So, I've come to the realization that I've dreaded for a while...
I'm not an avid reader, I enjoy a great fiction, I try to read more because I feel it truly does something to your brain that counters what Television does. It's just a smart thing to do. For the past two years I've used the great site Readernaut to catalog and record my books. Loading reviews, comments, habits, logging has been pushed into Readernaut. Readernaut looks amazing (compared to other sites...everytime I look at LibraryThing feel like I've jumped into 1999) and the way it worked differently from other sites fit exactly in my expectation of what a Book site should. Space for reviews, space where you can comment on specific pages/paragraphs, and a concise view of what your friends are reading. All this done in a beautiful space that didn't drown you in Suggested Friends, Book Clubs, Recommended Reading Lists, etc.
BUT, (yup--there it is) I just couldn't stick with the site any longer and it makes me sad. Nathan Borror works for Facebook and Readernaut is his side project and he's the only designer/developer for the site. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but since this is only a side project the evolution of the site has been abysmally slow. Listen, I don't want to slight Mr. Borror for his work, because it's a great site. Though I found it constantly lacking on a couple of items:
Incomplete API
Now all you non-nerds are asking what the heck is this. An API--in basic terms --allows people to get information in and out of the site in a safe and proper manner. What does this mean? Basically it would allow other developers to do some awesome things with the site. Think what TweetDeck is to Twitter/Facebook. This would have led to correcting some of the other issues.
No Mobile Capabilities
I began really hating that Readernaut doesn't work well on mobile devices. I now do most of my reading through my Nook (my 1st edition device and on my phone) and updating my reading status on both the web browser on my Nook and browsing on my phone was horribly laborious. I need something that I can jump in, update reading status, add books, and more on my mobile devices and Readernaut hasn't met that need.
Small-to-No Community
Now that I'm reading more, I love getting recommendations from people for books that I can read that match my favorite style. The problem is that it is hard to find those recommendations that aren't this eras Harry Potter. I know Vampires are hot right now, but I could care less about those books. And the small community of Readernaut didn't help. I really never got acceptable recommendations from others.
So I Moved to GoodReads
There were three options to go to. Shelfari, GetGlue, and GoodReads. Shelfari was the site I used to use before moving to Readernaut, and honestly it isn't bad but it hasn't done anything since I left and what they have done is solely for the Kindle. GetGlue is a nice site but is for more than just book reading. Since it does everything, it doesn't do a single thing (books) very well. So I'm now using GoodReads.
That's the reasons I moved. A good API, mobile site, and a huge community. I've already hit up the mobile site on the Nook and it works well so I can update my reading as I read it.
If you want to hit me up check out my profile here:
