Haha yeah, will need to speed that up somehow. Most quotes I've seen on the web are more like vague aphorisms instead of insightful ideas.
I personally prefer (and think people will benefit much more) from the latter.
FEEDBACK EDIT: unless, I dunno, am I wrong? Would you rather see a random book cover with the generic Amazon/Goodreads description? You'd get much more variety that way.
Maybe the best strategy is to show the generic description when it's a book you haven't personally written the description for. That way you can concentrate on the books you love or find most interesting, while still providing a huge variety to your users.
Yeah I'll look into doing that. This is my ~4th attempt (after countless iterations) of book-related projects and I have yet to find a reliable API for useful book data.
Personally I'd rather see a well curated and thought out list than random books. If I want random books. If I want a random book I can just walk blindly into a library.
Apart from the curated excerpt, which is an excellent idea, a summary (e.g. the stuff on the back cover or on the Amazon page for the book) would be useful to give people an idea of what the book is about.
I personally prefer (and think people will benefit much more) from the latter.
FEEDBACK EDIT: unless, I dunno, am I wrong? Would you rather see a random book cover with the generic Amazon/Goodreads description? You'd get much more variety that way.