BlogaBook

Looking for your next great read?
A group of book enthusiasts from Duluth, MN created a new website to help you find that next great book to read. It is called Connect-the-books and is located at www.connect-the-books.com The website catalogs over 100,000 books and 125,000 reading lists and allows users to display and print out a list of 25, 50, or even 100 books related to any book. So, if you've just finished a good book, enter it into the search field and the site will display books connected to that book.

Pros and Cons of Connect-the-Book
My opinion is that it could be a great way for library users to get suggestions for new books to read. But it is only one of several sources for suggestions available and should be used with caution: it can be overwhelming and misleading, and it may lead to a dead-end.

Advantages of this site are the huge numbers of titles available and the fact that the connections from one book to the other have been made by real readers. The connections are made by a "proprietary method" (since the site is funded by part of the proceeds of sales it generates at Amazon.com, I am assuming it is propritary to Amazon). Anyone who has used Amazon will have found that some of the connections between books are tenuous at best. I found some of the connections on Connect-the-Books were misleading. The number of books you can connect to is so large that you can be overwhelmed by choice. Tom Gibbons of Connect-the-Books wrote, "Because we use actual users lists for connecting books, users can be surprised by unexpected book connections." Some surprises are good; but just be on the look-out for some mismatches.

Connect-the-books does not display any advertisements, though links are provided to Amazon.com for users who wish to read more information about the books and possibly purchase them. A small portion of the revenue from these purchases is used to support the administration of the website. Be aware of this influence; though I did not detect that this limited the choice of books, which is huge.

I did find, however, that several titles with recent 2008 publication dates that I put in the search box did not have any connections yet: I reached a dead end. The site updates the connections only two or three times a year; so, if you want to find similar books to recent things you have read you may not find them.

Why Not Check out MyNextGoodBook?
Harford County Public Library offers MyNextGoodBook on the HCPL website. Anyone can create an account and keep reading lists, either private or to share. You can see what others have been reading, join an online book club, or view HCPL staff recommended lists.

The advantage that MyNextGoodBook has over Connect-the-Books, and other similar sites such as GoodReads, LibraryThing, and Shelfari, is that it is locally based. Click on MyNextGoodBook and search for similar books to a particular title or search for recommendations in a wide array of subjects. Create your account and start sharing your reading with people in your community. When you find a thread from one book you have liked to another you will often be able to click on a link which will take you right to our catalog to reserve the book for pick up. What could be simpler than that?