When I first started looking for book recommendations to work on summaries, I was incredibly overwhelmed. Although knew which books I wanted to read, the sheer number of authors and series was too much. Over time, finding books became easier thanks to different websites, services, and social networks and I want to share them with you. Below, you’ll find a series of sites that will make finding new books to read much easier.
YouTube
There are so many people on YouTube creating content around books that this could be its own blog post. “Booktubers”, as they call themselves, critique books, give tours of their favorite libraries, and let you see their bookshelves. As you explore the YouTube channels of book lovers, you’ll eventually find someone who’s right for you. I don’t follow anyone on YouTube who focuses solely on books, but some channels that occasionally talk about them include Ali Abdaal, Nate O’Brien, and Thomas Frank.
The “Bookstagram” community is thriving. If you trust strangers when it comes to book recommendations, Instagram is a good place to start. As you explore the Bookstagram tab on the popular social network, you’ll get recommendations for numerous genres and books in different languages. It also helps that a lot of Instagram users go above and beyond to take beautiful pictures of the books they like.
What Should I Read Next
What Should I Read Next does one thing and one thing exceptionally well: it recommends books. To get book recommendations, you can write the name of an author or book and start from there. Alternatively, you can choose a genre you like (everything from dystopias to human-alien encounters) and see where the site takes you. One of the site’s best features is that you don’t need to sign up to start using it.
Whichbook
Whichbook is another great recommendation site. In this case, you get recommendations based on mood or a location on the world map. Once you’ve selected different factors, the website makes sure your search matches with different books. For quicker recommendations, you can also look at bestseller lists or the books that are trending on the site.
Amazon
Primarily, the books category on Amazon is all about buying them. But you can also find sections such as “best books of the month”, curated lists by famous people, and many recommendations based on your purchases. Again, the primary function of Amazon is to sell you books, but the e-commerce site offers numerous resources to find your next read as well.
Goodreads
Goodreads is one of the best sites on this list because this social network revolves around books. Apart from an actual “recommendations” section based on what you’ve already read, the site puts multiple tools at your disposal. These include lists, articles, new releases, discussions, and more. Not only can you get general recommendations, but also a list of “similar books” for each book you’ve read.
Book Cubs
There are book clubs both online and in real life and they’re a great way to discover new books. The first book club I’ve ever heard about was Oprah’s and I discovered some great books through the site. That is far from the only book club run by a celebrity. Other famous people with online book clubs include Reese Witherspoon and Emma Watson.
There are Reddit communities for anything you can think of and books are no exception. Apart from getting recommendations, I often visit the Kindle subreddit. There I can read people’s opinions on the latest devices, as well as see pictures of their Kindle next to cats or lattes. In all seriousness, you can get book recommendations just by browsing the book subreddit. Just know that the more time you invest in the site, the more books you’ll discover.
NY Times Best Sellers
The New York Times Best Sellers section is a great resource. At a glance, you can see some of the best-selling books, how long they’ve been on the list, and read a summary. There aren’t that many changes to the list, so this isn’t a website that you should visit daily. Nevertheless, I keep a bookmark on my browser and I check the site once a month. At that point, there’s either something new or something I’ve ignored for too long.
Read This Twice
I discovered Read This Twice recently. On this website, you’ll find a list of famous people. For each of them, you have a list of books they’ve read, as well as a source where that person mentions the books in question. So if you want to know which books Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk are into, there’s a website for that. Additionally, there are more general book recommendations, such as traditional lists like “best self-development books” or “best cryptocurrency books”. You can spend hours on this site (I know I have) and chances are you’re going to find several new books to read.