Goodreads, Good times

For bookish types who find Friendster too 2003, Facebook too collegiate, and MySpace too too, arrives Goodreads. Founded by Otis Chandler in January of 2007, the online networking site enables you to list which books you’re reading, have read, or are about to read, write reviews and check out what your buddies are burying their heads in. There’s something classy and quaint about Goodreads -- whether it’s the subtle design, the straightforward name or the lack of 16-year-old “local hotties” asking to be my friend, I’m a big fan. After I joined last week, I’ve watched as oodles of my friends have signed up. I asked Chandler some questions and he was kind enough to respond.

What inspired you to start Goodreads?

I like to read and I tend to "borrow" books from my friends. It really struck me one afternoon when I was scanning a friend's bookshelf. People tend to keep their favorite books in their bookshelves -- and I realized that information was invaluable if you could get it online. When you need a good book recommendation most of us turn to our friends over any bestseller list, algorithm, or random person's review. I've already built several social networks, and so building one around people who read just seemed like a great idea.

Since you started the site, what have you learned about book nerds that you didn't know before?

People are opinionated and a lot smarter than we give them credit. They generally love the classics and hate the 'pop culture' books. Catcher in the Rye, Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn and Middlesex have literary acclaim and great popularity on Goodreads. Well-known bestsellers like Da Vinci Code and The Devil Wears Prada have gotten beat up by our readers. I've also noticed that people love to spend a lot of time on the site, poking around, checking out what other people read, probably to get ideas and I suspect to make fun of some peoples' taste.

A blogger recently wrote something that I thought was pretty cool:
"I'm obsessed with GoodReads for two reasons: 1, I like to see what other people are reading; 2, I like to scoff at what other people have given "5 stars" while rolling my eyes at their review of that How To Be A Wallflower, or whatever that ridiculous book was called. God, people, read some Proust already!"

What books are people loving the most right now?

The book most people are reading right now is The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. Other books being read right now are The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, What is the What by Dave Eggers, Snow by Orphan Pamuk, The World is Flat by Thomas Freidman, and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen.

You can see what people are reading by clicking here:

You can see the most popular books by clicking here:

I read that it used to be Goodreadz -- what happend to the "z"?

Goodreadz.com was available, so to save money we went with it. Eventually we decided we didn't want to sound like we were being run from someone's living room (and a few people told us we sounded really "hip hop" and we want to be accessible to people of all musical tastes), so we ponied up for the more official sounding Goodreads.com

Is this a site where love connections are made? Any success stories you'd like to share?

That's not the focus of the site, but I wouldn't be surprised. Goodreads is a social community, and anytime you have people socializing sparks are bound to fly. My previous job was actually running an online dating site, and we averaged a success story a day -- so who knows.

What's the best book you recently read?

The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volumes 1 and 2. You can read my thoughts on the site, by clicking here and here:

Based on the little that you know about me (that I'm female, that I work at PAPER) give me a recommendation!

Tough one! Paper is pretty on top of things, so you might have read most of the hot books, but people seem to like:

- What is the What by Dave Eggers: Seems very popular, political, young author

- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: one of my all-time favorites

-Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

-Party Girl by Anna David: not released yet but my friend got one and liked it

-A Million Little Pieces by James Frey: not new, but very controversial