Where on the web to talk about books?

October 17, 2007 3:49 PM

What are your favorite online forums in which to talk about books? Say why you like each so I can get a good idea of the different kinds of communities.

(Yes, I searched first for this question, fully expecting it to be asked plenty - but either my search-skills suck or... well, that must be it because surely others have wanted to find good webforums about literature before?)

posted by snortlebort to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

I don't really know anything about online book communities, but I've been lurking the the Hipster Book Club on livejournal for a while now to try to keep an eye out for interesting things. (The community info page should give you a bit of a feel for what they're like - not really 'hipstery' at all.) They have their own independent website now as well, which if I remember correctly was sort of intended to be a "Pitchfork for books," although I've never really checked it out in-depth.

I honestly don't follow them that closely though.
posted by Muffpub at 4:05 PM on October 17, 2007

I've found that Goodreads is a pretty helpful forum for recommending books to my far away friends. I'm not sure how much actual discussion goes on, but the reviews can sometimes be interesting and worthwhile.
posted by quentiniii at 4:07 PM on October 17, 2007

Gapers Block Book Club
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 4:19 PM on October 17, 2007

Barbelith. Good place.
posted by iconomy at 4:21 PM on October 17, 2007

Librarything. Its primary feature is cataloging your collection and comparing to others', but it has a nice discussion forum too.
posted by Rykey at 4:35 PM on October 17, 2007

www.bookcrossing.com - sort of a "Where's George" takeoff for books, but has grwat discussion forums, and read alongs, book swaps, etc.
posted by mazienh at 5:57 PM on October 17, 2007

Well I'm a sf/f geek:

www.sffworld.com
Westeros (George RR Martin)
Malazan Empire

are a few of the best genre forums.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 7:10 PM on October 17, 2007

I have found the forums on Library Thing to be pretty interesting, depending on the group. Poetry Fool has taught me the most.

Based on what quentiniii said above (and a friend told me once, but I forgot the name of the site) I just took a look and joined Goodreads.
posted by Rain Man at 8:17 PM on October 17, 2007

An older site that might be worth a look is www.constantreader.com
posted by Rain Man at 9:22 PM on October 17, 2007