Great Websites for Readers
There’s a common belief that web surfing has replaced reading as pastime. These five websites (and tons of others) prove that the love of literature has survived into the 21st century- and shows no signs of slowing.
Book lovers know that the love for the written word has not disappeared because of the web. In fact, you can do alot of reading, buying and sharing of books right here on the web.
Shelfari.com
This is a social networking site for readers. Create a profile, add books to your shelf and join as many online book groups as you like. The neatest thing about Shelfari is your book shelf. Choose the way it looks, which books to display first and how they are categorized. You can add thousands of books to your shelf. There is a group for every genre, so no readers are left behind.
Bookmooch.com
This site demonstrates humankind’s capacity for recycling, togetherness and getting stuff for free. Bookmooch is an online book-swapping site.When you join Bookmooch, you post a few of your unwanted books and get 1/10th of a point for each book. When someone orders a book from you, you recieve a point. You use each point to order books from others. With Bookmooch.com, you can get nearly new hardcover books for free. All that you ever pay is the cost of mailing the book. The site is kid-friendly, free and a great way to get free books.
Literature-map.com
Looking for your next great read? Go to literature-map.com, type in your favorite author and watch the authors’ names swirl around. This site groups authors according to similarity. So, if you love Sue Grafton, literature-map will find authors with similar subject matter, style and themes. The closer the names, the greater the similarity. All you have to do next is head to the library.
Betterworld.com
Betterworld.com is a bookworm’s heaven. They have thousands of books both used and new at prices far below what the bookstore charges. At Betterworld, shipping and handling in the US is free. For the rest of the world, shipping costs only $2.97. Betterworld doesn’t stop there, however: all of the proceeds from the sale of books goes to fund global literacy. It’s a charity that sends love in both directions.
Besides these five terrific sites, there are tons of others where you can read classics for free and even download classic audiobooks for nothing. There are fan clubs for every great author you can think of from Jane Austen to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The web is advancing human literacy in leaps and bounds and the 21st century bookworm is loving it.
Check out this author’s blog (another great site for readers)!
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Excellent info. Thanks, Stephanie!
nice info…
Great information. Thanks.
Great article, Stephanie! I didn’t know about some of these sites. Wait till I tell my daughter who loves books about Bookmooch!
Wow, this is a wealth of information. I had no idea theses sites were out there. Thanks.
very informative!
Another site I like is goodreads.com.
goodreads is great, too. At Project Gutenberg, you can download free classic audiobooks and at Audible.com, you can get audibooks at a discount.
Library thing is yet another good site that has a decent recommendation system.
This is a site that ties all the rest together. I am already a member of a couple of the others and I think this is a key to good resourcing. Thanks.