Do you have a “Benjamin Franklin” in your life?
One of Franklin’s little known contributions was The Library Company.
It wasthe nation’s first libraryand reading community.
Like everything else it was born out of his philosophical leanings and desire to share the best books.
Wasn’t he the one who said:
Imagine Benjamin Franklin in the digital world of today.
Surrounded by indie launches and the ebook tornado.
A knowledge sharing community like The Library Company would still be relevant.
Thanks to the inter-webs, we have it in various forms.
But we arestillasking"which book should I read next?"
This is what this little guide is all about.
Giving you fifty easy ways to find new books to read.
Because everyone hates turning the last page without knowing where to go next.
Let’s turn the first page.
Use the bookmarks below to jump to the sections or go at it one tool at a time.
It can help youtrack just about anything books included.
Set up an alert with a keyword related to your book genre or author.
It remains a worthwhile option for some zero-effort book hunting.
2.Track New Book
Stay notified of new books in your inbox.
Track a book by its author, subject, or your own keywords.
It’s great for stumbling across new books and authors, especially if your reading habits are selective.
The site also tracks the New York Times Bestseller lists for your books in your favorite areas.
TheBook Discovery online window extensionrecommends books according to the websites you visit.
3.Any New Books
This is another book alert service that makes book discovery and almost automatic process.
Set it up with an email address and you’ll be notified in your inbox every week.
Staff picks from the site’s editors highlight the most recommended ones for each category.
Kindle eBooks and audio books are covered too.
5.Product Hunt Books Digest
Take off with thepopularity of Product Huntand its email digest on books.
Product Hunt is known for the community powered curation of the best new startups.
The book email digest is a similar community-curated email of great new and undiscovered books.
If the success of Product Hunt is any indication, signing up for the digest should be a no-brainer.
The site also hosts author AMAs at regular intervals.
BookBub curates ebooks from top-tier publishers to critically acclaimed independent authors.
7.FictFact
FictFact is a simple tool to keep track of all your favorite book series.
The barebones site is free and comes with several useful features.
The site also publishesa book release calendarfor all upcoming books.
Once a month, First to Read offers digital galleys of not-yet-published books to members.
Read excerpts from the book if you do not make it through the draw each month.
The offer isonly open to US residents.
9.Pixel Of Ink
You don’t have to pay to start a reading habit.
you might kickstart it with free or bargain-cheap Kindle books.
With their daily alerts, you don’t need to trawl Amazon.
Here’s the background on free and bargain Kindle books.
10.IFTTT
Thanks to IFTTT, you canautomate anything on the web.
With the right IFTTT recipe you’re free to not only save time but also money.
IFTTT can do lot for your reading beyond finding the next read.
Set up an account and browse all thebook-related recipes.
Maybe, this reminder recipe toreturn a library bookcan save you the fines.
Social Networks for Book Recommendations
11.
Create your reading list with the help of the recommendations on the site.
BookVibe is handy because you could take inspiration from the books your mentors might be getting influenced by.
We all know, a man is known by the books he keeps!
12.Goodreads
Book lovers need no introduction to this Amazon-run site.
Build your profile and catalog before you get going interacting with the community.
Catalog your books with help from Amazon, the Library of Congress and 700 other world libraries.
It’s a great way to discover what others are reading and join in the discussion around books.
Surely, a internet ofnearly 2 million memberswill be able to give you clues about your next cozy read.
Library Thing isfree to catalog for 200 books.
Membership of $10 (year) or $25 (life) gives you unlimited cataloging options.
14.Glose
A collection of 300,000 books is the foundation on which thissocial readingplatform is built on.
Glose is an ebook store and a social ebook reader for your phone, tablet and laptop.
At its heart, it wants to be a niche social connection around books.
This sharing also gives you an idea of what to read next.
you could secure your favorite books in a list by signing in with an email ID.
Tags describing the theme of the book is a nice way to bear down on your next book.
A sister siteWhere Should I Read Nexthelps you find book related to a city you might be traveling to.
Chasebook
Chasebook taps into the power of crowdsourcing but in a more democratic way.
The voting process piggybacks Mark Zuckerberg and his latestbook reading resolutionfor the year.
The Facebook founder also created a Facebook Group called “A Year of Books”.
He shares books he is reading and his interaction with their authors.
Users submit names and vote on their favorite books.
A direct appeal to your social circle can work wonders!
Hit a few “book clubs” on the social site.
Start with Mark’s ownYear of Books, as seen in the previous section of this article.
Facebook is also one of the few places that authors and publishers gravitate to.
Also, go freebie hunting on groups likeFree Kindle and Nook Ebooks for ReadersorFree Today on Amazon.
If everything fails, useFacebook’s Graph Searchto find books to read.
18.Twitter
Imagine if a simple hashtag could lead you on a journey of discovery.
And you’ve got the option to find every true book lover via the#IReadEverywherehashtag!
19.Pinterest
Books drill into our minds, but a site like Pinterest takes it through the eyes.
Trust me it’s a visual feast when you come across boards likeBookwormsandPetra Brown.
You may also recognize yourself in this board aboutBook Humor.
But what about finding your next read here?
Remember, Pinterest isa powerful search enginein its own right.
It is a collection of images based on character descriptions from books.
Unfortunately, Tumblr doesn’t make it easy to search for your next recommended read.
The nicely namedBookstairsalso found a place in our list onTumblr blogs every reader should follow.
Tumblr is also home for authors likeNeil Gaiman, Veronica Roth, andJohn Greenamong others.
21.YouTube
You bet that YouTube is a social online grid like no other.
And two of my favorite go-to channels areBookTVand Booklandia.tv [NO LONGER AVAILABLE].
Dedicated playlists like2015 Summer ReadingandWhat Are You Reading, make your next book hunt easier.
There are many good literary islands among the ocean of videos, so happy sailing!
Therefore it represents what individual readers (like you) are actually buying.
24.The New Yorker Books & Fiction
Any magazine which has had contributors like J.D.
Salinger, John Updike, Dorothy Parker, and Woody Allen needs to be taken seriously.
Coverage includes literature, politics, art, and ideas.
The magazine reviews the most impactful new books and the ideas behind them.
It has seen articles by Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Robert Penn Warren, Gore Vidal and more.
26.Brainpickings
Maria Popova’s careful literary selections could become your favorite destination on the Web.
She is a curation whiz who took a side-project and turned it into a popular site.
She calls it her subjective lens on what matters in the world and why.
One of my favorite pages here isLiterary Jukebox, a daily dose of quotes from books matched to songs.
A lot of the wisdom shared comes from books.
Other nuggets likeWhy The Skills Required For Great Jobs Are Changingcome from books peppered with Shane’s own thoughts.
The Staff Recommends
The site calls itself an “advertorial publication”.
To understand what it is, here’s their About page with the full explanation.
But why should you trust it with your book tastes?
That’s also answered by the background ofJohn Warnerwho oversees all of the sites recommendations.
If you trust his opinion, allow him to pick for you.
If you missed reading the classic while in school, head to the site.
It isthe oldest digital library(founded in 1971) and remains the ultimate source for free ebooks.
Book formats include: plain text, HTML, PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and Plucker.
Non-English language books are also available.
The site also offers one-click Dropbox and Google Drive integration.
The site feed is the best way to keep yourself updated on the latest books here.
Independent authors are also using the site’s self-publishing tools to launch their works.
The author community currently lists nearly 3000 books that are available for you to discover and read.
Online Book Clubs
Online book clubs are virtual groups or communities sharing a common passion for books.
Online book clubs don’t enjoy that interactivity but they can be timely sources of information.
Some online book clubs also take their meetups offline so you get to enjoy the best of both worlds.
The best known book club?
I can wager it is Oprah’s Book Club.
A single mention has helped books climb to the top of bestseller lists.
Search with “book club books” and many sites offer titles that everyone can agree on.
The idea of a book club is to pool together readers who like to read the same stuff.
But as thisNew York Times articlesays, things can get pretty serious.
We know them associal connection groupsas the few above.
8 More Sites You Should Browse
32.
Mind The Book [NO LONGER AVAILABLE]
Every book is written around an idea.
It answers a question perhaps that’s why we read so many of them.
For example, asking “how do I lose weight fast?”
provides a list of relevant weight-loss books as it’s possible for you to see in the screenshot above.
Book Daily
Book Daily displays the first chapter of a book you are planning to read.
The site claims it has 60,000 book listings.
Sites like Book Daily have come up around theself-publishingwave and are used by new authors to promote their work.
Browsing is free search for books by genre, title, author, or publisher.
The Featured Books section lists books by (sales) popularity.
If you are looking for emerging authors, the site is worth a flyby.
Between the plot and the first chapter, you might be able to judge a book’s read worthiness.
WhichBook
WhichBook takes a different spin to our hunt for what to read next.
Books must be fiction or poetry, written or translated into English and published in the last 10 years.
Ebooks and audiobooks are also covered.
Books are sans borders.
The necessary genre-specific categories are there too of course.
Short story collectionsandReading Groupsalso make for more choices.
BlockShelf [Broken Link Removed]
Wannabeentrepreneursneed all the advice they can get.
Provided they can manage the time, BlockShelf is a small website that helps with a bit of both.
It features many of the most-recommended books on leadership, creativity, marketing and self-development.
Each book selection gets a page with the key highlights or book lessons.
If you are in a hurry, this single page helps to distill the nice stuff for you.
An interview with the author takes you further into the thought process behind the book.
BookBrowse attempts unbiased reviews of books from both established and new writers.
To answer the two questions of “what should I read next?”
Books are categorized by genre, time period, setting, and by a wide range of themes.
The roster also has a trio of special interest sites likeReadingGroupGuides.com,GraphicNovelReporter.com, andFaithfulReader.com.
If you are in the U.S, keep their page onbook festivalsbookmarked.
When You Are Busy Try These
39.Reading Stash
Remember Tinder?
Reading Stash is a Tinder-like web and mobile app that makes room for serendipitous discovery of books.
Swipe or like a book.
When you swipe it away, another book is presented.
Like one and you get to go to Amazon to purchase it.
Reading Stash is new, so give it time to expand its genres.
For now it appears rich in personal development and entrepreneurship titles.
Open your email andread one chapter at a time.
Find books you are interested in by category or by title.
41.Get Flash Notes
The word “flash” should tell you a lot about the site.
If you have 20 minutes to spare in the middle of a busy day, give this an ear.
GetFlashNotes.com presents book summaries on self-help and business books.
Digest the core concepts when you do not have time to read entire books.
The20-minute book summariesare formatted as downloadable MP3 files for any mobile gear.
Signing up gives you two free book summaries.
Beyond that, you’re free to spend $1 for a 7-Day run.
Full membership is $29 per month.
42.DailyLit
Continue your habit of reading books in little email and RSS installments with DailyLit.
Unlike Dripread, DailyLit has a mixed bag of copyright free books and books you have to pay for.
Nonfiction books are not available yet, but you’s find plenty of literary classics and great new fiction.
The book tool covers multiple genres from classics to children.
There isan interesting section on banned booksas well.
With classics like Wuthering Heights and Alice in Wonderland, I couldn’t quite figure this small section out.
43.Nuggets
Okay.
You are ultra-busy and have no time to read.
Thebest skimming serviceshave found their newest member in you.
Nuggets is a fun way to distill the wisdom of books with visual quotes and summaries.
The screenshot above speaks for itself.
you might visit the site, but the better experience comes from their iOS and Android app.
you might click through to the library website and reserve books if the facility is available.
But it’s worth bookmarking the second largest public library in the United States.
One of the reasons are the recommendation NYPL gives you with the help ofBookish.com.
The recommendations appear on the side of the page for each book searched for.
you’ve got the option to also opt to go to the Bookish site and tryBookish Recommends.
46.Dear Reader
This is an online book club started by Suzanne Beecher.
Admittedly, you are following the singular taste of an individual.
She handpicks the books and readers get a brief 5-minute excerpt in their mail every day.
Sites to Browse and Buy From
47.Amazon
Amazon had to be on this list.
It is also the gatekeeper of which book is doing well and what’s worth reading.
Do note that both these can be mutually exclusive and an intelligent reader needs tounderstand Amazon’s Bestseller Rank.
you might share your bookshelf too!
It’s justone of the Amazon resourcesyou can use without buying anything.
48.Google Books
Google seems to know everything, and books are no exception.
Search the huge index of books and use the service to review your next purchase decision for yourself.
As I managed to explain before, you canuse Google Books for lifelong learning and research.
It is available in most countries around the world but do double-checkthe regional availability.
There are some nice distinctions likeMovie Tie-insandWant quick suggestions?which offers more recommendations based onyourbrowsing activity.
Google Play Books also has a free section.
There is the direct way of course through the iBooks app on your iOS rig or the Mac.
The iBookstore has its own best-seller lists for each category and the New York Times best-seller list too.
What’s sorely lacking is the feel of community.
Apple bought BookLamp.org last year, so recommendations may yet improve.
Don’t forget to try out theiBooks shelf on GoodReads.
Are You Choosy About Your Next Read?
Now, you have a million faceless voices telling you about the million influential books you should read next.
Information overload is overwhelming, and you oughta cut to the chase quick.
These websites and apps help you to be picky about what you spend your money on.
These tools can help yousearch the right book for your kidsand spark the boon of bookishness in your child.
Their lives may never be the same again.
Ourreading habitsdetermine the way we handle the books in our lives.
So, by all means be picky when you are searching for a good book to read.
Did this little guide help your cause?
Image Credit:Cartoonresource via Shutterstock
