Goodreads is a great tool, and I've been using it to keep a reading log for a while. I place many holds based upon what like-minded friends are reading, what sounds intriguing that I maybe haven't heard of yet, and what gets stellar reviews from friends.
Up until this exercise, I had pretty much used Goodreads as a log of what I've read: no real organization other than chronological. I like to think of myself as a pretty well organized person, so adding some 'shelves' to my Goodreads should have been easy-peasy. And it is easy, but since the site is slow to load, it is proving to be a time-consuming process to categorize my backlog of reads. I may have to try from the app later, which zooms along much more quickly. Bottom line: it would have been easier to start out with shelves and organize as I added titles!
The Goodreads recommendations were...pretty general. They seemed to be subject-oriented, which may just hint at how difficult it is to recommend by appeal characteristics. Not always spot on, but I like that you can select "not interested" for titles that aren't your cup of tea. I wonder if Goodreads learns user preferences the way that Netflix does... hmm.
I recommended Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante to Yvette, based on her review of Reservation Road. Of course, I posted these to her blog, then realized I needed to post them to Goodreads instead, and now need to friend Yvette and repost! I will get the recommendations to the right spot eventually!
Here was my post:
Based upon your review of Reservation Road, I'll recommend Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante and/or Before I Go to Sleep, by SJ Watson. Both books contain psychologically gripping stories, one surrounding a tragedy (in Turn of Mind), the other where the main character must piece together her reality while suffering from a memory disorder (Before I Go to Sleep). The fast pacing in both would be right up your alley. Before I Go to Sleep offers unclear characters that aren't immediately revealed as good or bad; I think you'd enjoy figuring it out.
Cheers,
Elizabeth