Fabula Rasa

A book club app that uses a simple algorithm to select the best candidate for the next read, based on rating, target length, and who suggested recently selected books. Or just use it solo.

Installation

Windows

• Download the latest release and run
• Data is stored in '%appdata%/Roaming/FabulaRasa'

Usage

Header

• Manage profiles with the user icon in the top left
  • Each profile has a separate calendar, database, and config
• Manage data export and import with the disc icon in the in the top left
  • Export as CSV or MD
  • Backup and restore profiles
• Manage misc options with the gear icon in the top left
  • Input regional store addresses for Amazon and Kobo
  • Clear the book cover image cache

Home

• Add books
  • Add book title/ISBN, author, tags, word count, and member
    • Title/ISBN is the only required field
    • ISBN is preferable to get the correct edition/cover
  • Info will be pulled automatically and member will be skipped if not entered
  • Word count can't be scraped, but will make an estimate based on page count
  • Use this for book word counts
  • Tags must be seperated with a comma (e.g. 'Fiction, Literary')
  • Click 'Add' or press 'Enter' to add it to the available books
  • All fields can be added/edited later
• Select books
  • Select a planned read date in the calendar
    • Planned read date will default to next Monday if not changed
    • Dates with planned read dates will be coloured blue
  • Click 'Select' to run the selector
• Navigate through selected books with the icons in the top right of the selected book panel
  • In order: earliest, previous, current, next, latest

Database

• Manage available and previously selected books in a table view
  • Edit, add, or remove books to the available books table manually
  • Edit books in the selected books table manually
• Tags
  • Tags can be added, edited, or deleted by double clicking the tag field
  • Click 'Save' to save tag changes
• Click 'Save' to save book changes

Config

• Adjust the algorithm settings
  • Rating Baseline sets the star rating that equals 0 penalty (lower and higher ratings subtract or add points)
  • Rating Multiplier is the factor to multiply by (10 is 1 point per 0.1 rating / 3 stars = 30 points)
  • Target Wordcount sets the number of words that equals 0 points (lower and higher than target wordcount will subtracts points)
  • Penalty Step is how many words outside target to apply a 1 point penalty (every x number of words outside of target subtracts 1 point)
  • Penalty 1, 2, and 3 subtracts points based on who selected recent books (1 being the most recent, 2 the second most, 3 the third most)
  • Tag 1, 2, and 3 subtracts or adds points based on genre of recently selected books (1 being the most recent, 2 the second most, 3 the third most)
• Click 'Save' to save config changes

Notes

• Cover scraping will take a moment when adding a book, but selected book navigation will be faster once cached