Penguin Dating: "where book lovers meet"

Penguin Books has joined up with Match.com to form Penguin Dating, a cool dating website aimed at book readers. I think that's a really great idea!

The Penguin Blog - the official blog of penguin books UK

Prudence Pennywise

Prudence Pennywise is an impressive food blog written by "Prudy" and her tagline tells you what her blog is about:
"Scandalously good food on a budget"

Prudy doesn't just offer delicious recipes, she also features additional information with each recipe such as a book review. an event in her life, interesting background to a recipe, money saving tips and sometimes a give-away.

Baking and Books

Baking and Books is a delightful blog written by Ariela and where she shares some of her favourite recipes and reviews books.

I like the way Ariela writes her reviews - most of them are short and to the point. I perused her list and discovered a few books I will be adding to my (very long) reading list. I intend to try some of her delicious looking recipes too!

The Book Depository: Cheap books with free delivery worldwide

If you enjoy reading as much as I do, you will appreciate The Book Depository, a site that offers a huge selection of books and FREE worldwide delivery!

The website also offers the latest news and reviews about books and interviews with authors.

The Official Annabel Karmel Website

The Official Annabel Karmel Website is a very impressive site devoted to food and nutrition for babies and children. Annabel Karmel is a popular cookery writer in the UK and you can purchase her books via her website.

Her site offers lots of healthy recipes, how-to information, a nutrition guide, How to Cook Videos, a forum, a Kids Cooking Site with Kids Cooking Videos plus competitions, prize draws and giveaways.

There is also a new AnnabelKarmel TV channel to watch online.

BiblioTravel

If you love to read and are looking for books categorized by location, you will appreciate BiblioTravel , a free online resource that was created by librarians, Fiona Scannell and James Schellenberg.

In addition, if you register, you can participate by adding your input to the site - to enter your favourite books or add comments to existing entries. You can sign up for an account with BiblioTravel for free.

A blog about writing & grammar plus a knitting blog & a book blog

Deb writes Punctuality Rules! which is "A blog devoted to writing, grammar, good manners..." and offers a lot of useful information and interesting discussion about those subjects.

Deb also writes a blog about knitting called Chappy's Mom and a book blog called, Booking Through Thursday.

BibleGateway

The BibleGateway is a free searchable online Bible, "...all in the language or translation of your choice!"

There is a BibleGateway Blog too.

The Creative Mom Podcast

The Creative Mom Podcast is a weekly podcast that is always interesting and enjoyable to listen to. The Creative Mom (Amy) offers lots of inspiration and encouragement to be creative plus book reviews and inspiring music too.

Amy also writes a delightful blog called Threaded Thoughts where she writes about the "...strands of motherhood and creativity that define me."

DailyLit - read books by email

If you love to read but don't always have the time, DailyLit provides an easy and fun solution. DailyLit sends books in installments via e-mail or RSS.

There is no charge to read public domain books on DailyLit and some copyrighted books are also free! (most copyrighted books require payment but you only pay if you like the free sample installments and want to continue reading).

It's very easy to start a subscription to a book. You can choose to receive the installments three different ways: daily, on weekdays only, or on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. You can also choose to subscribe by email or RSS and you can choose the time of day when the installment is sent to you.

Shelfari - show off your books on a virtual bookshelf

Shelfari is a fantastic site for bibliophiles because it means you can create a free virtual bookshelf and show others what you are reading.

Shelfari also produce a blog and there is a new Shelfari widget to put on your own blog.

Audio Literature Odyssey - a literary podcast

Audio Literature Odyssey is the name of a wonderful literary podcast (and blog) by Nikolle Doolin, a writer, voice actor, and producer.

Enjoy!

WorldCat: search for books, music,videos - in libraires around the world

WorldCat.org "lets you search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands more around the world."

WorldCat is a very handy resource and easy to use. To find an item in a library near you, enter a postal code, state, province, or country.

LibraryThing: catalog your books online

LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily.

You can also get recommendations by using the book suggester.

Choose to arrange your books on a virtual shelf or on a list. Have fun with it!
LibraryThing is very useful and also incredibly addictive!

TwitterLit: "Twittering the first lines of books so you don't have to"

If you love to read, TwitterLit is a site you will certainly enjoy.

It's such a simple idea. The owner and creator of the site, Debra Hamel, posts the first line from a book: "... literary teasers twice daily."

The challenge is to try and guess the name of the book and if you are stumped, Debra provides a link to Amazon (you can choose US, UK or Canada) so you can identify the book and possibly choose to purchase the book as well.

It really is a fun site. It also provides a clever way to discover new books if you are wondering what to read next.

Reading Group Choices: "selects discussible books"

Reading Group Choices is a fun and useful website that "...offers interesting, informative, fun, and interactive material of interest to book clubs."

You don't have to be a member of a book club or a reading group, to make use of the site. If you are simply looking for ideas about what book to read next, the site offers interesting and diverse suggestions.

Reading Group Choices also offers lots of advice and tips if you are thinking about starting a book group.

There is also a contest section with opportunities to win free books! You don't have to be a resident of the USA - I just noticed that I can enter the contest too. (Yippee!) The site actually accepts entries from the US, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.

Jan Brett's website: free activities for kids

Jan Brett is a popular author/illustrator of children's books. She also has a wonderful website with loads of free activities, coloring pages, and projects that are fun and educational.

Her site really is a wonderful resource for parents and children. I think the pages showing how to draw a hedgehog , how to draw an armadillo, and how to draw a bear, are particularly appealing. The site isn't just for children!

Guides for Reading Groups

ReadingGroupGuides.com is a very useful website which is "built especially for reading groups, providing them with all they need to make their book club experience better than ever."

In addition to the very helpful guides which suggest points to discuss in specific books, there is also a very useful Advice & Ideas section about starting and running a reading group and choosing what to read. There are even recipes to consider making for your reading group.

Mrs Mad's Book-a-Rama

Mrs Mad's Book-a-Rama is a wonderful resource for:

"All the best books for children and young adults, parents, teachers and librarians, with reviews and ratings, games, stories and jokes."

The site offers trustworthy advice so if you wonder what books are best for your children, you can depend on Mrs. Mad's recommendations.

Trashionista - a book blog

Trashionista is a fun and informative book blog that focuses on the more light hearted "female fiction" or "chicklit":

"Trashionista gets to grips with the wonderful world of female fiction. We take an unbiased look at beach reads, bestsellers, new releases and old favourites - and we actually read the books before writing about them. At Trashionista we don't believe that 'chick lit' is a dirty word - but if a book is trash, we'll let you know!"