Tech-Savvy Readers Are Designing Their Own, Better Versions of Goodreads

The dream of a better internet for book lovers is emerging on platforms like Glitch

Image: Tessa Thornton

Last year, I lamented the poor design of Goodreads — a much-needed platform where readers can review books they’ve read and track those they want to. Poor search functionality, ugly aesthetics, an embarrassingly terrible recommendation algorithm, and buried club and group features make the site unpleasant to use. Since the story came out, Goodreads hasn’t done much to improve its deficiencies. Instead, it seems content to rest on its laurels as a near-monopoly owned by Amazon, benefiting from its massive existing user base while being, apparently, deserted by its design team.

Tech-savvy readers, many of whom work in technology and design, have responded to Goodreads’ inadequacies by launching their own, personalized book sites. These sites are diverse, each one with its own particular focus: One might be a chronological list of books read by the owner in a year; another may be a complex map of reading material grouped by subject and theme. Some are totally personal, meant almost as private logs for people to track their own reading progress, while others are explicitly outward-facing, intended to offer recommendations and compel conversations.