There is still the need for a better Goodreads alternative • Hacker News Board

Re: There is still the need for a better Goodreads alternative

#21

Post by boomboomsubban » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 2:38 AM UTC

howenterprisey wrote: post #16

robobro wrote: post #2

here you go lol https://github.com/bookwyrm-social/bookwyrm It's part of fediverse. Open source, decentralized software

Unfortunately I can't recommend bookwyrm due to its license, which starts with: > This is anti-capitalist software, released for free use by individuals and organizations that do not operate by capitalist principles. I don't disagree with the politics here but surely it's hopeless as a legal document.

While I can understand why you may think the license is doomed in the face of any litigation, why would that prevent you from recommending it? How would that license being found illegal would affect any regular end user?

Surely any legal challenge would just allow a corporate entity to use the software as they see fit, unfortunate but ultimately not mattering to the original software.

Re: There is still the need for a better Goodreads alternative

#22

Post by logicprog » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 3:05 AM UTC

I don't really care for the social aspect of goodreads, I just like to find other people's reviews and have a meta-data rich way to track what I've read and my TBR, and for that OpenReads is incredible. Pretty damn featureful, fetches metadata and reviews from various sources really well, beautiful modern Material You UI. Highly recommended

Re: There is still the need for a better Goodreads alternative

#23

Post by b3lm0nt » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 4:09 AM UTC

A new alternative that I came across recently: https://www.literary.salon/

Re: There is still the need for a better Goodreads alternative

#24

Post by d1sxeyes » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 5:16 AM UTC

saulpw wrote: post #15

rbetts wrote: post #3

https://www.thestorygraph.com/

Looks nice, needs some kind of API so I can import my own data (which is not in GoodReads).

Yeah I have seen some other discussions on an API, it’s on the roadmap but the lone developer is not prioritising for now.

Re: There is still the need for a better Goodreads alternative

#25

Post by __rito__ » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 6:17 AM UTC

I have switched to StoryGraph, and I don't look back.

I read books in five languages, and I read a lot of old ones, too, that are from pre-ISBN era. Not finding them on Goodreads and not being able to add them was a serious drawback. GR demands an online book webpage to add a book, which don't exist for a lot of niche books I read.

StoryGraph totally solved it.

And I also use Bookmory [0] for regular tracking and sharing pretty visuals. You should give Bookmory a try.

[0]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.tonysoft.b...

Re: There is still the need for a better Goodreads alternative

#26

Post by philipptemmel » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 7:12 AM UTC

Hey, author here. First of all, thank you for sharing my post on Hacker News, and secondly, thank you for all the comments. Based on them, I updated the post and added StoryGraph and BookWyrm to the post, both lovely recommendations and alternatives.

Re: There is still the need for a better Goodreads alternative

#27

Post by philipptemmel » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 7:12 AM UTC

james_david wrote: post #5

rbetts wrote: post #3

https://www.thestorygraph.com/

Yup, author overlooked this one that I give five stars. Switched long ago and never looked back.

Updated the post and added it as an alternative, thank you for the suggestion.

Re: There is still the need for a better Goodreads alternative

#28

Post by philipptemmel » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 7:14 AM UTC

logicprog wrote: post #22

I don't really care for the social aspect of goodreads, I just like to find other people's reviews and have a meta-data rich way to track what I've read and my TBR, and for that OpenReads is incredible. Pretty damn featureful, fetches metadata and reviews from various sources really well, beautiful modern Material You UI. Highly recommended

Oh, that one looks awesome too, thank you for the recommendation, will update the post and add that one too. Thanks!

Re: There is still the need for a better Goodreads alternative

#29

Post by hoseja » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 10:57 AM UTC

Why do you need apps for books. Stop. Buy a bookcase.

Re: There is still the need for a better Goodreads alternative

#30

Post by philipptemmel » Tue, Jul 09, 2024, 11:16 AM UTC

hoseja wrote: post #29

Why do you need apps for books. Stop. Buy a bookcase.

I have a bunch of bookcases at home, thank you for your suggestion. However, I will keep using apps, since that bookcase is not really helpful when I am visiting a book store, strolling around, and adding new books to my wishlist or checking if I already own it. The bookcase also does not recommend me new books based on my reading habits, sadly.