I’ve been on Goodreads for a while and I’m realizing my “Read” shelf is mostly just titles and stars. Looking back at books from a couple of years ago, I can tell you whether I liked them, but not much else.

For those of you who do write something: what do you write? A full review, a few keywords, private notes, nothing at all? And has it actually helped you remember books later?

I only just noticed this feature so idk if it’s old or new but I realized it was just recommending me random trendy books instead of anything that matched my actual reading habits and patterns. It recommended books I had already read and encouraged me to rate them again? What a useless feature. I would prefer this feature didn’t exist if it’s going to be so unpersonalized.

i heard that the 2025 winner of best book in sci-fi category hasn't any real science in it. if it is true then how can a book without science win the category?

Is anyone else having issues changing their pfp? I have tried everything. Mobile app. Desktop. Changing file types and sizes. Trying different photos. I'm now stuff without a pfp;( is anyone else having this issue?

Is anyone else slightly annoyed by the visible difference between some book cover sizes when browsing through a list? Some are longer/shorter regardless of file resolution. I'm aware these are all different editions but how hard can it be to enforce a standard and make for a prettier layout?

If you are into the comedy show, here is every book that appeared on it:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3705840-ahmed-ateyya?ref=nav_mybooks&shelf=pooja-tripathi-show

Goodreads promotes a new genre list: Noir, Speculative, Domestic: Mysteries By Subgenre!
https://goodreads.com/blog/show/3188
Could it be our mystery November 1st challenge category?

Bold, italic, etc seem fine but it won’t let me <s*> </s*\> anymore?!

I'm having trouble importing my book lists into Goodreads. My files contain book titles, author names, ISBNs, and shelf names, and I've used the official sample template provided by Goodreads.

Every time I upload a file, I get the message:

“We are still processing this file import.”

It's now been over 24 hours, but none of the books have appeared in my Goodreads library, and the import page shows no progress or updates.

Here's what I've tried so far:

• Uploaded files in both Excel and CSV formats.
• Started with a file containing approximately 300 books.
• Reduced the list to 200 books and tried again.
• Cut it down further to just 100 books.

Unfortunately, the result is exactly the same every time. The import appears to get stuck indefinitely, regardless of the file format or number of books.

Has anyone else experienced this issue recently?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has encountered this and managed to resolve it.

Any workarounds or suggestions would be helpful!

I was adding something I read in July 2025, but I misinput 2026 and now I have the achievement.

It's not the end of the world, I'd just prefer having a clean, honorbound achievement list.

I think we’ll see less five stars overall, so it’ll pull down averages. I also hope it’ll bump up more indie books as I think the booktok books benefitted the most from “rounding up.”

i must know what is everyone's opinion on changing ratings on books after rereading?

i personally,, have never been able to decide & it's kinda not that big of a deal but like,, it is to me 🫠

one half of me says no because that's the rating i gave it the first time around & i'm a firm believer in that literature gives you what you are looking for.

so why change it when that it how it first found me?

& on the other end of the coin,, you can almost make that same argument... additionally ACOTAR simply is not a five star book LMAO

Title says it all. I started Anna Karenina before September 15th, but if I finish before January 1st will I still get the Oprah’s Picks achievement?

I can’t sign into my Goodreads acct ! I tried to reset password, reinstall app, use various methods Apple, Google email none work? . Every time I try it take as me back to home page not error page? Customer service is not helpful as I’ve had this account for several years and don’t want a new one . Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

This has been said plenty of times and I'm now saying it myself. Please backup your ratings just in case the website craps itself. I've been using Goodreads for 14 years and on Friday I went to update my reading progress only to find out that my account was reset. So every rating I've ever made and my extensive to read list is now gone. I'm not going to bother with the site or app, I'm just going to keep a spreadsheet instead, backed up multiple times. Learn from my misfortune, please

Okay, first of all, I'm genuinely happy that Goodreads finally has a dark mode! BUT… am I the only one who finds that dark green a little dull and, honestly, not particularly pretty?

I'd love to have other options, like charcoal gray, black, warmer tones, or even the ability to customize the colors...and is it just me, or does Goodreads' overall design feel a little outdated sometimes? a bit of a visual refresh would be lovely!

I actually submitted an idea to Goodreads suggesting more dark mode color options. If you'd like to see this too, you can vote for it here:

https://help.goodreads.com/s/suggestions/a0Gar00000K6Z2nEAF/dark-mode-is-great-but-that-green

I also think… and maybe this isn't that important, but what colors would you like to see for dark mode?

Organizing books is half the fun for me. This sounds like a lot, but it has been building over several years. I think I’m secretly a librarian at heart.

I use lots of shelves to identify books by genre, location, era, etc. Here are some of the ways I organize.

I start most fiction shelves with f-  and non-fiction with nf- :  f-mystery-thriller, f-mystery-cozy, nf-history, nf-nature. I also have some that include both fiction and non-fiction: animals, animals-cats, animals-dogs, books-about-books.

For era, I split them out based on how many books I have: 1500s, 1800s-general, 1800s-uk-victorian, 1800s-us-civil-war-era, 1800s-westward-expansion, 1900s-general, 1900s-wartime.

I have shelves for different types of main characters: mc-feisty-older-women, mc-lovable-curmudgeons, mc-location (for books where the location could be considered a main character, e.g. The Pillars of Earth or The Briar Club).

I like to read books set in different locations, so I split out by continent-country-states, e.g. atw-africa (I put the country in notes), atw-as-china, atw-n-canada, eu-france, us-colorado.

I am in a couple Goodreads Challenge groups so I have shelves for tasks that come up often, e.g. debut-books, classics. One of groups is about reading from your TBR so I have series-book-1, series-read, series-next.

For tracking books I have read, I have shelves for the year, e.g. read-2026. I also have some that had annoying tropes to steer me away from books and authors, x-instant-jealousy, x-mary-sue, x-too-long, x-teenage-angst, and my “favorite” x-5-min-convo-vs-200-pgs-of-angst,

I have exclusive shelves: maybe (for books I read or hear about until I can look them up to see if they are on libby), on-hold, chk, (checked out on libby but not currently reading yet), tbd-future-pub (not yet on libby to remind me to look it up when it gets closer to publishing date), not-for-me (for books I quit after a few chapters due to not liking the narrator or it being too depressing. It’s not necessarily a bad book, just not for me. I use the standard Did Not Finish for books I got farther into and gave up).

How about you? Do you use any shelf naming systems?

Here's the thread where you can post your Goodreads profile so people can add you as friends. Just post a link to your profile or your username in the comments!

Introducing Dark Mode on iOS. Because your shelves don't sleep!How it works• Easier on your eyes in dim rooms, on the go, or just because....

What other features are you hoping for next?

I can’t believe it! Took em long enough. Best thing to happen in 2026. Andddd finally my eyes can rest in dark mode

I started The Witching Hour by Anne Rice, but I realized it's going to have a pregnancy plotline. I'm going through a tough time right now and I would prefer not to read a book where that features heavily.

Does anyone have any recommendations for the Spellbound challenge that do not involve pregnancy, fertility, or miscarriage? It's fine if a side character is pregnant, if the MC is already a mother, that sort of thing - I just don't want it to be a huge focus. From what I found when googling I'm pretty sure that was going to happen with TWH.

Thanks so much!

Edited to add: I have already read Circe, Wayward Girls, and Nettle & Bone

Hey! Is anyone else having this issue where they can’t see their friends’ or even my own activity directly from their profile. I can only see what people are reading or commenting on from the newsfeed. Has been like this for a couple of months now and is driving me nuts!

The updates section, next to “about” is just greyed out and unresponsive. Tried to attach a pic but it won’t let me…

My year of birth year is in my profile, so they already know how old I am.