Need a Good Book?

By Lonica Rowley

I just came across a fantastic website that can help you identify the next great book on your reading list. The website is called Novelist and is offered through EBSCOHost (a very reliable distributor, if any of you are familiar with it). While this site it most often used by librarians who are searching for books on a particular request, its available to the general public, as long as you have a library card.

What does this oh-so-useful site offer you? A whole lot. You can get any of the following:

• lists of award winners, grouped by age categories and topics.


• Author read-a-likes. You can use this feature to search for similar books to those published by an author you particularly like.


• Author biographies.


• Recommended readings, grouped by age categories and topics.


• BookTalks, basically like written trailers for a book.


• Reviews on all sorts of books.

If you remember my earlier recommendations to use Amazon.com to help you identify a book you might like to read, this might start to sound familiar. Essentially, Novelist is an upscale, professional version of Amazon. Their focus is just more literary-minded and people serving, rather than geared towards a comercial, we-want-your-money attitude.

You can access the site through the local library website. Go to http://www.ualibrary.org/ or http://www.columbuslibrary.org/ and select the "research/database" link. Scroll through the listings until you come to Novelist. Select this and the site should ask for your library card number. Upon entry, you'll be admitted to the site and all of it's wonderful resources.

I strongly recommend that you take some time to explore their site and see what they might have to offer you.