Every time when I finished reading a book, I found myself always pondering this question:
“What book should I read next?”
Sometimes I would buy books on impulse, but later I just feel that these books are a waste of money since they cannot meet my expectations. Therefore, most of the time, I would check out some book review sites before I hit the shops. Sorting the wheat from the chaff is almost impossible without any help, which is exactly the reason why reviews or recommendations from other book lovers are crucial. What follows are 10 of the best book review sites. Just have a look and find what you should read next!
1. GoodReads
Basically as the IMDB for books, GoodReads is a must-join social networking site and book discovery site for book lovers. There are millions of reviews and people buzzing about new books coming out. The site not only gives readers option to read but also to mark books to be read and recommend books to their friends. You are certain to find almost all the books in the world in this wonderful website.
2. Kirkus Reviews
Founded in 1933, Kirkus Reviews has been an authoritative voice in book discovery for nearly 90 years. Kirkus serves the book reviews to consumers in a weekly email newsletter and on the website, giving readers unbiased and critical recommendations they can trust. As you’d expect, you’ll also find dozens of “best of” lists and individual books reviews across many categories and genres.
3. LibraryThing
LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It’s used by authors, individual, librarians, and publishers. Naturally, there are book ratings, user reviews and tags. Before you start, remember to click on the “Zeitgeist” tab at the top menu. It contains masses of information, like the top books by rating, by the number of reviews, by authors and more.
4. SF Book Reviews
SFBook.com is a non-profit site and provides the best science fiction, fantasy, horror and speculative fiction online book reviews. There is a collection of review classified to the level of sub genres. You might also find yourself, getting more and more books on your favorite genres here.
5. Bookish
Bookish is a content discovery and ecommerce website, devoted to books. The site allows users to browse an extensive database of books and authors, add books to user-created digital shelves, get custom book recommendation and read editorial content. Bookish also has built-in ecommerce links that let users buy books from a range of websites, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and iBook.
6. Book Riot
Book Riot is the largest independent editorial book site in North America, and home to a host of media, from podcasts to newsletters to original content, all designed around diverse readers and across all genres. Of course, there’s also plenty of non-reading list content, for example, audiobook recommendations. If you are an avid book & audiobook lover, Book Riot is definitely worth adding to the list of websites you browse every day.
7. NPR : National Public Radio
The NPR has excellent book reviews and podcasts. Just like BBC or CBC, NPR delivers breaking national and world news, also top stories from business, politics, health, science, technology, music, arts and culture.
8. The New York Times
The New York Times is an American newspaper based in New York City with worldwide influence and readership. Actually, It can also be considered as a great book review site. You will find wonderful book reviews written by experienced professionals. In addition, it even collected the most authoritatively ranked lists of books sold in the United States, sorted by format and genre.
9. The Bookish Elf
There are many Best of Lists you can find in The Bookish Elf. To give you an idea, some recent articles include 58 Best Self-Help Books of All Time and 15 Best Books on World War 2 You Will Love to Read. While still incorporating the same kinds of features that have make sites like GoodReads so popular, Bookish Elf offer its users a greater scope by creating book blogs rather than profiles.
10. Amazon.com
At last, I’d like to add Amazon to the list. Yes, it’s a book seller, but the reviews are from readers who have already purchased the books! And these reviewers should have given an honest opinion to the books. Before you purchase a book, reading such reviews would be really helpful for you to get a quick-and-dirty way to know people’s real feelings on the title.