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Reader's Advisory Resources
With thousands of titles published every year, it can be difficult to find the time to choose titles that match your unique reading interests. Librarians are usually pretty good at suggesting books that match your reading tastes and habits.
If you can't stop by the library we can offer you the expertise of our librarians to find your next great read. Complete and submit the form and you will receive a personalized list of 5 titles based on your interests. If you aren't happy with the list we send you, just fill in the above form again giving us more specifics about what you enjoy reading. You can also suggest a title for purchase if you do not see it in our online catalog.
Librarians are not all-knowing, however, there are a variety of tools we use to assist you in the discovery of new books. Try our Staff Recommended Resources the next time you need something new to read!
Staff Recommended Resources
- BookBrowse
BookBrowse recommends books for book clubs by a variety of categories and themes and provides a reading guide and excerpt for each book. Find books by genre, title, author, time period, setting and many themes.
- Book Reporter
Provides thoughtful book reviews, features, in-depth author profiles and interviews, excerpts of new releases, literary games and contests.
Fantastic Fiction is a great website when you want to look up an author's collection of books, and it even lists the books of a series in order. The website even lists new books being released by the author. Each page even includes the books that the author would recommend as well as a section that lists other authors that visitors also looked at after looking at a specific author.
- GoodReads
Good Reads is one of the most popular book review websites on the Internet and it allows you to make book lists. You can see which books your friends are reading and what they recommend, and track the books you're reading, have read, and want to read. This website is completely based on user reviews and recommendations.
- Library Reads
The concept of LibraryReads is simple: The top ten books published each month that library staff across the United States love. The ultimate goal is to connect their favorite books to as many readers as possible!
- Literature Map
Literature Map is not only helpful, but it is a lot of fun to play with. The user types in an author's name and the website generates a web of other authors that have similar writing styles and genres.
- New York Times Bestseller List
Authoritatively ranked lists of books sold in the United States. This bestseller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. Published weekly in The New York Times Book Review, the best-seller list has been published in the Times since October 12, 1931.
- NPR Books
Books that have been discussed on National Public Radio (NPR).
- OCLC's Fiction Finder
Explore fiction and movies from libraries around the world. Fiction Finder is a works-based application that provides access to millions of works of fiction described in WorldCat records for books, eBooks, audiobooks, movies and television. You can search by person, place, topic, genre, character, Dewey and more.
- Oprah's Book Club
Since its inception, Oprah's Book Club has been a cultural force that has pushed many books that would otherwise have been overlooked by the general public onto the bestseller lists. The so-called "Oprah Effect" is estimated to have sold nearly 60 million copies of its selections and has made several authors into household names simply by their selection. Oprah's Book Club has been credited with reviving a culture of literary discussion to a large extent.
Reesee's Book Club
Each month, Reese Witherspoon chooses a book with a woman at the center of the story. There’s not a formula to the books spotlighted in the club. Reese will tell you the special sauce is a story with honesty and sincerity, celebrating all the ways we are women. And along the way (buckle up) we’ll also introduce you to new voices, authors, and perspectives. We do this together, because at our core Reese’s Book Club is about the joy of reading. And joy isn’t something we keep to ourselves.
USA Today Bestseller List
Each week, USA TODAY collects sales data from booksellers representing a variety of outlets: bookstore chains, independent bookstores, mass merchandisers and online retailers. Using that data, we determine the week's 150 top-selling titles. The first 50 are published in the print version of USA TODAY each Thursday. The top 150 are published online. The rankings reflect sales from the previous Monday through Sunday.
USA TODAY's Best Selling Books list is a ranking of titles selling well each week at a broad range of retail outlets. It reflects combined sales of titles in print and electronic format, if available.
- What Should I Read Next?
What Should I Read Next analyzes the favorites list of all their members in order to recommend the best next read for any book. You can either just get a book recommendation for free by going to their main page and choosing a book title, and it will provide you a list of titles that others who have favorited it have also read. Or, you can join for free and build your own list of favorites to add to their extensive database. The analysis based on readers' lists is surprisingly good, but book recommendations are pretty much all this website offers.
- Whichbook
Whichbook helps you pick a book based on your mood, which you can do for free or sign up and create saved lists. The site provides a list of sliders, and you can choose 4 of the sliders to indicate your mood (are you looking for something more Happy or Sad, Expected or Unpredictable, Easy or Demanding, No Sex or Lots of Sex, etc.). Once you've indicated your tastes, it will provide you with a list that fits your mood (or you can explore their mood book lists). But if that way doesn't work for you, you can create book lists based on character, plot type and setting. This site is great to help you find new books that you may not have thought you would like.
- Your Next Read (USA)
Your Next Read provides book recommendations in two ways, and you can sign up and create your own "Map" of books. To find book recommendations, you can either browse reading lists, or you can type in a title, and a web of 8 other books will appear (as well as Amazon reviews about the book you searched for). You can then select another book in the web and 8 more books will show up based on the book you just selected. You can also offer up recommendations of your own.