Books and Reading

General Sites

BBC Arts & Culture
Links to the BBC book and literature related programmes and promotions, including the Radio 4 book club.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ arts/

Book Crossing
Breath new life into books instead of letting your old favorites collect dust - pass them along to another reader. Book Crossing allows members to connect with other readers, and trade and follow their books through 'reading and releasing'. Users are able to tag and track their individual books by marking them with BCIDs (BookCrossing Identity Numbers). Once the BCID is registered on the site, the book can be followed as it's passed from reader to reader.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/

Book Drum
Book Drum are building the biggest library of multimedia companion content for books on the Internet. Designed using Wiki principles, anyone can contribute to it, adding to and refining each others� work, making Book Drum one of the liveliest online communities for booklovers worldwide.
http://www.bookdrum.com/

Book-a-Minute
Don't have time to read it all? A fun site containing ultra-condensed books including classics, bedtime stories, science fiction and fantasy.
http://www.rinkworks.com/ bookaminute/

Bookspot.com
Plenty of links including must-see sites, lists, winners, genre & author spotlights and discussion groups. Recommended reads for teens.
http://www.bookspot.com/

Booktrust
Booktrust is an independent reading and writing charity that makes a nationwide impact on individuals, families and communities, and culture in the UK. This site is managed by Booktrust to help teachers, librarians, parents and young people find out about books.
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/

British and Irish Authors on the Web
This site lists where British and Irish authors can be found on the web by the date of birth of the author. Last updated October 2008
http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/ ~matsuoka/ UK-authors.html

British Council Literature
British Council Literature promotes UK writing and the UK literature sector around the world. Their Contemporary Writers Directory is a unique searchable database which contains up to date profiles of some of the UK and Commonwealth's most important living writers.
http://literature.britishcouncil.org/

Chick Lit
Fun website containing lots of suggestions for reads whether you are a thriller chick, a literary chick or if you enjoy non-fiction. Also includes lifestyle tips and advice.
http://www.chicklit.co.uk/ articles/

Fantastic Fiction
Website containing bibliographies of over 7000 authors, information on over 150,000 books, and details on all the latest titles.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

Goodreads
Goodreads is the largest site for readers and book recommendations in the world, with more than 6,900,000 members who have added more than 240,000,000 books to their shelves. A home for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, users can recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they've read and would like to read, find their next favorite book, form book clubs and much more.
http://www.goodreads.com/

Guardian Unlimited Books
Links to authors, reviews by genre, top 10's including various non fiction categories such as sport, travel, comedy, house and garden as well as poetry and fiction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ books

If You Like
If you like books or music in a certain style or by a particular author or composer, you may wish to explore some of these. Includes biographies and non fiction
http://www.library.christchurch.org.nz/ Guides/ Ifyoulike/

LibraryThing
LibraryThing is a cataloguing and social networking site for book lovers, which helps you create a catalogue of books, books you own, books you've read, books you'd like to read, books you've lent out, whatever grouping you'd like.
http://www.librarything.com/

Love Reading
If you love reading then this is the website for you. Search for books by genre, read book reviews, download opening extracts of new books, and much, much more.
http://www.lovereading.co.uk/

Online Library of Literature
A selection of classics online.
http://www.literature.org/

Reading Matters
This site is about books and ideas. It is written for intelligent young readers who are keen to choose their own book. Adults can join in too. The ideas section would be a good place to start discussions.
http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/ index.php

Ready Steady Book
An independent website offering articles, interviews and book reviews of literary fiction, poetry, history and philosophy. There is also a literary blog to keep you up to date with new developments in the world of literature.
http://www.readysteadybook.co.uk/ index.aspx

Shelfari
Shelfari�s members can build virtual bookshelves to express themselves to their friends and to the world, discover books that are popular in their trusted circles of friends, influence peers by rating and discussing books online, discover and learn from people with similar reading tastes, participate in online book groups to further explore literature and share ideas, and interact with and learn from authors. The site is owned by Amazon.
http://www.shelfari.com/

WeRead
WeRead allows members to get personalized recommendations for new books and authors, find people with similar interests and add them as friends, share their ratings and reviews with the book community, and take quizzes, become part of book-clubs and join discussion boards.
http://weread.com/

What Should I Read Next?
Type in an author, book title or ISBN and this site will give you a list of recommended reads.
http://whatshouldireadnext.com/

Whichbook.net
Whichbook enables you to search for a book that up to now may only have existed in your own mind! Move the sliders to express what you�re looking for and see what comes up. Scroll down to see all the books which match your chosen sliders or click. Find similar to see books which match the specific title most closely. If you don't fancy any of the books offered, change your choices and try again - there are millions of different individual permutations possible.
http://www.openingthebook.com/ whichbook/ default.aspx

Who Else Writes Like...?
Who Else Writes Like is a reader�s guide to fiction authors. If you enjoy reading fiction it can help you to find new writers that you might enjoy, and help answer the perennial question �I've read all the books by my favourite authors, who shall I read next?� Available in Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire libraries, and online from home with your library card number and PIN.
http://www.whoelsewriteslike.com/

World Book Night
World Book Night is a celebration of reading and books which sees tens of thousands of passionate volunteers gift specially chosen and printed WBN books in their communities to share their love of reading. Each year they recruit 20,000 volunteers to hand out 20 copies of their favourite book from their list to members of their community who don�t regularly read.
http://www.worldbooknight.org/

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