Libraries and book clubs, like everything else under the sun, are making their way across the world wide web. t2 takes a look at a dozen portals that celebrate the joy of reading...

Goodreads (www.goodreads.com):

 

Even non-readers know about the big daddy of book forums. The best feature is the customised “My Bookshelves” that contains your “Currently reading”, “Read”, “To read” and other lists. People on your friends list can see your bookish activities and you can see theirs. You can rate books on a scale of five and you’ll be notified when one of your preferred authors or genres has a new title coming out.

Goodreads has features common to social networking sites — updates, discussions, reviews and messaging. No wonder its membership is larger than the population of Australia! Plus, the website conducts regular interviews with the biggest and best of authors, and invites members to contribute questions.

Authors who are officially connected to Goodreads have their own profiles on the site. Being recognised by Goodreads is sort of like the white tick of verification on Twitter.

Some readers grew sceptical of the website’s impartiality when Amazon bought Goodreads for $190 million early last year, but there’s been an upside too. Goodreads has been integrated into the new Kindle Paperwhite e-readers, making it easy for users to engage with fellow bookworms right on their reading devices.

BookBub: (www.bookbub.com):

If you are looking for free e-books or great deals, sign up for this e-book discovery website. It’s a free service that first takes down your preferred genres and then sends you one email every day telling you which website (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google, etc) is giving away what book at a discount or free of cost. The alerts also tell you for how long the deal is available. It’s a great way to pick up books by new authors but we haven’t come across any big names or bestsellers yet.

ComiXology: (www.comixology.com):

 

It’s a cloud-based digital comics platform with over 200 million comic downloads. One can choose from over 50,000 comic books and graphic novels, available on a range of platforms like Android, iOS, Kindle, Windows 8 and the Internet.

Both biggies of the comics world — Marvel and DC — have a prominent presence on this website. One can learn about new releases, buy e-comics at great rates and also download free comics. As can be expected, the popular website was acquired by Amazon in April 2014.

We Read (www.weread.org):

 

It’s a free children’s book portal helping parents with articles, ideas and information to encourage kids to read. It has tips for non-readers and readers, reading games, numbers puzzles and a suggested reading list for youngsters.

Shelfari (www.shelfari.com):

 

It’s a social cataloging website for books. Users can build virtual bookshelves of the titles they own or have read, and can rate, review, tag and discuss their books. The site was bought by Amazon in 2008.

ICDL or International Children’s Digital Library (en.childrenslibrary.org):

 

The mission of the ICDL Foundation is to build the world’s largest online multicultural repository of children’s literature. The interface may not be as chic as the other websites but it seems to be a good place to dig out stories for kids as well as folktales and fairy tales from around the world — some translated in English, some in the original language, including a few Indian ones.

BookMooch (www.bookmooch.com): It’s a place to give away books you don’t want to keep and receive books you wish to have. After reading a book you have received from a BookMooch user, you may either keep it or give it away to another user. One earns points when one gives a book, and has to spend points to receive a book. Membership of the site is free, one only pays for shipping a book to another user.

Oh, by the way, “mooch” means to obtain something without paying for it, or to borrow something without the intention of returning it. The name wasn’t derived from “smooching”. *wink*

BookBrowse (www.bookbrowse.com):

 

It’s an online magazine on books and beyond. It provides reviews, previews, “behind the book” stories, author interviews, reading guides and more. Started in 1997 by a couple who suddenly found themselves too short on time for leisurely bookstore browsing after becoming parents, this site has remained independent. Basic browsing is free, full access comes for a fee.

Library Thing (www.librarything.com):

 

It’s been called “Facebook for bookworms”. It’s a place where you can build an online catalogue of your book collection and show it off to fellow book lovers. All you need to do is key in your book’s ISBN (International Standard Book Number) and the rest of the information is added automatically. It allows a user to catalogue 200 books free of charge. Above that it’s a $10 annual fee or a $25 lifetime charge for individuals.

You can also adjust your settings to “private”, which means others won’t be able to see your catalogue. There are other advantages too, like accessing the Library of Congress catalogue, browsing Amazon’s websites and as well as some 690 libraries, including the British Library, Canadian National Catalogue, the National Library of Australia and Yale University.

Bookgorilla (www.bookgorilla.com):

 

This too is a discount alert service, but one that says it steers clear of authors and books no one’s heard of! It promises members to feature books that are bestsellers or written by authors with bestsellers to their credit, or published by a respected publisher, or highly rated by readers and reviewers. Just like Bookbub, they send a single, curated email daily. Since they focus on more established writers, the number of free e-books is usually small. But some of the deals are really good. We saw Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl going for Rs 185, slashed from around Rs 350.

PS: It’s written nowhere that Bookgorilla is owned by Amazon but every book deal led us to the retail giant. #JustSaying

The Fussy Librarian (www.thefussylibrarian.com):

 

The site may be fussy about the titles it features but using TFL is no fuss at all. Just enter your email address, select your genres, indicate your preferences on profanity, sex and violence, and get emails when your preferred books are available.

Deals and recommendations apart, we love their Fussy Book News section, which updates members about all things bookish, from a famous quote to an author’s birthday, fresh titles to legal wrangles.

The Fussy Librarian is an affiliate of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple.

In the same category are sites like Discount Books Daily and BookSends. Most of these websites are, however, advertising portals and many self-published and debut authors pay to be put on these lists.

Bookish (www.bookish.com):

 

This website had us at hello, literally: It is a truth universally acknowledged that an avid reader in possession of a good book must be in want of another. That, dear reader, is where Bookish comes in.

It’s a book portal with information, articles, reviews, recommendations, list (the five-things-to-do kind, don’t you just love ’em?) and discussions on books, authors, fresh releases and special limited-offer Bookish discounts. And then there are these hilarious GIF reviews. Try one and you’ll be as hooked as the rest of the world is (or is it already was?!) to BuzzFeed!

ON THE t2 BOOKSHELF

TRUE CRIME • Naming Jack the Ripper by Russell Edwards (Pan Macmillan, Rs 599): Edwards says he had access to physical evidence pertaining to the crimes and after rigorous investigations by the forensic departments, he’s ready to name the notorious killer that terrorised London in the late 17th century.

THRILLER • Robert Ludlum’s The Janson Option by Paul Garrison (Hachette India, Rs 350): Ex-Navy SEAL Paul Janson has to rescue an oil baron’s wife from Somali pirates.

ROMANCE • The Year I Met You by Cecelia Ahern (HarperCollins, Rs 350): When Jasmine is sacked, she focuses her attention on her jobless neighbour Matt. They have no reason to like each other, yet things change as they discover each other.

FANTASY • Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean, edited by Payal Dhar, Kirsty Murray and Anita Roy (Young Zubaan, Rs 295): A collaborative Australian-Indian feminist anthology, it has short stories and graphic novels filled with fairies and pixies and cyborgs and a journey through parallel universes where our rules don’t apply.

LITERARY FICTION • Ruth’s Journey: The Story of Mammy from Gone with the Wind by Donald McCaig (Simon and Schuster India, Rs 550): Authorised by the Margaret Mitchell Estate, this prequel to the iconic novel recounts the life of the black woman who is regarded as one of the most inspiring characters in literature.

SHE • The Ex-Files by Vandana Shah (Penguin Books India, Rs 299): A memoir of a woman who was thrown out of her marital home with Rs 750 to her name but picked herself up and became a divorce lawyer and set up India’s first divorce support group, 360 Degrees Back to Life.

NON-FICTION • The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg (Hachette India, Rs 399): In a land where women have almost no rights, many little girls and grown women are secretly disguising themselves as males.

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE • Pashu by Devdutt Pattanaik (Puffin Books India, Rs 399): It may be targeted at young readers to introduce them to the fascinating animals of ancient Hindu lore, but this beautifully illustrated book with text by Pattanaik is a delight for anyone who digs mythology.

Astha Modi
What book websites do you follow? Tell us at t2@abp.in