Do you like to read for enjoyment? Are you looking for your next good book? Then check out the sites below. Obviously you may find books that are not in the Padua Library, but you can always check to see if we have it...or you can add the selection to the "Library Order Wish List". Just gmail me.
Here are some favorite and popular reading recommendation sites that our students as well as Faculty/Staff really enjoy.
***GoodReads: This one is a favorite for many folks. GoodReads is more than just a free book recommendation site, although it does excel at helping your find new books to read based on the ones you enjoy. You can build a virtual "shelf" of books you own or have already read, share your progress with the books you're currently reading, rate the books you've read, leave reviews, and connect with other readers. You can also use those ratings to get book suggestions from the site's massive database of books. Your friends can make direct suggestions to you, and even if the book suggestions that the site builds aren't enough, you can go diving into user-generated book lists, reviews, and more. If you just want to search for a good book using Goodreads, then go to Goodreads > Browse > All Genres OR Lists.
***What Should I Read Next? This is a nice contrast: all this site does is simply ask you to type a book you've enjoyed, and it then offers a list of similar suggestions. You can also browse the results by subject. It's as straightforward as they come and doesn't require you to sign up – something of a relief compared to sites that make you jump through all sorts of hoops before you get to any recommendations, but if you're after anything more than a title and a few keywords, then you're better off elsewhere.
***LibraryThing: This is another great site, and there is both a free and paid service. LibraryThing has been around for a long time, and it is still a great user-powered book ratings, review, and recommendation site. The service calls itself the world's largest book club, and that's a lot like the overall feel. Once you sign up, you'll be encouraged to start adding books you've read and leave reviews for them. Behind its book ratings and reviews though, LibraryThing is a powerful tool to catalog and organize your entire book collection. It doesn't take much to add all of the books in your library so you have a running collection of both your physical books and ebooks all in one place. The service will also connect to your Amazon account to automatically pull down books you own and have read. Thanks to its massive community, its book recommendations are often spot on, reflective of users who have libraries like yours and have rated books the way you have. The basic service is free, and you can add up to 200 books.
WhichBook: Now this has a completely different approach, which you might find ridiculous or a stroke of genius – depending on your mood, perhaps. WhichBook classifies titles by feelings or states of mind. Move the sliders from "happy" to "sad" or from "safe" to "disturbing" and Whichbook generates a list of best matches. If you can't decide where you sit on the scale between "scary" and "absolutely horrifying" then there are also curated lists ranging from "Short and sweet" to "Laugh your pants off". Make of that what you will, but it’s kinda fun.
Amazon: Sometimes, nothing beats good old Amazon for a quick book review. Go to Amazon and look up the title of interest. It's wonderful that so many people post reviews on this popular and ever-growing site, just keep in mind that they are personal opinions, so be sure to look at them with a discerning eye.
Have fun...and read on!!!! :)
Other sites worthy of exploring:
Keep in mind that while I strive to be sure all sites that I use on LibGuides are unblocked for student users, some may still give our filter issues because they are deemed social media sites (like Goodreads). So if anything isn't working the way it should be. Please drop me a gmail (afrech@paduafranciscan.net), and I'll get on it as soon as I can.