Book Club Resources
Book Reviews
E-Literature
Genres
Literary Criticism
Media
Miscellaneous
Online Booksellers
Out of Print and Rare Booksellers
Readers' Advisory
Study Guides
Book Club Resources
African American Literature Book Club: http://aalbc.com
A website dedicated to books by and about black authors.
Reading Group Choices: http://www.readinggroupchoices.com/
Reading Group Guides: www.readinggroupguides.com
Seattle Public Library: http://www.spl.org/pdfs/RecommendedBooksforDiscussion.pdf
Recommended reading for book discussion from Seattle Public Library.
The Online Books Page: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
A searchable and browsable collection of over 25,000 books.
Book Reviews
Bookreporter.com reviews: www.Bookreporter.com/reviews/index.asp
Metacritic.com book reviews: http://www.metacritic.com/books/
E-Literature
Classic Reader: www.classicreader.com
Easy-to-maneuver site with online, unabridged classics.
Luminarium: http://www.luminarium.org
Created in 1996 to provide a starting point for students and enthusiasts of English Literature.
New York Times First Chapters: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/chapters/index.html
First chapters of books reviewed in the New York Times Book Review, searchable by author.
Project Gutenberg: http://www.promo.net/pg
News, Links, Etext listings.
Genres
Genres - Adventure
Genreflecting's Adventure/Suspense: http://www.genreflecting.com/Adventure.html
This site defines the genre, lists the top authors in the genre along with some suggested titles.
Thrillerwriters.org: http://www.thrillerwriters.org
Genres - Christian Fiction/Gentle Reads
Christy Awards: www.christyawards.com/home.htm
Celebrating the best in Christian fiction.
Gentle Reads authors: www.planolibrary.org/booklists.htm#Gentle%20Reads
A sampling of Gentle Reads authors compiled by PPLS librarians.
Overbooked: http://www.overbooked.org/genres/inspirational/index.html
Includes an impressive array of links to Christian fiction lists.
Genres - Mystery
Authors After Dark: http://www.authorsafterdark.com/
MysteryNet.com http://www.mysterynet.com/books
MysteryNet features books, TV shows, and interactive mystery games.
The Mystery Reader: http://www.themysteryreader.com
The very latest news and views of mystery novels, including sub-genres.
Stop! You're Killing Me: http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/
Want to know if your favorite mystery author has a website? Want a listing of everything that author has written? Want to look up an author by the name of a character? A simple to maneuver, fun site.
Genres - Romance
All About Romance: allaboutromance.com
Find 6,000+ reviews, author interviews, messge boards, reader's polls, and information for romance writers on this site.
The Romance Reader: http://www.theromancereader.com
The very latest news and views of romance novels.
Romance Writers of America: www.rwanational.org
Romance awards, bestsellers, authors' websites, etc.
Romantic Times Magazine: www.romantictimes.com
The magazine for lovers of mystery and romance fiction.
Genres - Science Fiction and Fantasy
Analog: http://www.analogsf.com/0607/issue_07.shtml
Founded in 1938 by John W. Campbell, this is one of the premier scifi magazines printing stories by new and established science fiction writers. First named Astounding, it's the magazine of science fiction and fact.
Fantasy Finder: www.hoh.se/fantasyfinder/reviews.html
Locus Magazine: www.locusmag.com
The "newspaper of the science fiction field."
SF Site: www.sfsite.com
Contains book reviews, interviews and links to author web pages.
Genres - Westerns
Overbooked: http://www.overbooked.org/genres/westerns/index.html
Includes the Overbooked Reading List for Westerns, along with links to ezines, awards and book lists.
Western Writers of America: www.westernwriters.org
Spur Awards, list of best western books
Literary Criticism
Literary Criticism: www.libraryspot.com/litcrit.htm
Hand-picked sites from the award-winning LibrarySpot.com folks
Online Literary Criticism Collection: www.ipl.org/div/litcrit
Authoritative literary criticism collected by the librarians at Internet Public Library
Literature Resource Center through PPLS: http://www.plano.gov/Departments/Libraries/Databases/
Access the TexShare Databases through PPLS. Get the logon and password from your librarian, enter the TexShare Databases and select Literature and Criticism
Media Spotlight on Books
ALA's Notable Books: http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusaprotools/rusanotable/thelists/notablebooks.htm
Atlantic Unbound: http://www.theatlantic.com/books
Cultural and political offerings, interesting correspondents, wit, whimsy and more.
Booknotes: www.booknotes.org/Home/index.asp
Television's longest-running book program, brought to you by C-SPAN.
Booklist: http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=1604179
Editor's choice of the year's best from Booklist, the librarian's leading choice for reviews
latest books and electronic media.
Booktv.org: booktv.org
The Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/books/index.html
In-depth book reviews.
Good Morning America’s “Read This.” http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Books/
Good Morning America gives book excerpts for a number of new books.
Library Journal: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6298434.html
Best books and reference.
Library Journal's Best Genre Books (2005): http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6299507.html
National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1032
Books and Music discussed on NPR's All Things Considered.
USA Today: www.usatoday.com/life/books/front.htm
Miscellaneous
a.k.a (also known as): www.trussel.com/books/pseudo.htm
Author pseudonyms, aliases, nicknames, pen names, maiden names...
Author YellowPages: authoryellowpages.com/
A searchable directory of author websites
Comics World: www.comic-art.com
Comic Museum and links to over 300 comic sites
Today in Literature: www.todayinliterature.com
A new original biographical story each calendar day about the great writers.
Webrary’s Sites for Book Lovers: http://www.webrary.org/rs/rslinks.html
Online Booksellers
Amazon Books: www.amazon.com
One of the best sources for books in print
Barnes and Noble: www.barnesandnoble.com
Online version of the bookseller
WorldCat: www.worldcatlibraries.org
WorldCat now has an online bookstore. You can even support the library of your choice (including Plano Public!) by order through them.
Out of Print and Rare Booksellers
Advanced Book Exchange: http://www.abebooks.com
World's Largest Source of Out of Print Books- 12 million titles listed.
Alibris: http://www.alibris.com
Largest selection of out-of-print books.
AntiQBook: http://www.antiqbook.com/index.html
Antiquarian booksellers online. The Internet resource for the world of Antiquarian books.
Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America: www.abaa.org
Biblofind: http://www.bibliofind.com
Four million old, used, and rare books offered for sale by booksellers worldwide.
BookFinder.com: http://www.bookfinder.com
A shopping search engine that scans bookseller databases to find new, rare and out of print books.
Readers' Advisory
Genreflecting: www.genreflecting.com/index2.html
Online version of the print book. A great way to find new authors and titles
Genrefluent: http://www.genrefluent.com/
Nancy Pearl: http://www.nancypearl.com/
Reader's advice: http://www.readersadvice.com/
Readers' Club: www.readersclub.org
An online guide to locating enjoyable books
What's Next! : www.kdl.org/libcat/whatsnext.asp
"What's Next" helps you search adult fiction in series. A "series" is two or more books linked by character(s), settings, or other common traits
Study Guides
SparkNotes: www.sparknotes.com
Online Cliff Notes and Blooms Notes: www.tsl.state.tx.us/texshare/pl/remote.html
The full text of Cliff and Blooms Notes are available through NetLibrary, via Plano Public Library System. Enter the login and password supplied by your PPLS library to enter NetLibrary.