I like hoarding books. I like their look on the shelf. I might not read it now, but I enjoy having them. My shelf is my fridge. It should never run out of food, food for the mind.
I always imagine having a virtual shelf, a "shelf" beyond a list of names. Came across Stealing Is a Skill and Criterion Closet the other day. So today is the day.
I also imagine a virtual book store, where people can roam around and flip the books. Would be so nice if bookdespository (sadly gone) have this interaction and have the book delivered to my home. Maybe later.
Demo site
Screenshot
Data source
Goodreads rss
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/{USERID}?per-page=200&&shelf=currently-reading
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/{USERID}?per-page=200&&shelf=to-read
- https://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/{USERID}?per-page=200&&shelf=read
Goodreads rss limits 200 books per shelf.
The rss urls have CORS restriction. So either run from a browser extension, or go through a server proxy.
Development
Start the proxy server
# cwd: shelf/server
node index.jsRuns on http://localhost:3001. Proxies Goodreads RSS and cover image requests to avoid CORS.
Start the frontend
Runs on http://localhost:5173. Opens the app in the browser. Expects the proxy server to be running at localhost:3001 (or set VITE_PROXY_URL).
Build browser extensions
# cwd: shelf # Chrome npm run build:extension # → dist-chrome/ # Firefox npm run build:extension-firefox # → dist-firefox/
Load unpacked in Chrome via chrome://extensions → Load unpacked → select dist-chrome/.
Load in Firefox via about:debugging → Load Temporary Add-on → select any file inside dist-firefox/.