“A man is never alone, if he has a book with him wherever he goes”. How true! As a reader myself, I am always thankful to my father who inculcated this habit of reading books in me. It started with reading comics, then newspapers, novels and self-help books. Today, my hands reach out to books and my eyes fall on every book that I come across that adds value to life. The benefits of reading can only be experienced, and others notice the difference too. Nevertheless, it’s never too late to start this beautiful habit.
Given below are 7 great websites that I have gathered across the web, which will help you get going with the reading habit. These are websites that promote reading, encourage socializing with other like-minded readers, provide you with book suggestions, snippets and reviews, and of course help you find the kind of book you want to read and show the world what you are currently reading. They are not given in any specific order and these are not the exhaustive list, however, I found these to be really great among others. If you know any other websites of similar nature, please let me know by leaving a comment – would love to take a look at them.
This ebook friendly website is not just ebook friendly. It’s also user friendly. And Reader friendly. It gives a unique collection of books on various categories and contains a wealth of information for anyone. The best thing that I loved is their listing of 25 sources of free public domain books. This shows a list of 25 websites that provides free books.
Goodreads.com is one of my personal favorites. I can add books to my shelf, rate, review, recommend, get updates on books that I am interested in, know what other books fall under the genre that I would like to read and many other features.
Project Gutenberg is one such place that never gets missed out if anyone wants to list out their favorites places to hang out online for reading. This is the oldest and largest collection of free books for reading out there. Period. Nothing more need be said.
4. Shelfari.com
Trust me. I can blindly vouch for Shelfari that you will not regret signing up for this wonderful ebook/book suggestion service. By far the best in my list, in my opinion. I have used this and found it to be really good in terms of having me engaged and feel connected with not only the fellow-readers but also sometimes the publishers and authors alike. The best part is that for some of the books, in face most of the books, I have seen that the author personally writes in thanking the readers for their comments and feedback. Though, this kind of activity is known on other book related websites too, Shelfari is quite a good place to hang out in. Of course, the promise of amazon.com brand comes along, so who doesn’t want to be giving this a try!
5. Bookish.com
Bookish.com is a website that I had found to be of decent and time-worthy website that a book lover would like to subscribe to. A feature that a real book lover will die to check for is their recommendations wing. Check this out for sure:- (you’ll love me for showing this to you) bookishrecommends.com. What this does is that you enter a book title that you’ve read. Click Submit. It takes few seconds and then shows a list of similar titles that you’d want to read. These are similar to the title you’d entered. It’s amazing.
For e.g. I entered in ‘Mastery by Robert Greene’ and it showed me the following recommendations:
A website quite similar to the other ones mentioned above. This also has book clubs and communities featuring member reviews. The members in this ‘reading room’ rate and review books read by them thus providing a guidance to newbies who want to pick a title to sink into their reading pleasures. Worth a visit. They’ve got quite a good number of members in their lot who contribute to the reviewing community organically. They also feature New York Times Reviews and The Guardian Reviews on books under their ‘critical reviews’ section.
Another feature, similar to Bookish.com is the Suggested Reading section where The Reading Room makes suggestions and recommendations providing their picks. They also feature authors and Man Booker Prize long lists that are worth paying a visit.
Rifflebooks.com is not, in any way, the least to be in the last of this list of eBook websites. “Riffle is run by a happy team of obsessive book lovers” – says their website editors. They have a very nice look on their websites with inspiring and ‘deep-thought out’ quotes by Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Seuss and Henry David Thoreau greeting us. Riffle really does help us find great books.
One can also sign up using the Facebook.com profile. It takes us through a trouble-free setup but forces us to follow at least 5 other members. However, we can always un follow them after sign up. I’ve signed up. Please do check out my profile and book suggestions.
Thus, these are the 7 finest and useful websites that cater to our reading needs in their own way. The seventh one in the list is equally a good one as the first one in the list. Thus, these are not in any specific order, as already mentioned.
Do let me know your comments and thoughts below. If you know any other websites, do let me know. Would love to check it out and perhaps even add to my list later.
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