101 Essential Web Sites for Readers of Literature
(Updated May 5, 2007)
The Bookworm by Carl Spitzweg
You’ve heard the saying, “So many books, so little time.” It’s also true of book resources on the internet: “So many websites, so little time.” To help you navigate through them all I’ve put together this list of essential web resources for readers.
This list reflects my own tastes, so no doubt I’ve left some of your favorites off the list, or put some on that you find fault with. Leave a comment and tell me where I’ve done you wrong, or tell me about your favorite book sites. And please let me know if you have any problems with the links.
Be sure to bookmark this page so that you can find these websites quickly and easily.
Audio Books
1.Librivox – Audiobooks. Unabridged. Free. Need I say more?
2. Recorded Books – My favorite source for audio books. Top quality narrators.
3. Naxos Audio Books – Another great source audio books, especially the classics.
4. Audible.com – I love the fact that you can listen before you buy.
5. Ejunto – Free historical and philosophical audio books; Plato, Lincoln, Pascal and others. (12/7/2017 – Link no longer active)
6. The Poetry Archive – Recordings of famous poets reading and discussing their poems. Fabulous!
Blogs
7. Arts and Letters Daily – Comprehensive and engaging
8. Bibliophilic – Personal reflections on reading, writing and publishing – one of my favorites
9. Brit Lit Blogs – A collection of British literary blogs
10. Classical Bookworm – Another favorite of mine; beautifully designed, excellent content
11. Claw of the Conciliator – Science fiction and faith
12. Kimbooktu – Where I always go to find out the latest book gadgets
13. A Life in Books – Personal reflections on being a book lover
14. Metacritic.com: Books – A roundup of critical opinion on new books
15. New York Review of Books
16. New York Times Book Review
17. People of the Book – Publishing from Catholic perspective
18. Powell’s Books – An overview of new books from Powell’s bookstore
19. A Reader’s Journal – She’s never met a reading challenge she didn’t like…
20. Reading Matters – Book reviews by a Australian journalist living in London
21. So Many Books – “The agony and ecstacy of a reading life.”
22. Liam’s Pictures from Old Books – Some great scanned images
Booksellers
23. Amazon.com
24. Abebooks – My favorite used book site
25. Alibris – Another great source for used books
26. Barnes and Noble
27. Powell’s Books – A HUGE brick and mortar store with a great online presence
28. Booksense – A large group of independent booksellers
29. Auntie’s Bookstore – My favorite local bookstore; be sure to visit it if you are ever in Spokane
Children’s Literature/Teaching/Homeschooling
30. SCORE Cyberguides – This is a great site for enriching a student’s reading experience
31. Glencoe Study Guides – Study guides in .pdf format for many different titles
32. Children’s Literature Web Guide – A comprehensive website for teaching children’s lit
33. Reading Aloud to Children
34. Linda’s Links to Literature – General resources for teaching literature
Genre Fiction
35. Recommended Fantasy Author List – Annotated list of fantasy authors; one of my favorite sites
36. Refracted Light: A Christian Perspective on Fantasy – Excellent reviews, helpful rating system
37. Fantastic Fiction – Information on 10,000 authors and 200,000 books
38. Encyclopedia of Arda – The best Middle-earth encyclopedia on the web
39. Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide – Not very pretty, but extremely thorough
40. Adherents.com: Religion in Science Fiction – Fascinating list of the presence of religion in science fiction books
41. Course Materials for the Study of Science Fiction – College-level study materials
42. John’s Nautical Literature Page – For fans of Patrick O’Brian or C.S. Forester (like me)
How to Read Well
43. Radical Academy’s Mortimer Adler Archive – Don’t miss this site if you love reading and philosophy
44. The Great Books Foundation – Teaches the Shared Inquiry method of discussing books, based on Adler’s work
45. Northwest Great Books Foundation – Be sure to check out the Leader Resources
*Bonus:ROMAN Reading: 5 Practical Skills for Transforming Your Life through Literature, my free eBook
Libraries
46. The Library of Congress
47. The British Library
Miscellaneous
48. Today in Literature – Daily stories of literary events and people; great for teachers or homeschoolers
49. Book Crossing – Share your books with the world and find out whose reading them
50. Fictional Cities – This is a must-see for book lovers who travel to Venice, Rome or London
Online Books/ebooks
51. Project Gutenberg – One of the foundational sites of the Internet, in my opinion
52. Prepare a Gutenberg Text for eReading – Easy-to-use directions from Lifehacker
53. Christian Classics Ethereal Library – Premiere source of public domain Christian texts
54. Online Books Page – A searchable catalog of online books to be found on the web
55. Google Books – Scans of complete books and lengthy previews of others
56. Wikibooks – Open-content textbooks in every area; great potential here
57. Bartleby – Another great source of etexts, especially quotations
58. The Wondering Minstrels Online Poetry Anthology – Easiest-to-use poetry archive on the web
59. Rare Book Room – Awesome scans of rare books; check out Euclid and Newton
60. Anthology of Middle English Literature – Texts and background information
61. HTI American Verse Project – Well organized American poetry database
* Bonus site: The Baldwin Project – Online children’s literature
Organizing Books
62. Librarything – If you don’t have librarything you don’t have anything
Palm/PDA Books
63. Manybooks – Free ebooks for handhelds
64. Memoware – Another database of free ebooks
65. Palm Pilot eTexts for Catholics
Podcasts
66. NPR: Books – High quality news, reviews and interviews (Subscribe)
67. NPR: A Way with Words – One of my favorites; dont’ miss the quizzicist! (Subscribe)
68. SimonSays Podcast – Simon & Schuster’s podcast (Subscribe)
69. Amazon Bookclips – Audiobook previews (Subscribe)
70. Barnes and Noble Meet the Writers – Entertaining author interviews (Subscribe)
71. The BookShow: ABC Radio International – Australian book talk (Subscribe)
72. KCRW Bookworm – Author interviews from KCRW in Santa Monica, CA (Subscribe)
73. Maria Lectrix – Public domain audiobooks read to you each day (Subscribe)
Reading Groups/Communities
74. Habitual Reader – A comfortable, friendly online fiction book community
75. Book and Reader Forum
76. The Great Conversation Yahoo! Group – Following the Britannica Great Books reading plan
77. More Great Conversation Yahoo! Group – A complement to Britannica’s list, featuring mostly Asian and other Eastern literature
Reading Group Resources
78. Book Clubs Resource – Comprehensive information on reading groups
79. Penguin Groups Reading Guides
80. ReadingGroupGuides.com
81. Modern Library Reading Group Guides
82. Sparknotes Literature Guides
83. Reading Group Choices
84. Bookbrowse.com
85. The Book Group List
Reading Lists
86. Robert Teeter’s Great Books Lists – All bow before Robert Teeter for this incredible site; don’t miss it!
87. Philip Ward’s A Lifetime’s Reading – A 50-year reading plan! Start young or live long
88. Great Books Ten Year Reading Plan – Britannica’s suggested reading plan
89. Whichbook.net – A fun way to find what to read next
90. Center for the Study of Great Ideas – Mortimer Adler’s legacy
91. Alan Nicoll’s Great Books of the Western World – Companion site to the ten year reading plan
92. Essential Baseball Library – Why is it that baseball is the only sport with a consistent history of great literature and film?
Reference
93. Online Etymology Dictionary – Got a question about the origin of a word? Get your answer here.
94. Encyclopedia Mythica – Mythology, folklore and religion
95. Malaspina Great Books
96. Start of the Hero’s Journey – Explore this archetypal literary structure
97. Dictionary.com
98. Oxford English Dictionary
99. Book Rags
Fun
100. Bookworm – A highly addictive online word game (don’t go here unless you have time to kill)
101. Crossword Links
