I have a problem. I love books.

Or maybe it’s the world that has a problem.

(Couldn’t help myself… Image found via Pinterest via la femme d’à côté)

Okay, I hear you saying that that isn’t so much of a problem, but you might be wrong. Case in point:

• My bedside is completely unnavigable due to the stacks and piles and mounds of books, constantly teetering to the point of impending avalanche.
• I spend an obscene amount of time and money at Barnes & Noble, and I was born hardly capable of walking past the entrance to one without going in.
• When I start reading a book (although starting just one is unlikely… I’m usually reading four), I think about it ALL THE TIME. Like, completely engrossed. Like, I wonder what this character is going to do next. Like, I can’t wait to get home/on my lunch break/wait for that meeting so I can devour a few more pages.
• I had eye surgery in August, which put me stuck inside in the dark for a week. One of my top concerns was not my health, not my tan, not my social relationships, but more along the lines of I CAN’T READ FINE PRINT.
• The single.most.annoying.thing.ever is when you are reading the last 10 pages of any and every book you’ve ever invested yourself in and any interruption that can occur most definitely will. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Now I won’t go into how overloaded my Amazon wishlist is, or the fact that my upstairs hallway has built-in cabinetry that is overflowing with paperbacks and hardcovers that I can’t bear to let go of, or that when anyone asks me what I collect the answer is quite obviously “books”. And shoes. But books.

So imagine my amazement when I realized that I had not even vaguely heard of GoodReads.com. The purpose of the site is well-explained by their tagline: “Meet your new favorite book.” Yes, please. You can connect with your friends through your social networks, which (don’t you roll your eyes at me) I was surprised to find that apparently no one wants to willingly own up to their nerdiness because a full 59 of my Facebook friends have GoodReads profiles. FIFTY-NINE. And I was utterly incredulous about a few of them, but I won’t name names. My favorite part, though, is that you can pick your favorite genres, scroll through lists and lists (if you so choose) of books in those genres, and rate the ones you’ve read. The site will then generate recommendations for you based on your ratings for your personalized to-read list, with the option of saving those that look the most interesting to you with the click of a “Want to Read” button.

I’m beyond excited for this. If reading is not your jam, then I’ve exposed a part of myself that may make you feel slightly less cool when in my presence. If this IS your jam, you haven’t even thought about how your social status will plummet when we hang out and probably stopped reading half a blog post ago to sign up for your own account. (Ahem, Mom.)

Happy Friday, all! I’ll be spending the holidays with my nose stuck in a book. But in the meantime, leave me your favorite reads in the comments! I’m always looking for recommendations.

Obviously.