Tertulia 4+

I’ve been using the Tertulia app for a little less than a year as a paying member and it’s been great. Especially over the last few months since they have been making updates and increasing user engagement. I now use it exclusively to track my books. I love the reviews and recommendations. And buying books is ridiculously easy with Apple Pay (my husband would say a little too easy!) And I have been pleasantly surprised by how quickly the books get delivered. I also like being able to send book recommendations to friends and family via text through the app. I’ve tried most of book apps available and this is one of the best.

This app has such a beautiful, simple platform / design / layout that I’ve considered abandoning all the other book and reading apps I’ve tried out or use regularly and switching over to this one exclusively. The recommendations are also shockingly good - I follow publishing and literary news pretty closely and spend a lot of time scouring the shelves of my local bookstores and libraries, so it’s unusual for me to receive a book recommendation thats both perfect for my tastes/ interests and never crossed my path before. But this app consistently serves up recs for books I know nothing about and that are extremely relevant to my interests.

The one thing that is frustrating about the platform tho is the speed at which pages load. If I click on a title, it takes some time to save the book to one of my shelves, and then if I want to go back to the list I was on, it can take numerous tries at tapping the back button before the app responds. (Side note - It would also be nice if books could be shelved/saved from within the lists too). Typically I end up getting tired of how slow the app runs and close it / switch to a different app, but if the speed could be improved, I would love to spend more time using it or pay for a subscription.

I recently moved all of my Goodreads info to Tertulia because they are much better at keeping my lists and recommendations in a concise, visually pleasing format. I’ve easily doubled the amount I’m reading because they have all the books I’m looking for and generous deals throughout the year to keep my bookcase stacked. They also listen to their user feedback and their customer service responds right away. That little spark I used to have for learning and indulging in literature has been reignited thanks to Tertulia’s passion for expanding the bounds of reading to include salons and book clubs. It’s interactive, comprehensive, and constantly getting better; the best book app to date.