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Plugged In September 2005 • Vol.16 Issue 9 Page(s) 46-47 in print issue |
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 Bartleby.com www.bartleby.com  Can’t make it to the library today? No problem: Bartleby.com offers thousands of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and reference works to visitors for free. Instead of warehousing thousands of paperbacks and hard covers, this site houses their digital equivalents on its servers. Bartleby.com includes a powerful search engine that lets users search its entire collection (including each document’s text). If you have as much trouble as we do when it comes to pronouncing words, you’ll love the site’s audio word definitions. Visitors can sign up for Bartleby.com’s email newsletter, which includes definitions, quotations, biographies, and more. Bas Bleu www.basbleu.com The gargantuan retail bookstores that pepper the nation are vast treasure troves of mainstream books, but believe it or not, they don’t house some lesser-known literary works. If you’re looking for unusual books, surf on over to Bas Bleu, a mail-order book seller that also offers its catalog online. The site’s employees write helpful reviews of the books and seek out stories that you won’t find in the average bookstore. The main page lists the site’s best-selling books, while the Current Catalog section displays books and reading-related items, including (at press time) a rope chair and a Jane Austen Cuff Bracelet. Bas Bleu also sells a variety of greeting cards. Book Adventure www.bookadventure.org If your favorite techie isn’t taking to books as easily as she is to video games, direct her to the Sylvan Learning Center’s Book Adventure, a site that uses prizes to encourage children to read. Book Adventure’s plan is simple: It helps your child create a reading list and (once she finishes a book) tests her understanding of the book via a quiz. Successful readers who earn enough points can choose from a variety of prizes, including books and a six-month subscription to Highlights For Kids Magazine. The Book Finder, which lists the books for which the site has quizzes, includes more than 6,000 books in a variety of categories. Library Stuff www.librarystuff.net Whether you work in a library or enjoy visiting one, you’ll find that Steven M. Cohen’s Library Stuff blog offers plenty of worthwhile tidbits. The site is a blog (Web log; an online journal) in which Cohen comments on library-related news. In most cases, Cohen follows the traditional blog format by linking to a news article, quoting portions of it, and posting his thoughts. Each blog entry lets visitors post their own comments and read others’ views, which lets Cohen and his readers have a slow-paced, online discussion. Library Stuff also links to other blogs via a special blog-linking service. Litblog.com www.litblog.com If you devour book reviews as fast as you read books, you’ll love Litblog.com. The site’s authors, Kathryn and Patrick, frequently post long messages that are part book review, part musing. However, if you don’t like spoilers (discussions that expose key details about stories), steer clear of these posts, as the authors apparently assume that visitors have already read the books they discuss. Of course, you can make sure you’ve already read the books before they post by checking the right side of the main page, which lists both the books they’re already reading and those they plan to read. The Litblog Co-Op lbc.typepad.com/blog Unlike standard blog authors, litblog authors avoid lists of their daily routines or commentary on politics and instead focus on literature. If you’re looking for fresh discussions of both new and old books, visit the Litblog Co-Op, which connects about 20 litblogs, so readers can easily flit from one discussion to another. The site links to such litblogs as Bookdwarf, Literary Saloon, and The Happy Booker and suggests books to visitors. The site recently teased visitors with a picture of only a small portion of the book that it planned to announce so perceptive readers could find the book ahead of time. If you’d like to nominate a book for the site’s Read This! category, click the Suggest A Title link on the left side of the page. My Home Library www.myhomelibrary.org Don’t lend your books to friends without first attaching a bookplate to the inside cover. A bookplate is generally a sticker that bears the library’s name (whether it’s a public or home library). Readers also use bookplates when giving (or receiving) books as gifts. You can find plenty of straightforward bookplates that don’t include pictures, but if you’re looking for unusual stickers that add a special touch to your literary treasures, visit this site and then click the Book Plates link in the navigation menu. The site has free, printable book plates for adults and children and offers small, medium, and large sizes that accommodate any size book in your collection. My Home Library also offers a brief history of the bookplate. Compiled by Joshua Gulick Illustrated by Lindsay Anker
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