Web Sites (and More!) for Book Lovers
Welcome to our select list of websites that the librarians at Pamunkey have found useful. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Websites change often. These have been recently checked, but may disappear or move without any warning. Please report any missing or broken links to ask@pamunkeylibrary.org.
While the Internet contains lots of up-to-date information, it is not the only source of information on books and reading. Please remember to check with Pamunkey Regional Library's friendly staff when you are doing research for any project that includes book discussion groups. They will be able to direct you to many print sources that you may find helpful.
ALA Book and Media Awards and Notables
Author Blogs and Web Sites new!
Check out our Readers' Advisory playlist on YouTube.
Reviews and Magazines Articles
Forthcoming Titles
Love to read the latest books? Take a look at
our list of upcoming titles now on order
for the library.
You can go to
PamCat, our online catalog and place your hold before these books arrive
at the library. Dates listed are expected release dates. Availability may
vary.
Finding Best Seller Titles in PamCat
It's easy to Best Sellers in PamCat! On PamCat's home page (at
www.pamcat.org, look for the heading "Best
Sellers" under the main search box. Best seller lists for the New York
Times and Washington Post are highlighted. To see even more lists, click
on "More best seller lists."
Pick of the Week
Visitors to the library's
blog can find librarian
recommended titles by clicking on the tag, "Pick of the Week," at the bottom of
blog.
Book Clubs
Several of our branch libraries have book clubs
where book lovers can get together and talk about their favorite reads.
Book club meeting times are listed on the calendar.
For more information about book clubs, please call or visit your local branch
library.
If you can't make it to one of our branch
libraries' book clubs, you can still find out about great titles by joining our
online book clubs.
Every day, Monday through Friday, you will receive in your email a five-minute
selection from a chapter of a book. By the end of the week, you’ll have read 2-3
chapters. Every Monday we start a new book. All books highlighted in the
online book clubs are available in the library.
The Big Read
Each
year, our community reading program spotlights a different classic literary title.
Our first title was Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Our latest read
is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
LibraryThing & Shelfari
Two new ways to see what other folks like to read!
It's like your own custom library catalog, and it's linked to
every other member's catalog. Find people with similar reading tastes. With
LibraryThing, you can catalog with Amazon, the Library of Congress or 680 other world libraries.
Import from anywhere. Get reading recommendations. Tag your books and explore
others' tags. Even put your books on your blog.
Check out PRL's
LibraryThing, Goochland Library's
Shelfari page, and Rockville's
Shelfari page.
Reader's Advisory Online Databases
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NoveList Plus (Library) or (Work, Home, or School): NoveList helps readers of all ages find interesting books to read. You can find information about each novel, search for similar books, and get recommendations based on your reading interests.
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What Do I Read Next? (Library) or (Work, Home, or School): Create a personalized reading profile, customize reading lists using "Keeper List," do a "Find Similar" title search or view the list of similar titles supplied by genre experts. You can also see selections of award winners, upcoming titles, and monthly subject-specific title lists.
Book Lust: A Community for People Who Love Books
Nancy Pearl, librarian, author, and speaker is the go-to source for what to read
next. Book Lust, named after her best-selling book of the same name, is a
great source for reviews, book club news, online reading groups, book blogs, and
more!
Reading Group Choices
This is the first place to try on the web for book guides and author
information. The Paz Associates have created a collection of many (but not all)
of the Reading Group Guides issued by publishers and in their own publication,
"Reading Group Choices". This does not index Oprah's Book Club.
Publishers who have EXTENSIVE lists of Reading Group Guides
include:
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Commercial Web Sites
Almost all of these sites are trying to make money in one-way or
another. However, they do all have interviews with a variety of authors.
Each has different access points to the interviews.
Amazon: A variety of author interviews
Barnes & Noble: Transcripts of author chats are available here
Bookbrowser (Barnes and Noble): Interviews and more are available here
Bookpage: More author interviews
Bookspot: Author interviews and much more, including more links to web sites
Crescent Blues e-magazine: (author interviews)
Salon: (author interviews and reviews)
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Literary Awards
Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Borders all have their own list of Award
winners on their web sites. You can also search the web using the name of
the award you are interested in. What Do I Read Next? and NoveList
Plus also have extensive awards listings.
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Sources for Booklists
There are lots and lots of booklists maintained by individuals or
libraries on the web. These are some of the most interesting that I have
found.
Morton Grove Public Library, Morton Grove, IL: This library has a very extensive page for Reader’s Services. It includes “Web Sites for Book Lovers”, “Thinking Out Loud” (a book discussion group) and over 120 different booklists compiled by librarians from all over the country.
NoveList Plus: available through the Pamunkey web site at home or at the library
Oprah's Book Club: See all of the Oprah book selections and discussion questions here.
Oprah read-alikes: Kansas City, Kansas’s public library has created a site with books that Oprah readers may also like. The titles are linked to Oprah’s early picks.
Reading Woman: This book club claims to have started when Oprah was 16.
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Personal Review Web Sites
There are a wide variety of personal review web sites. They often come up
when you do a search of the web by title or author. These three sites are
regularly updated and maintained.
Genrefluent: The World of Genre Fiction Diana Tixier Herald, librarian and author of Genreflecting, reviews at least three books per week on her web page. She includes only the books she feels she can recommend.
Overbooked: Maintained by Ann Theis, a librarian in Chesterfield.
Printed Matter by Elisabeth Sherwin
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Titles in Series
Kent District Library, Michigan: (for adults)
Mid-Continent Public Library, Missouri: (for children)
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Reviews and Magazine Articles
The Pamunkey Regional Library offers access to magazine indexes and
databases
from the library on our web
site. These databases allow users to search for magazine articles on a wide
variety of topics including author interviews and book reviews. You
will need your library card number to access some of these databases from
work, home, or school.
Laurie Loves Libraries (Laurie R. King)
