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Looking for a good book? Start here!

Booklists | Online Resources

New York Times Book News 

Prefer to Listen?  Check out new library audiobooks and online audiobook resources from our Audio/Video page.

Looking for reading suggestions?  Try the Maine State Library's email newsletter service, Next Reads.  Subscribe to email newsletters on your choice of a variety of topics and receive monthly reading suggestions and new book alerts via email.   

Fill out our Reader's Advisory Online form and receive personalized suggestions by email.

See what's hot: 

"We read fiction because it pleases us, moves us, is beautiful, and so on--because it is alive and we are alive" from "How Fiction Works" by James Wood

Booklists:

Books to try if you like....

Mysteries:

Nonfiction:

Online resources:

Novelist Novelist does more than help you find books similar to one that you enjoyed.  Use to browse lists of fiction, like Cozy Mysteries, or Military Adventure.  Trying to decide on your next book group selection?  Book Discussion Guides will give you ideas, and major discussion points for each book listed.  Novelist is part of the Marvel statewide databases. 

Literature Resource Center  Find literary criticism, author biographies, and full text periodical articles in this resource from MARVEL, the statewide database collection. 

Social Networking Sites Share and discuss your favorite books with others.

BiblioTravel http://www.bibliotravel.com/ A free online resource for
identifying stories that are set in distinct locales started by two
librarians.

Book Blogs http://bookblogs.ning.com/ “Our members read books, blog
books, write books, and publicize books.”

Book Crossing http://www.bookcrossing.com Where books take on a life
of their own. BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to
share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources
at the same time. A book registered on BookCrossing is ready for
adventure.

Book Glutton http://www.bookglutton.com Our intent: build an
experience that is simultaneously a book group, a computer, and a
book. Chat chapter by chapter, comment on each paragraph.

Book Jetty http://www.bookjetty.com BookJetty is a social utility that
connects you with your friends' bookshelves and checks books'
availability in the libraries.

Book Movement. http://www.bookmovement.com/ “BookMovement.com was
founded in 2001 to give book clubs a way to recommend books to each
other on a national level.”

Books I Read http://apps.facebook.com/ireadit/ A Facebook application.
Must register to use.

Books Well Read http://www.bookswellread.com The goal of BooksWellRead
is to be the online destination of choice for people who want to
'digest' what they read by capturing their thoughts in writing.
BooksWellRead has been designed to be simple, fast, and easy to use.

Crime Space http://crimespace.ning.com/ A place for readers and
writers of crime fiction to meet.

eBooklists http://www.eBooklists.pbwiki.com RAwiki being constructed
by librarians who were in graduate school together at Indiana
University.

Goodreads www.goodreads.com Keeps track of what you’ve read and what
your friends are reading. Also on Facebook.

I Read Wiki iread.pbwiki.com/ A collaborative website by Iowa
librarians of reading suggestions.

Library Thing www.librarything.com Helps you create a library-quality
catalog of your books and connects you with people who read the same
things.

Reader2Reader. A UK network that allows readers to discover and
suggest books to each other, chat and share reader experiences or do
author/title searchers. http://www.reader2reader.net/

Read Me. http://mssv.net/wiki/index.php/ReadMe User editable wiki of
book suggestions and queries.

Revish http://www.revish.com Revish is a place where people share
their reading experiences. You can use Revish to keep and share a list
of books you're reading, write reviews of books, find recommendations
from other readers, and a whole lot more.

Shelfari www.shelfari.com Allows you to share what is on your
bookshelf with others and discover new books. Also on Facebook.

weRead http://weread.com/ “weRead is a community for book lovers.
Whether you love classics or popular fiction; whether you love Dickens
or Dan Brown; is a place where you can find others who share your
reading tastes and through them discover new books that you will love.”

What Should I Read Next? http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/search
Searchable database of real readers’ favourite books (over 47,000 and
growing) to suggest what you could read next.

What’s On My Bookshelf http://whatsonmybookshelf.com/
“WhatsOnMyBookshelf, a book trading community, allows members to
exchange their books using a simple point system. Users maintain their
own profile page with friends, book inventory, and wishlists. Our goal
is to facilitate the trading of books in addition to connecting people
with similar reading interests. Sharing a book is the creation of a
common place for dialogue, friendships, and ideas.”......................................................................
 

More Web Links 

Featured Web Sites:

Overbooked
"A web site for ravenous readers." In addition to themed book lists, Starred Reviews Lists compiles the best reviewed titles from a variety of sources.  

  The Neglected Books Page
"Here you'll find lists of thousands of books that have been neglected, overlooked, forgotten, or stranded by changing tides in critical or popular taste."

ALA Books for the College Bound
Whether or not you are college bound, you will find the books on this list well written and thought provoking.  The lists include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, biography and drama.