Leads to Read

When you are looking for a good book, who are you going to ask? A friend? A co-worker? Why not try the library? We know books and we're here to help. We subscribe to two reader's advisory databases and have searched the Internet for interesting book related sites for you to visit.

Databases

Woman Reading

NoveList

A subscription reader's advisory database giving full-text reviews for adult, young adult, children's, and easy reader fiction titles. It also includes feature articles, book discussion guides, and book talks. Updated monthly. This database is part of the Kentucky Virtual Library.

Woman Reading From Laptop

Book Club

Read the latest books in your email with our Online Book Clubs.

Every day, Monday through Friday you'll receive a 5-minute read from a chapter of a book in your email. By the end of the week, you'll have read 2-3 chapters.

Sign up now!

E-Book

Kentucky Libraries Unbound Digital Media Catalog

Downloadable e-book, e-audio, e-music, and e-film. A cooperative venture of Kentucky Public Libraries.

Dear Reader.com

Book club that delivers five-minute portions of books via email.

Project Gutenberg

First and largest single collection of free e-books. All titles are in the public domain.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library

Classic Christian works in the public domain.

First Chapters

First Chapters at the New York Times

The New York Times on the Web has a selection of first chapters from books that have been reviewed in The New York Times Book Review or that have appeared on The New York Times bestseller lists.

USAToday.com

First chapters from many popular fiction and non-fiction titles.

Book Reviews

New York Times Book Reviews

Reviews, critical commentary, bestsellers, and more.

Courier-Journal

Reviews and local bestsellers.

Book Riot

Reviews and recommendations to help you find your next great book

MostlyFiction.com

Fiction and non-fiction reviewed. Little known authors as well as popular authors are featured.

Agony Column

The owner of the Agony Column states that “… is a web site collecting reviews and commentary on books and publishing. The intention is to enable readers to find new, enjoyable and well-written books from authors and publishers that they might not otherwise have heard about”. The site includes commentary and audio interviews with authors.

Literary Awards

The Nobel Prize in Literature

The prize recognizes the works of authors from many different cultures and languages. It has been awarded to unknown authors as well as those who are highly acclaimed.

Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction and Non-Fiction

An American award generally regarded as the highest honor in print journalism and literary achievement.

National Book Award

The National Book Foundation recognizes annually books of exceptional merit written by Americans.

PEN/Faulkner Award

Confers an annual national prize for the best work of fiction by an American author.

Man Booker Prize for Fiction

This award is given to the very best in contemporary fiction. Given to authors from the Commonwealth of Great Britain or the Republic of Ireland.

Genre Awards

Bram Stoker Awards

Given by the Horror Writer's Association for superior achievement in the previous year.

Christy Awards

Recognizing excellence in Christian fiction by contemporary authors.

Dagger Awards

Given by the Crime Writers Association (Great Britain) for the best crime novel of the year.

Edgar Award

Given by the Mystery Writer's of America to honor the best mystery fiction and non-fiction produced the previous year.

The Hugo Award

Given by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy title of the previous year.

Nebula Awards

Presented by the Science Fiction Writers of America to acknowledge excellence in science fiction writing.

Romance Writers of America RITA is the highest award of excellence in the romance genre.

Spur Awards

Given annually for distinguished writing about the American West.

Authors

Authors on the Web

Author newsletters, web links, forthcoming titles, contests, and reading group guides.

Bartleby

Provides students and researchers unlimited access to books and information on the web, free of charge.

British and Irish Authors on the Web

There is much good research information, including links to author's websites.

Gale Literary Index

Index to the various literature series published by Gale.

General

Overbooked

Thousands of books are reviewed in the fields of general fiction, mystery, romance, speculative, inspirational, westerns, and readable non-fiction. The annotations are from Ingram's Advance Magazine. Only books receiving good reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews are profiled. The Hotlist function gives the searcher lists of forthcoming titles with the publication date and ISBN.

Guardian Unlimited

More than just first chapters, get reviews and literary commentary British style for fiction and non-fiction titles.

Mystery and Detective Fiction

Stop, You're Killing Me

Searching is by either author or character. All books by the authors are listed, including the forthcoming titles. This is very helpful if you like to read series in order. Click on the author index to the right and you can print “If you like…” lists, search by profession, location, time period, and other helpful categories. The Webmaster has included a list of resources she has used in compiling the information on this website.

The Thrilling Detective

This website is tailor-made for fans of fictional “private eyes” in books, films, television and comics.

Inspirational Fiction

FaithfulReader.com

A very good website for readers of inspirational fiction, including both fiction and non-fiction. It features reviews, book excerpts, author lists, links to awards, and books for teens. Especially useful are the study guides for book discussion groups.

Romance

All About Romance

The stated mission of this website “is to provide a back-fence atmosphere, a sense of community for lovers of romance novels, to provide honest, thoughtful and entertaining material”. Newsletters, reviews, and message boards are available for those who want to discuss romances with other fans of the genre.

Reviews, articles, author connections, new releases, and featured authors.

The Romance Reader

This site is very similar in look to its sister site, The Mystery Reader. Reviews are broken down by type of romance. Past reviews are archived.

Romance Junkies

Your Go-To for Romance Book Reviews

Historical Fiction/Alternate History

Historical Novel Society

The Historical Novel Society has been tracking forthcoming historical novels for many years. These lists of historical fiction titles are based on publishers’ catalogs, publisher home pages, Publishers Weekly forecasts, Amazon, and information supplied by authors. Titles and dates are subject to change.

Science Fiction

Internet Speculative Fiction Database

ISFDB includes works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It “It links together various types of bibliographic data: author bibliographies, publication bibliographies, award listings, magazine content listings, anthology and collection content listings, and forthcoming books.”

SF Site

This site has a mixture of book reviews, opinion pieces, author interviews, fiction excerpts, author and publisher reading lists and a variety of other features. There are links to author and fan tribute sites, SF conventions, SF TV and movies, magazines and e-zines.

Locus Online

This website has reviews, interviews, and recommended reading lists from Locus Magazine. Its focus is on news of the Science Fiction publishing field and coverage of new science fiction books and magazines.

Horror

Horror.org

Includes links to the Horror Writer's Association and Dark Links listing of horror writers, as well as reviews and interviews.

Western

True West Magazine

An online magazine for reader's of Westerns. Has book reviews, lists, and more.

Staff Picks

While library staff reviewed these sites at the time this list was created, the Hardin County Public Library is not responsible for their contents.