Ashley's List of Book Sites.
Books are incredible things. As such, there are a great many sites and LJ comms dedicated to them, and I have compiled a list of my very favorites. So here we go; I hope this list proves useful to someone. ^^;;
In no particular order:
01. Goodreads.com: A fabulous and extensive website dedicated to book lists and catalogs. It's sort of like Shelfari and LibraryThing, but personally I prefer Goodreads. You can add books to your lists by searching for ISBNs, authors, titles, or what-have-you, and these lists are entirely customizable. There are the standard "currently reading," "to read," and "read" lists, but you're also free to make up your own. Ordering your lists is also very easy. Goodreads also has their own book-swap system, which I don't use, but I'm sure it's very fine. The great thing about Goodreads is that it's maintained by a team of "librarians" (dedicated users) that keep things up to date, and the books are very well organized. For instance, under A Wild Sheep Chase by Murakami Haruki, you have the option of adding the book to any of your lists, but on the right hand side, you can also change which edition you're looking at, so you don't get mixed up. It's very nice. There's also a rating system (five stars) for rating your favorite or least favorite books, and of course you can post reviews for books and read reviews by other users. I ADORE this site. ♥ My profile's here, so friend me if you have an account~
02. bookish: The best LJ community for books out there, IMO, and I've seen quite a few. Members have book discussions and ask/give recs, but mostly it's full of book reviews. The comm is super active, and there are multiple posts everyday, so if you ever have a bit of time, I'd definitely give it a go. As far as I've seen, everyone is fabulous and pretty courteous, and I've not seen any big LJ drama there. ^^ I've added an insane amount of books to my to-read list as a result of this community, and I'm incredibly thankful to all the reviewers there. Awesome comm~
03. BookMooch: My favorite book-swapping site. The best explanation of their system is probably in their own words, but I'll offer a few quick words here. ^^ Basically, you search the site and add books to your inventory. Someone requests a book, you send it, and now you have a point. Take that point, and you can request a book with it from someone who has something you want. Also, simply adding books to your inventory gives you 0.1 points, so if you add ten books straight away, you can request a book quickly rather than wait for someone to "mooch" one from you. I've sent fifteen-ish books already--ones I no longer wanted and that local used-book stores would probably give me like thirty cents for, if that--and have received a few as well. I LOVE this website. Everyone I've worked with has been great so far, and it's a really easy system to get used to. Look me up if you end up making an account! ^^
04. The Book Seer: You input a book you just read, and out come recommendations! The recs are based off of other sites like Amazon.com, so they aren't really personalized, but the Book Seer's really fun to use anyway. XP I loooove the design.
05. The Inkwell Bookstore Blog: They always post pretty cool news links here, so I like checking up on them from time to time. ♥
06. calico_reaction: She has some really awesome reviews, and a unique and pretty interesting rating system. I totally adore her reviews, which are thoughtful and fairly in-depth, and for the most part really trust her judgment, since it has yet to fail me. ^^
In no particular order:
01. Goodreads.com: A fabulous and extensive website dedicated to book lists and catalogs. It's sort of like Shelfari and LibraryThing, but personally I prefer Goodreads. You can add books to your lists by searching for ISBNs, authors, titles, or what-have-you, and these lists are entirely customizable. There are the standard "currently reading," "to read," and "read" lists, but you're also free to make up your own. Ordering your lists is also very easy. Goodreads also has their own book-swap system, which I don't use, but I'm sure it's very fine. The great thing about Goodreads is that it's maintained by a team of "librarians" (dedicated users) that keep things up to date, and the books are very well organized. For instance, under A Wild Sheep Chase by Murakami Haruki, you have the option of adding the book to any of your lists, but on the right hand side, you can also change which edition you're looking at, so you don't get mixed up. It's very nice. There's also a rating system (five stars) for rating your favorite or least favorite books, and of course you can post reviews for books and read reviews by other users. I ADORE this site. ♥ My profile's here, so friend me if you have an account~
02. bookish: The best LJ community for books out there, IMO, and I've seen quite a few. Members have book discussions and ask/give recs, but mostly it's full of book reviews. The comm is super active, and there are multiple posts everyday, so if you ever have a bit of time, I'd definitely give it a go. As far as I've seen, everyone is fabulous and pretty courteous, and I've not seen any big LJ drama there. ^^ I've added an insane amount of books to my to-read list as a result of this community, and I'm incredibly thankful to all the reviewers there. Awesome comm~
03. BookMooch: My favorite book-swapping site. The best explanation of their system is probably in their own words, but I'll offer a few quick words here. ^^ Basically, you search the site and add books to your inventory. Someone requests a book, you send it, and now you have a point. Take that point, and you can request a book with it from someone who has something you want. Also, simply adding books to your inventory gives you 0.1 points, so if you add ten books straight away, you can request a book quickly rather than wait for someone to "mooch" one from you. I've sent fifteen-ish books already--ones I no longer wanted and that local used-book stores would probably give me like thirty cents for, if that--and have received a few as well. I LOVE this website. Everyone I've worked with has been great so far, and it's a really easy system to get used to. Look me up if you end up making an account! ^^
04. The Book Seer: You input a book you just read, and out come recommendations! The recs are based off of other sites like Amazon.com, so they aren't really personalized, but the Book Seer's really fun to use anyway. XP I loooove the design.
05. The Inkwell Bookstore Blog: They always post pretty cool news links here, so I like checking up on them from time to time. ♥
06. calico_reaction: She has some really awesome reviews, and a unique and pretty interesting rating system. I totally adore her reviews, which are thoughtful and fairly in-depth, and for the most part really trust her judgment, since it has yet to fail me. ^^