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The Web for Book Lovers

© Gillian Davis

The printed word is alive and well on the Web.

There is a lot out there on the subject of books and reading. As librarians, in our constant quest to keep up with the world of information technology, I think it's important to be reminded of the good ol' book sometimes.

Here are some of the better sites out there for bibliophiles, readers, librarians, and book lovers.

Book Bytes - Marylaine Block's excellent site dedicated to books and reading. To start with, there are the columns she's written about books, such as America in 9 Innings, My Favorite Books of 2000, and Mindchangers to name just a few. Then there's the Books Too Good to Put Down section, a fantastic collection of reading lists for adults, teens, and kids, organized by genre. There's also a useful pathfinder to Finding Out-of-Print Books and a section devoted to Book Recommendations and Reference. This is a wonderful site, and book lovers will really enjoy spending some time here.

BookBrowser: The Guide for Avid Readers - Bookbrowser is great for librarians and the casual reader alike. It's especially good if you're looking for suggestions of "what to read next", either for yourself or for your patrons. I find I use it quite a bit in readers' advisory work, particularly the sections on Series and Sequels and If you Like . . . Try . . .. There are also really unique lists like Sleuths by Occupation (currently lists ten librarian sleuths!) and Diverse Detectives. The Place & Time section is great too, where you can locate a Mystery by Region or Romance Fiction in Historical Settings. While the heart of BookBrowser is definitely these readings lists, it also contains a nice selection of reviews, author information and interviews, and links to other resources of interest to book lovers.

AllReaders.com - The impressive thing about this site is the great search engine which sorts and displays fiction by requested plot, character types, structure, prevailing themes, and other attributes. Just look at the options available in the Biographies detailed search section, for instance. Amazing. Also includes book reviews written by the general public.

BookHive: Your Guide to Children's Literature & Books - This is a huge collection of reviews of children's books, a good site for parents as well as librarians looking for reading selections for children. You can search the collection by author, title, illustrator, reading level, reading interest, or page length. You can also browse for reviews by category such as New, Biographies, Folklore, Read-Aloud, Sports, Classics, and much more. Some titles include notes from parents and/or kids about awards or content. All reviews are written by librarians.