14

Oh , no , I love that , even like on TikTok , I think it's when you're watching like those little snippets from the episode and people of like we'll go back and I'll look at a lot of the reviews . It's also validating , too , when people are saying the same things about it that you felt and I'll see , like what actually ended up happening . So that way , like if my predictions were correct , I'm like , yep , knew it . Yeah , I'm like glad I didn't waste my time .

Speaker 1 28:45

Yeah , but the reviews are so cool and it like adds to that community side of goodreads .

Goodreads Communities and Groups

Speaker 1 28:52

So , like , what are your thoughts on the community side and do you belong to any like specific groups ?

Speaker 2 28:58

I don't . This is a part of goodreads that I have yet to explore and it's kind of intimidating for me because I don't know where to start . So for those of you who don't know , like goodreads has , it's kind of it is . It's likereads has its own Reddit system for blogs or people they call them , I think , groups for discussion questions that people can go in and respond . It's like a public forum kind of thing , and they have so many different groups under the sun of different people , making them Kind of like Reddit . Yeah , would you compare it to ?

Speaker 2 29:28

that it's very similar to Reddit and yeah , it's almost exactly the same thing as if you think of that . It's very much what it is , but even reddit too , for me it's . Both of these are kind of things that I've almost like walking the perimeter of , but haven't stepped over the boundary yet , because I'm trying to gauge whether it's something worth diving into for myself , because I it's something so new to me and I'm kind of like one of those people that's more , I'd like to be the fly on the wall and see what other people are talking about , but not necessarily contributing myself , so I don't know .

Speaker 1 30:03

Which is funny because we contribute a lot of our thoughts right here .

Speaker 2 30:06

I think , as opinionated as I am , I'd want to share them all the time , which maybe I will once I get into it and I'll find like a good spot , but that's just kind of I don't know . For me it's intimidating , still being the introvert , that I am sharing my thoughts and opinions with people that I don't know .

Speaker 1 30:18

No , you have the best opinions . I love hearing anything you have to say . Thank you .

Speaker 2 30:25

But yeah , so I haven't decided , but it is a really cool side of it , and the fact that they have that space for people who love books to like make all these different forms and for people to have these discussions is really cool . I just don't know where to start with it really . So it's something maybe in the future , but right now we're just going to kind of keep an eye on it maybe .

Speaker 1 30:45

Yeah , what about you ? I feel similarly . I didn't really know that there were groups I think it could be fun to join , but also I think it's just been like an untouched thing of Goodreads . It's like you don't , like you don't know something's there , so like I'm not even thinking about it , right . So because I kind of just go on Goodreads and do what I normally do , but I think I could explore a little bit more because there's definitely a lot of stuff on there that I haven't gotten a chance to dive into .

Speaker 1 31:17

But at the same time I am pretty satisfied with like how my little feed looks and seeing all my my friends and what they're reading and sometimes I think like their opinions mean more to me , just because not that other people's opinions don't , but I know them and I know what they like to read and like , what their ratings mean and how they differ from mine , so I think that might get confusing for me a little .

Speaker 2 31:46

It's so fascinating seeing what people enjoy reading comparing to their personalities . Like our friend janine , I just became like friends with her on goodreads because I didn't know she had one and like just knowing her as a person .

Speaker 2 31:57

I would have never picked the type of books that she reads , because she reads very like non-fiction , like like biographies from like a soldier from war kind of thing , like those types of like really hard-hitting , like non-fiction books which for her as a person I would have never picked , because she's so like bubbly , outgoing , like you know , kind of like super energetic and like these like super hard-hitting books . It was like a new side of her that almost I feel like unlocked for me . I'm like oh , that's so interesting . Yeah , these are like what you choose to read and like your free time , and some of them I have added to my list too because they're like interesting and I would have never come across them without her .

Speaker 1 32:35

It is so cool . I also very much agree . It's so neat seeing what friends read , because it can be so different from the way they act , like you're saying . So , yeah , I'm pretty satisfied with that . But at the same time I like seeing sometimes what acquaintances because I'm friends with some people on goodreads that I'm not like actually like hey , susie , so , and I really like hearing theirs as well , I think , because you have a perception of them and then when you find out what they read , right , you're like , oh , that's a little different .

Speaker 1 33:04

But because they're acquaintances and closer to a stranger , I'm like well , maybe I would like the groups , because they're different it's almost like it's not an unbiased opinion because , everybody has like biased opinions , but for you , because you don't know them personally , I feel like it's almost like an outside unbiased kind of opinion on something too but maybe if it's on like the group is on a topic that I feel strongly about and it's like , um , if the group were something that I don't even know what kind of groups they have , but if it was something that , like , we all have the same opinion and it's known when you join that group that you all feel this way , then I guess I would probably like that , because I know that we all generally have a similar opinion on it . I don't know , now I'm getting confused with myself . Maybe I'd like it , maybe I don't .

Speaker 2 33:46

I think I just have to try it and see , I think it is something that maybe this year I might dabble in it a little bit more . Yeah , because I do like seeing others' opinions . But good reads people can be intense , they can Some of the reviews that you read , or like the opinions Even , like I've noticed , just like from the book Instagram , tiktok , social media community like people can be ruthless , yeah , and like super , super opinionated and like not willing to hear other sides too , which I'm like that's super intimidating to me so , yeah , I guess it's kind of like any social media where you have like the , the wings , like you have people on one side of and people on the other , and that's kind of like all you're seeing .

Speaker 1 34:28

Oftentimes you don't really see the average joe being like oh it was , it was great , add some flaws , blah , blah . So that can be hard too . I wonder why the algorithm algorithm really just feeds you .

Speaker 2 34:39

I don't know extremists and like as much as I'm a conspiracy theorist , some of the theories that I find like so far oh my gosh . Like where did you come up with this ? Like I thought I was crazy for a lot of these things but wow , this one strand of hair . Yeah , that , it's the horse's butler it's crazy , some of the things that people like will pull out of books . Some of them are intriguing , like and I'm like , oh my gosh , I didn't even think about that , that's brilliant .

Speaker 1 35:07

And others I'm like are truly like the way she giggled mean to nothing . The way she giggled mean to nothing . The way she giggled mean nothing . Don't pull that string .

Speaker 2 35:15

Exactly , yeah , but

Annual Reading Goal Tracker

Speaker 2 35:18

another great feature I love on Goodreads is the like reading goals . So what's your reading goal for 2024 ?

Speaker 1 35:25

So my reading goal for 2024 is 20 books . I like to lowball so that I can make sure that I meet the goal , because , especially something as fun as reading , I don't want the goal to stress me out and I don't want it to feel like work and so , yeah , for me a goal like that is is not like fun . To set one really high . Last year I read 24 books and that's pretty typical for me of doing two books a month because typically it'll be like the book club book and then like my own , like personal book that I'm wanting to read . But I've started to listen to more audiobooks this year so I'm thinking that number will rise a little bit .

Speaker 1 36:03

Possibly I don't know , because I'm definitely like ahead of schedule right now . But again , the goal like I like it , but it's not , um , it's not like a priority for me . I think what I like more is how , at the end of the year , they do like your recap , yeah , and you say how many pages you've read , and like it is really that one is more fun . Like they show you the collection of the books you've read and so that makes me more happy . But I do like the goal and it is fun to see like , oh , I'm getting closer , but I'm more so like the recap of it all .

Speaker 2 36:35

Yeah , what about you ? I'm similar , so my reading goal for 2024 is 35 books In 2023 , I set it at I think it was 30 and I ended up reading 38 .

Speaker 1 36:48

Because you are a faster reader than me .

Speaker 2 36:51

I just devour books . But I will say 2023 , I was that year . We talked about it previously . I was just ferociously reading and reading , and reading . So I figured at the beginning when I said 35 , I'm like it's a little bit less than what I actually read , thinking I'm going to slow down a little bit , but still it's a doable number , but still challenging myself a little bit from , like the previous year . Yeah , um , and I'm doing okay with it right now . Um , for me it's like a benchmark almost , where I don't check it constantly , um , to see like where am I at ? Or like goodreads will tell you if you're on schedule , behind schedule . I don't really check that because that stresses me out .

Speaker 2 37:32

Oh , I didn't even know that yeah , it takes like into account like how much time you have in a year and it'll tell you . It kind of like breaks up your books into like different . I don't think it tells you the different benchmarks , it'll just tell you like you're on track . You're a little behind , kind of thing .

Speaker 2 37:45

So I don't really check that because that will stress me out and it's supposed to be an enjoyable thing , but it is fun , like after I finish a book , every once in a while I'll go back and check and like , oh wow , I'm already like finished that many books in a year . Like that's crazy , uh . But some people are .

Speaker 1 38:01

Oh my gosh , they make me feel like a snail , my like , yeah , there's like 200 plus books in a year .

Speaker 2 38:09

I'm like how ? Where did you find the time ?

Speaker 1 38:11

like that's incredible . I wish I could be like that , but like I don't think . If I read , like if my job was just reading every day , I don't even know if I could get to that like it . I'm speechless . Yeah , it's crazy . I know it's so cool for them , but like I can't even imagine right . Like even getting to 30 books right now is kind of like out of my brain like for me and my previous like .

Speaker 2 38:34

I'm like that is just quite a few more , like I don't know if I could get there exactly , and I'm like technically for 2024 , I'm a little bit behind on my goal according to goodreads , but um , but yeah . So just trying to think about , like how much more I feel like I'm reading as much as I can right now , how much more you have to read , and for I'm only doing 35 what are ?

Speaker 2 38:54

the people have 200 300 books and I get that . Audiobooks really help with that , because I'm the same way like . I've started doing that too and that has helped keep my book count up a little bit more . But shout out Spotify for adding that feature for premium members love it but , oh my gosh , I know that they're not all audiobooks . Even if they were all audiobooks , like how , there's not are you listening ?

Speaker 1 39:17

just 24 , 7 the people that listen . We have a friend who listens on like 2.5 speed , yeah , and it's like shout out , madison , how do you even , how do you even retain what you're getting , because that's the only way I can see you even audiobooking it and getting to that number we're talking like this and you have no idea what they're talking about .

Speaker 2 39:37

You're like , oh my gosh , wait , whoa , I missed something there . I slowed down for a second . Yeah , it's insane , it's intimidating . Because you're like , oh my gosh , I'm not even getting close to that number . I feel like I should be reading more , but you got to remind yourself like no , it's okay , it's a unique experience for everyone . We'll get to it when we get to it I want to enjoy , but uh , and that's , and that's not how I can enjoy exactly

Pros and Cons of Goodreads

Speaker 2 40:00

overall , what do you think are the pros and cons of goodreads ?

Speaker 2 40:04

can I start with pros ?

Speaker 1 40:05

yeah , let's start with pros . Um , actually , let's start with cons and on a positive and on a positive and on a positive . Yeah , love that , love that .

Speaker 2 40:14

For me , the endless TBR . As much as I loved it at the beginning , it got too much for me , and that's like adding stress to you . Now it is Well and it's something that I constantly think about , where I'm like there's so many books that I want to read before I die , but then I don't know if I have enough time to through them all , plus because of all the new books that are coming out too , let alone all the ones that already exist , and so it's just like an overwhelming sense of time for me .

Speaker 1 40:43

I'm like , oh my gosh , I I can't . If I think about it too much , I spiral . I'm hoping in heaven I can just like every day imagine a different library that I want to like design in my head , and then I get to walk in and go pick out a book to read that .

Speaker 2 40:52

That would be fantastic . God maybe .

Speaker 1 40:57

They say everything's perfect in heaven , so that'd be perfect for me .

Speaker 2 41:00

I love it . Yeah , so the TBR , it gets too much for me . And they have , like , different editions of books on Goodreads , so like if you go to like our book right now that we're reading , they have the paperback edition , they have the hardcover edition .

Speaker 1 41:17

They have all the different language editions .

Speaker 2 41:19

They have audiobook edition because they're different page counts . So when you're keeping track it's like you know it keeps it more accurate for you . But with that and with the different editions , when I'm to my tbr I can sometimes add two different books to it , and so I wish there was a way to like know that and like um , so that way I don't have like a bunch of duplicates adding to that number or what they could do is like you search up the book and it has the book and then you say reading and then it gives you an option which version ?

Speaker 1 41:52

yeah , then you could choose that ?

Speaker 2 41:53

yeah , something like that would be great , because yeah , because I know that there are at least like one book that I have on there three times because of the different editions that pop up on my feed or from different people reading different editions or something like that . So a way to like clear all that out to see what my true number would be . It'd still be super high , let's be honest , but it might not be as high as it is right now and it'll help when I'm trying to find new books to buy .

Speaker 2 42:17

So I'm not seeing like the same things over and over again which also kind of gets into the like interface of goodreads , I think really needs an update because it's so much older . I think that it like there's a lot of things that can be changed to make like the user experience better . Um , because it's mostly like a website , but even the website is kind of outdated and the way that it's formatted um , it could just be like easier to use and like the app is can be really weird sometimes , um , and with like updating , uh it works and it gets by , but I think it definitely could use like a refresh on it because it , especially compared to like other books , uh , like websites or like apps and stuff that I'm seeing that have like really cool features , uh , like the buddy reading where I've seen I think I sent you one where you can like read a book with a person you set like a spot and then , it'll only show like your comments and like thoughts .

Speaker 1 43:15

Like when you get to that spot , when you get to that spot , so you're not seeing anything .

Speaker 2 43:19

So like something like that , just like the refresh it , update it and keep it more like up to date with new technology . I think would be really helpful .

Speaker 1 43:26

Yeah , I agree , I said the same thing , that it's not very user friendly , and I literally said it could use a bit of a refresh . For in my notes it also seems like sometimes it has like a few bugs or kinks . Like , if I'm in the middle of writing a review , sometimes the app will just like shut down , like it'll like close , and I have to reopen it and then everything's gone .

Speaker 1 43:45

So for the people that write those long reviews , I hope you're writing it in notes and then like copying and pasting , because I think I'd cry . So that does bug me a little bit . Or like if I'm trying to like get to a book or get to a friend's page and it's then doing that like really slow thing . Or if I'm trying to update my page count and then it for some reason freaks out , so sometimes it just like won't work .

Speaker 2 44:15

Or like being able to like move books around a little bit more freely instead of just by like how they're organized , like yeah , specifically like moving books more around within , like bookshelves or whatnot , I don't know .

Speaker 1 44:20

It could definitely use a refresh on that yeah , and I think part of the reason why I haven't explored it enough and know everything about , about it is because the user interface is not the easiest to get around , yeah , like I don't even know where to look for some of these things , right , so that can be a con sometimes , because it's like I want to utilize it more .

Speaker 2 44:44

I just I don't know how , and it's kind of hard , right , and I know that there's some things you can use easier , like on the website itself versus like on the app , which I think is kind of backwards in today's age , because everything is more mobile now than most people using , especially for something like this . People are on more mobile than they are on the actual website , I would at least assume , uh , so we still love you , odyssey and elizabeth . Yes , oh no , it's a fantastic , fantastic database .

Speaker 2 45:10

We love it in fact , we're going to talk about what we like about it in our prose right now uh database , the fact that it's huge and like I can find 98 of the books that I'm looking for , even like the most obscure little ones they're all on there , yeah , and how they keep up with it .

Speaker 2 45:26

I think it's like connected with amazon . I think is what I've read , because you can buy books off of goodreads from like Amazon and like link those two up or whatever . So maybe that's how they do it , but the fact that they have almost every book under the sun on there is incredible to me . I think that really helps a lot . Also , love the progress tracking , for both like the books that I'm reading and like how many I've read in a year . It keeps track of everything for me . I love that .

Speaker 2 45:56

I'm constantly one of those people that's like closing the book and checking to see like how many pages are left or like where I'm at . So that progress tracker ooh , it's like dopamine in my veins . Love it . Yeah , I love seeing , too , like what all my friends are reading and it really is like what you make of it because there are so many more features and it encourages you to like expand your horizons and all the different books because of the different recommendations you're getting , both from friends and from the app itself and like , hey , you might like this , so you're really like getting to see a bunch of books you might not have come across otherwise those are a lot of my pros .

Speaker 1 46:32

I like it Pretty much . I feel the exact same way as you . I love that I can search for any book and it'll be there . And it's just like sometimes it's really hard in an actual bookstore , like , even though it's like , ok , here's your fantasy section , here's your romance , it can kind of be hard to find what you're looking for . And I think on Goodreads it's a lot easier to like look through books and like search for different ones a lot quicker , which is nice . And then also I love same thing I can easily read reviews and I can connect with friends all in one place .

Speaker 1 47:08

And that's really nice . I can do all of that in one spot . And then I think one of my favorite like pros about Goodreads is I can easily see the order of books .

Speaker 2 47:19

Oh yes .

Speaker 1 47:19

Sometimes books like when you're in a bookstore or just like physical books , they don't like number them Like you don't . You don't know what book is one , and that I think we talked about this . But this affected one of our friends one time .

Speaker 2 47:33

She was supposed to read like the second book or third book and she ended up reading like the fifth book and it completely ruined the series for her yeah , so I love , love , love that I can find the order of the books absolutely because even like yeah , even on like barnes and noble or like amazon , where you're buying like these books , even that can be really unclear about what the ? Yeah , absolutely totally agree with you . So I think that is also my favorite part . Yeah , no , it keeps it really straight and easy to find anything you want on there . Yeah , no , I totally agree .

Speaker 1 48:03

And it like takes , takes away a lot of like personal work of , like , like you said , like the progress bar . I don't have to keep track of like how left , like it'll tell me , or that recap at the end , like I don't have to like necessarily make a cutesy thing , even though I might make a cutesy thing of my books . It's gonna tell me , like you read 11,000 pages , like it's like go Darby , and I'm like , yay , go me . Yeah , I do love that too .

Speaker 2 48:28

I love yeah , I with the end of year review , like the graphics and everything that they put together . It's very spotify and rap coded , but for books it it does . It makes you feel really good about like everything that you've done in a year and even though it does , like the progress tracker tell you like oh , you might be behind , they never make you feel bad about it . Like some like maybe like workout apps where , like you know , or like the apple watch where it's like you haven't stood up today .

Speaker 1 48:52

Maybe take a break . Or Duolingo , when it's like Duolingo's sad at you and it's like , hi , sorry , I'll do Italian tomorrow , right , yeah .

Speaker 2 49:02

So it's really good about like not making you feel bad and really keeping a positive experience for you .

Speaker 1 49:06

Yeah .

Speaker 2 49:07

We love Goodreads .

Speaker 1 49:09

Woo , definitely . Let us know what you think about Goodreads . I think it has a lot of potential to continue to grow and , as you know , more readers become more readers . Yeah , I think there's a lot of room for Goodreads to grow and I do hope that it continues to like keep up with the times Me too , because I do think that potentially there could be another app that comes along , takes over .

Speaker 2 49:35

Yeah , absolutely . If you're interested in our Goodreads , they are linked on our website and I believe I also have them on our Instagram in the bio at Lazy Girl Library . So if you want to keep up with our Goodreads , become friends . We love new friends . Go check us out there .

Speaker 1 49:54

I'll like all your stuff and I'll be your biggest fan . Comment . I'll say hi . I'll say goodreads , I want to see what you're reading Yay .

Speaker 2 50:00

Goodreads .

Speaker 1 50:01

Yay , goodreads

Borrows & Returns

Speaker 1 50:02

. And now what have we been putting into Goodreads ? What are our borrows and returns ? You want Borrows and Returns , borrows . I'm just now starting both of these books , so I'm not really like in the middle of books , besides the one that's like been on my shelf , my Backburner book , which I'm not even talking about because I haven't touched it . But so Book Lovers by Emily Henry . I just started that one . I've heard good things about this . I love Emily Henry and I also have only ever read her books on audio . Like audiobooks , she uses the same voice actor for it . I know Michaela didn't love it as much , but I love her , this voice actor , and so I really enjoy hearing her audiobooks and it's a lot easier for me . I don't know . I have no complaints about her . So I'm excited to dive into this one and to listen to another one of her books . And then my next borrow is I'm getting ready to start our book club book .

Speaker 1 50:58

So the Nightingale by Kristen Hanna , but I have not started it yet , so I don't have any thoughts , but I'm really excited to get into it and I'm going to start it this weekend For my returns . I finished Bride by Allie Hazelwood . I enjoyed it , but it did lose me a little bit in the end , and I don't know if that's because it was audiobook . Maybe I would have been more into it if it was like a physical book . And then also they had some spicy scenes which , to be honest , I skipped a lot of them , but they had some spicy scenes that were weird . In a sense of it was like two different species and it wasn't like normal . There was like an additional part into it and I was like I've never experienced reading something like that before and I was like this is for me personally , Like it was weird and not doing it for me .

Speaker 1 51:55

So yeah , for anyone who's read the book , I want to talk about it because I wonder what your opinions are .

Speaker 2 52:00

But it was , it was so strange , our friend really loves like crazy books , like that too .

Speaker 1 52:05

So , yeah , our friend Sarah , yeah , shouting out her , maybe you'll like this book spicy Sarah , um , but I did like the book a lot , but this , that part was weird . I don't want to ruin it for anyone , but anyway . And then my other return is ten thousand skies above you , which is the second book in the firebird firebird trilogy , which our book talk last month was on the first one and I really loved it . I'm excited for mikaela to read it . I think she's going to like it a lot more than the first book because you're connected to the characters more . There's definitely like more development of the overall plot line and then there's a bunch of new dimensions and they touch on the ethics a bit more and so Intrigued , intrigued . So it was really good and I'm nervous for the last book and how they're gonna end it but I'm excited to read it .

Speaker 1 53:01

It was really good .

Speaker 2 53:02

I enjoyed it . I'm glad you enjoyed it . I'm definitely gonna . I have it . I just have to start it . So , um , yeah , I will let you know when I do . I also need to try an emily henry book . I'm not a huge romance reader .

Speaker 1 53:15

She's a slower . I'll say I think she's a . It's a slower paced book and I think that's why I like doing an audio , because it's slower pace , but I love her .

Speaker 2 53:25

I've just I've just heard a lot of people love her and like , out of all the romance books , like she's like super , super popular right now . I haven't touched them because it kind of gets on my ick from a couple episodes ago , with the covers being really kind of cartoony with the people , but it has been one that I've been going back and forth like maybe I should try , maybe I shouldn't . So maybe you should give me a rec and I'll check her out yeah , yeah , or maybe our listeners can give you some rec .

Speaker 1 53:50

True , like your favorite one . I think she just came out with a new one , a new book , so I haven't read that one yet , but maybe a future book , talk book . Yeah , check it out .

Speaker 2 54:03

As for my borrows and returns for borrows , I just started on an audio book . It's called Wild by Cheryl Strayed and it's a memoir . It was really popular . It's an older not old old , but it's an older one that came out , I think . Race Witherspoon made a movie about it .

Speaker 1 54:20

I could be totally wrong , but she did me .

Speaker 2 54:22

I , I know what you're talking about , I think um , and so it's about , um the author and , uh , her life and how she went and hiked the Pacific Crest Trail as a non-professional hiker . She's outdoorsy but she's never done this crazy trail which , if you don't know , it's a hiking trail that stretches from the west coast from the bottom , and I think it starts in New Mexico . I could totally be wrong , I don't remember .

Speaker 1 54:49

I'm not sure I love the outdoors but I'm also not professional .

Speaker 2 54:53

Yeah , it's like Southern California stretches and it goes all the way up through , like Oregon or something like that .

Speaker 1 54:57

So it's like all right , I'm gonna do it honestly .

Speaker 2 55:01

You told I could totally see you , as I've been like listening to her go through it . It's something I imagine you and Emily doing together did you hear that , emily ?

Speaker 2 55:07

we have a hike to do um , so I'm just kind of like getting into it . Um , I'm still early on , but I'm really enjoying it so far . Uh , I'm not a huge fan of the narrator for it , because it's not the author and a lot of the times author will read their own big , but in this case it's not . The narrator's voice isn't my favorite . It's kind of hard to get into . But once I get past that , the story itself has been pretty good so far and I'm interested to hear , like , what she learns about herself along the way on this trail , because I've gotten a lot of backstory and now we're truly I've gotten to the part where she's truly starting the hike is the the voice actor narrator , just is it like she doesn't have emotion behind the words , or is it ?

Speaker 2 55:53

it's like more . It sounds kind of like my grandma reading to me like that kind of I said , the way that her voice is is very like soft and like she kind of does like this thing with it , and I'm like I don't know , I don't like it , I'll play it for you after we finish recording .

Speaker 1 56:10

It sounds a little the way that you just did it . I think that's a little too asmr-y for me . Yeah , a little bit , I don't know , just did it . I think that's a little too ASMR-y for me .

Speaker 2 56:15

Yeah , a little bit . I don't know . It's hard to describe For anybody interested . It is on Spotify's audiobooks . That's where I'm listening to it . But yeah , I'm enjoying it so far and so I'm curious to see how that takes off For my returns . I finished the Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green . How was it ? It was really good . It was another audiobook I did on Spotify . Four stars for me . He wrote it during COVID , so there are a few times where he talks about COVID or like certain things and I'm like now in 2024 , I'm kind of like I really don't care about her .

Speaker 1 56:44

Yeah , like I don't want to , don't bring me back into that Exactly .

Speaker 2 56:48

So that's why it's four stars instead of five stars for me , but than that , I thoroughly enjoyed it . Um , all the different essays like there's some really deep , meaningful ones , but there's some that are like really silly and funny and just like talking about how humans relate to the world and like the effect that we have on the world . It's really interesting to hear like his perspective and like the way that he ties things in together , because his like stories and metaphors are fantastic . It's one of the reasons I love him as an author and he definitely brings this in a non-fiction way , so I really liked it highly recommend okay , I might have to listen to it .

Speaker 2 57:22

You should . It's really good . It's like , like I said , it was on Spotify's audiobooks . I'm sure you can find it elsewhere too . That's just where I listened to it , but it was really good and he reads it to you and I did . Did enjoy his voice , yeah .

Speaker 1 57:33

John Green is just like . I don't know . I like him a lot . I'm trying to describe like , because you know how there are some people that you're like aw , grandpa , like they just feel like that . That's kind of how he feels , but he's not at that age yet , you know . So I'm trying to think of like , yeah , like aw , I like him a lot , I do too .

Speaker 2 57:51

He was one of my favorite authors growing up in high school and so I think he said that this was his first nonfiction book that he did , but it still reads in that very . If you like John Green , you're going to like the way that he writes this book , because it is still very John Green-esque in the way that he describes things and you can go from silly to like super , like symbolic and meaningful . It's really enjoyable .

Speaker 1 58:13

I think you'll have to give it a try , because I haven't read anything John Green , I think since high school .

Speaker 2 58:16

And what's nice about it too , is because they're like individual essays , you don't necessarily have to read it in the specific order . You can jump around , or if you're not liking a specific topic or essay , then you can skip it and move on to like a different one , because it's not going to affect how you read it .

Speaker 1 58:32

So yeah , overall really good . Oh , I love it , love reading , love talking to you , love talking to you too .

Speaker 2 58:39

I love our discussions I do too .

Speaker 1 58:41

I do . I hope you all do as well . Even if you don't , let us know . If you're like , hey , you guys talk about that for too long or too much , let us know . We want this to be enjoyable for everyone again .

Speaker 2 58:51

our instagram is at lazy girl library um , and you can also find us at LazyGirlLibrarycom .

Speaker 1 58:57

Let us know your thoughts and opinions , but that's kind of it for this episode . Hopefully we'll see you on Goodreads and we'll talk to you next time . Bye , guys , bye . Well , dear listeners , we find ourselves at the end of another episode and remember , the Lazy Girl Library is not just a podcast , it's a community . We absolutely love hearing from fellow book lovers , so don't forget to share your thoughts and your favorite reads with us on our social media . You can find us on Instagram at Lazy Girl Library . Make sure to check out our website , lazygirllibrarycom , your one-stop shop for all things Lazy Girl . Before we go , we want to take a moment to thank all of our wonderful listeners , whether you're listening from your cozy bed , on your way to work or anywhere in between . Thank you for making us a part of your day and for being a part of our Lazy Girl family . So keep those pages turning , keep those imaginations flourishing and remember the best stories are yet to be discovered . Until next time , stay lazy and happy reading .