I think what I like best is being able to find a quick rating and review while I'm out. I take my iPod touch to the library and use the mobile app with the scanner. I scan the bar code of the book and it pops up a quick synopsis and a list of reviews with ratings by other people. It will also tell me right off the bat if it isn't the first in a series. Since I mostly read romance novels, finding the first book in a series can be a serious problem.

If I have a choice of two books to buy and one of them has 103 ratings with a 2.7/5 average rating and the other has 22,145 ratings with an average of 4.13, I can tell you which one I'm going to get. Haven't you ever picked up a book with a good looking cover by an author you usually like and later find out its crap? This generally saves you from that.

Other nice things about keeping track of books this way is that you get to write a review of each and every book and have it readily available without having to dig for it. It also keeps track of the number of pages read and allows for you to make notes mid-book. Apparently in 2010 I read 229 books with a total of 74,546 pages.

But my favorite thing about the site is the monthly challenge with a romance reading group. Each month I get 10 categories to be completed by the end of the month. (Read a book with a red cover. Read a book set in Brazil or a character from Brazil. Read a book with a black lead character. Read a book with a dentist as a main character. - that sort or thing.) I'm sure there are other groups besides the few romance groups to which I belong. But if I'm looking for suggestions for spec fic books, I look here or Larry's blog.