Your Bookshelf

Your Bookshelf is a life log of all the books you have read and enjoyed (or, in the case of your wishlist, books that you would like to read). It is a record for yourself, a guide for the site to base recommendations on, and a way for other Like-Minded Readers to see what you have read, what you like reading and potentially get ideas about what to read next.

Adding a book to your bookshelf

You can add a book to your bookshelf wherever you see the green button. This button appears in most places you can view a book, including search results, other Members' bookshelves, recommendations, and whenever you mouse over the cover of a book. You can add and remove a book from your bookshelf at anytime.

You can also add a book to your bookshelf by rating it (rollover the stars; five stars highlighted is the best) or selecting one of the status icons that appear beside the book. This allows you to add a book to your bookshelf at the same time as describing it.

To remove a book from your bookshelf click this button and the book will be removed from your bookshelf. Note that it will not remove any rating or tags you have applied to that book.

Rating a book on your bookshelf

How do I rate a book?

You can rate a book by clicking on the stars shown wherever you can add a book to your bookshelf. Books can be rated from half a star, up to five stars being the best. If you have not yet rated, the stars associated with that book will be empty. We recommend you rate your books because the book Recommendations on the Recommendations page are customise for you and are based on your bookshelf and your ratings of each book. For example if you rate a book low, with half a star or one star, we will not recommend other books like it.

Rating a book will automatically add it to your bookshelf, as long as you have rated it above the minimum rating in your Settings. Rating a book also has a large impact upon the recommendations the site provides. You can change or remove your rating of a book at any time.

Your ratings are always shown in yellow, while average ratings are always shown in blue.

Keeping your bookshelf current

You can remove books from your bookshelf by clicking on the Remove Book button on the right of the row associated with that book.

You can indicate that you own a book by clicking on the I Own It icon .

You can indicate that you have read a book by clicking on the I've Read It icon .

You can indicate that a book has been loaned out by clicking on the I Own It icon . and typing in the name of the person you loaned it to.

You can indicate that you would like to read a book by clicking on the Wishlist icon .

Clicking on the expand button at the end of a book's row will offer more options, including allowing you to assign tags and comments, and add the book to your own custom book list.

Tags

Tags are words or short phrases created to describe a book. A book set in New York might have the tag "New York" applied to it, while a book that stars James Bond might have the tag "James Bond" applied to it. You can create your own tags to a book. Tags can be anything descriptive about a book, and help other Members decide whether they might enjoy it, as well as providing an easy way to browse books. They are also used by the site when making Recommendations. Please, try not to give away parts of the story when you apply tags.

Tags can be viewed, added, removed from your bookshelf, and from a book's profile page. On your bookshelf, tags applied by you to a book are shown first, then the most frequent tags applied by others, up to a maximum of ten tags. To remove a tag from a book on your bookshelf, click on the Remove Tag button that appears when you mouse over the tag you wish to remove.

Comments

Comments are short paragraphs attached to a particular book. You can add a comment to a book from your bookshelf at any time by clicking the expand button to the left of a book's row, and typing into the comments field. Everything you type is saved automatically when you click outside of the comments box. Comments are visible to those who can view your bookshelf.

Different views of your bookshelf

The default view of your bookshelf will show every book in it, sorted alphabetically by author. You can show only part of your bookshelf by clicking on the icons in the "view bar" at the top of the list. Clicking on an icon will show only books that have that detail set. For example, you can view only books in your bookshelf that you have read by clicking on the I've Read It icon. Viewing is especially handy for other readers that are previewing your bookshelf and want to see your wishlist.

You can also view only those books categorized as Fiction, by selecting the Fiction button, or Non-Fiction, by selecting the Non-Fiction button. Doing so will bring up a list of sub-categories. Clicking on a category will show only those books in your bookshelf that match that category.

You can sort your bookshelf by title, author, or rating, by clicking on the arrows beside each section on the title bar.

How do I Browse a Friends' Bookshelves?

Whenever you see a Member summary, you will be able to view that Member's bookshelf by clicking on the View Bookshelf button, as long as their privacy settings allow because some Members would like their bookshelves to remain private. You can also view a Member's bookshelf from their profile as well.