Title: Good Reads Books
Author: David Sword
Published: <strong>July 3, 2017</strong>
Last modified: December 7, 2017

---

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![](https://ps.w.org/display-good-reads-books/assets/banner-772x250.jpg?rev=1689850)

This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**.
It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when
used with more recent versions of WordPress.

![](https://ps.w.org/display-good-reads-books/assets/icon-256x256.jpg?rev=1689293)

# Good Reads Books

 By [David Sword](https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidsword/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/display-good-reads-books.1.2.zip)

 * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/display-good-reads-books/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/display-good-reads-books/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/display-good-reads-books/#installation)
 * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/display-good-reads-books/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books/)

## Description

#### Showcase reading and read Goodreads shelves on your website.

 * Fully Responsive
 * Select how many books to show in a row
    - Will display all currently reading
    - Rest of space filled with recently read
 * Updates shelves daily
 * Colour, or, Black & White covers (for the true Kindle experience)

#### Usage

 * After setting up, use `[goodreads]` shortcode to display

#### Please Note

 * 🍺 This is a new plugin, please [open a support request](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books)
   before summiting a negative review, _I’m happy to help,_ please provide as much
   information as possible (books that are causing an issue, theme currently used,
   your GoodReads profile URL, your GoodReads API key, WordPress and PHP version).

### Road Map

#### The current todo list:

 * Make the **Select Media Item** input with upload instead of text input for cover
   exemptions
 * Better default CSS for headings

Please add any additional requests into [the Support tab](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books).

## Screenshots

[⌊Running out of the box on Twenty-Fifteen⌉⌊Running out of the box on Twenty-Fifteen⌉[

Running out of the box on Twenty-Fifteen

[⌊Running out of the box iPhone 6s emulator on Twenty-Fifteen theme⌉⌊Running out
of the box iPhone 6s emulator on Twenty-Fifteen theme⌉[

Running out of the box iPhone 6s emulator on Twenty-Fifteen theme

[⌊Settings page⌉⌊Settings page⌉[

Settings page

[⌊As a sticky post in a custom theme⌉⌊As a sticky post in a custom theme⌉[

As a sticky post in a custom theme

## Installation

 1. Install the plugin from your Plugin browser, or download the plugin and extract
    the files and upload `good-reads-books` to your `/wp-content/plugins/` directory
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
 3. View the _Good Reads Books_ interface under _Settings_ in your WordPress Admin
 4. Use the `[goodreads]` shortcode where you want to show your shelves

## FAQ

  Installation Instructions

 1. Install the plugin from your Plugin browser, or download the plugin and extract
    the files and upload `good-reads-books` to your `/wp-content/plugins/` directory
 2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
 3. View the _Good Reads Books_ interface under _Settings_ in your WordPress Admin
 4. Use the `[goodreads]` shortcode where you want to show your shelves

  Why are some covers cropped?

The books are currently being displayed at a `1:1.55` ratio. Not all book covers
are this ratio, so minor clipping may occur as the image is set to fill the space
the plugin provides for it.

  What is this warning about `CURL` about?

CURL is a library of PHP that is used to access data from other websites. For this
plugin, we need to access Goodreads API and retrieve the data for your shelves. 
Without `CURL` this plugin cannot work.

  The Books are really small on smart phone?

The displaying of the books is lateral, allocating as many slots as selected in 
the admin settings page. This allocation shrinks equally as the container width 
lowers, and the covers ratios are maintained. If you’ve selected a high number of
books, this may result in the thumbnails looking too small on smaller phones.

This is by design, but I’m open to changing it in future version if the request 
is there. In the mean time, try reducing your “Show x Total Books” numbers.

  Some books are blank, just the “G” logo?

Due to licensing, sadly some image covers are not available through Goodreads API.
If a books image is blank, you can define it in the settings page under “Exceptions”
with your own cover.

To get the ID of the book, hover the cover of the book with your cursor on your 
website.

  Why do you call it “Good Reads Books” instead of “Goodreads Books” ?

The fine fellows at Goodreads in their API agreement state that no one can’t use“
Goodreads” in an app title. Yet “Good Reads” is fine.. legal stuff is so silly sometimes.

## Reviews

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1a23d108c037c196a70ebabea1e506b8746cd6dfe6fc2a78523eb9488c69067c?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Would work, but](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/would-work-but/)󠁿

 [Rum](https://profiles.wordpress.org/hyrum0/) April 29, 2022

Goodreads no longer gives keys for developers and this plugin requires that, so 
it’s useless. Too bad.

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cd4cdb16cecc6f286eee55fd9552a131230441c3dd9424e7141b4d58303f056c?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Nice](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/nice-2962/)󠁿

 [decolla](https://profiles.wordpress.org/decolla/) May 21, 2019

Very nice lightweight plugin, exactly what I m looking for. Very easy to use. Some
book covers won’t appear but the plugin’s author provides an easy and clever way
to bypass the problem which originates from Goodreads.com

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/b34589c93cb4d682816d1b0cc211ed57536de7ce056d910b399792056ffb281c?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Great Little Plugin](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/great-little-plugin-177/)󠁿

 [tazshaikh](https://profiles.wordpress.org/tazshaikh/) March 1, 2018

Given that currently reading widget from goodreads.com itself doesnt support wordpress,
I’m so glad that this plugin was made. Its super simple but great. Thank you for
making it!

![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/cb1a52fe488569ec044689d21594674549be0c722ee519f4d89545abbe4bce33?
s=60&d=retro&r=g)

### 󠀁[Works As Shown](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/works-as-shown/)󠁿

 [David Sword](https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidsword/) July 26, 2017

My bias review of my own plugin. Don’t judge, stars matter!: Plugin works great 
to display GoodReads read/reading shelves. Simple and easy.

 [ Read all 4 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books/reviews/)

## Contributors & Developers

“Good Reads Books” is open source software. The following people have contributed
to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ David Sword ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidsword/)

[Translate “Good Reads Books” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/display-good-reads-books)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/display-good-reads-books/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/display-good-reads-books/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/display-good-reads-books/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/display-good-reads-books/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 1.2

 * Dec 6, 2017
 * added: user ID parser logic to better extract member/authors who have custom 
   usernames (thanks Andy E!)
 * added: a “Refresh” AJAX button in admin. Though saving page refreshes plugin,
   this button makes it easier.
 * added: new error handler for api returning a 404 (odd, but it can happen!)
 * changed: rewrote most inline field description instructions
 * changed: B&W covers now optional
 * fixed: properly localized text that contained variables/html

#### 1.1

 * July 6, 2016
 * fixed use of php shorttag that caused undefined var for credit on some server
   setups

#### 1.0

 * July 1, 2017
 * Initial build

## Meta

 *  Version **1.2**
 *  Last updated **9 years ago**
 *  Active installations **100+**
 *  WordPress version ** 4.0 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **4.9.29**
 * Tag
 * [GoodReads](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/goodreads/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/display-good-reads-books/advanced/)

## Ratings

 4 out of 5 stars.

 *  [  3 5-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books/reviews/?filter=5)
 *  [  0 4-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books/reviews/?filter=4)
 *  [  0 3-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books/reviews/?filter=3)
 *  [  0 2-star reviews     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books/reviews/?filter=2)
 *  [  1 1-star review     ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books/reviews/?filter=1)

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ David Sword ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidsword/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/display-good-reads-books/)

## Donate

Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin?

 [ Donate to this plugin ](http://www.redcross.ca/donate/)