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Book Lovers Unite Online

Thursday, March 5, 2015

The Library is full of book lovers, and if you're reading this, we're guessing you're among them. While online life can seem antithetical to that love, in fact the Internet abounds with publications and forums to bring serious readers together with books and with one another. Here are a few sites guaranteed to amuse, provoke new ideas, and suggest your next favorite read. Thanks to Meredith Rossi, Carolyn Waters, and Steven McGuirl for the sites.

Hear the Author

Books and Authors
Library member and presenter Cary Barbor podcasts exciting interviews with authors of new books. You can subscribe to her podcasts via iTunes or Stitcher.

House of SpeakEasy: Writers and Audiences
This site aims to bring "writers and their audiences together," promoting the City Winery event series "Seriously Entertaining."

Poets & Writers Literary Events Calendar
Poets & Writers magazine, in print or online, is a mecca for anyone interested in writing and publishing. Their newly improved calendar of nearby literary events is available on the website or through a user-friendly app.

Find Your Next Read

Bookmarks Magazine
The online home of the magazine "for everyone who hasn't read everything" includes reviews, reading guides, and book recommendations by genre, among others.

Bookvibe
For the social media savvy: this site uses Twitter to generate personalized recommendations of buzzed-about books.

Literature-Map
This fun interactive site creates a unique graphic of recommended authors based on your taste.

The Neglected Books Page
Dedicated to remembering the books that time forgot. Next to this Library's stacks, this may be the best place to find a forgotten gem. For a buzz-deprived book from our collection, see our Unloved Books generator.

Read It Right Here

Electric Literature
Their Recommended Reading page offers new short fiction curated by "literary luminaries." You can also subscribe to their mailing list to get a new story in your email every week. Okey-Panky features comics, poetry, fiction, essays, and more. The rest of their site is chock-full of literary news, interviews, tools, and original fiction.

Page Turner
The New Yorker's book blog publishes original articles, interviews, and news from the literary world, plus a fiction podcast.

Paris Review Daily
If you need a fix between the beautiful and intelligent print issues of the Paris Review, their daily blog provides original content, interviews, and news.

Travel from That Armchair

Where Should I Read Next
Click anywhere on this site's world map for a list of books from and about that country.

A Year of Reading the World
A favorite site of Assistant Head Librarian Carolyn Waters. The blogger spent a year reading fiction and nonfiction from 196 different countries, recommending these alongside recommendations from her readers. It's a good companion to Going Places: A Reader's Guide to Travel Narratives by Robert Burgin.

And Just for Fun

Awful Library Books
A wild and woolly collection of books or editions that deserve to be weeded, submitted by librarians from around the world.

Have a favorite book-related website? Add it in the comments!

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