Suppose you're wondering which book you should read next. In that case, these sites have excellent book recommendations by authors, influential people, internet comments, and AI.
Book reviews aren't always the best way to find a book to review, simply because different people have different things they want from a book. Some people are in it for a writer's style, while others like the concepts more than the words. And then some can't stand fiction. A simple alternative is to check book recommendations which most people agree upon, or are made by an expert in that type of book.
1. Shepherd (Web): Books Recommended by Writers and Authors
Who better to tell you what to read next than the author of the last book you liked? Shepherd is trying hard to get authors and writers to recommend five titles to make a "book list" they think you should read on a topic they've written about before.
The topics are unlike the usual carefully-defined genres that you'll find in bookstores, as Shepherd is trying to recreate the experience of browsing a bookstore to fit into the online world. For example, you'll find a book list of graphic novels about navigating friendship and family, recommended by an author of one such graphic novel. Or the best books on the Korean War, as suggested by a war historian.
You can browse by authors or by topics when you scroll to the end of the homepage. You'll find a small blurb about why the author picked those choices when you open any book list. And you'll also get closely related or distantly related lists for further reading. It's one of the most fuss-free sites to find what book to read next.
2. Most Recommended Books (Web): Book Recommendations by Influential People
Most Recommended Books is an incredible resource that collects the books influential people or reviewers say are worth reading. Each book cites the original source, so you know it's a verified recommendation. Surprisingly, there isn't a book summary included with the title, so you'll always be wondering what it's about till you click the Amazon link.
The site is divided into three main parts: People, Lists, and Series. Series just lists the proper order to read any book series (including minis and novellas). But it's the other two that are great.
In People, you'll find book recommendations by celebrities and influential people like Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, JK Rowling, etc. Each person's total recommendations appear under their name. You can quickly prune the list by categories, like entrepreneur, journalist, author, comedian, etc.
In lists, Most Recommended Books scours Google results, podcasts, interviews, biographies, and other places to create interesting book lists. For example, the Best Mystery Books list was made by searching for the term, finding the top four articles, and ranking every book with at least two mentions. You'll find loads of such fascinating book lists.
3. Readow (Web): AI Recommendations Based on Books You've Liked or Disliked
There are quite a few book recommendation apps that will ask you for a book you liked and offer what else you might like. Readow is a machine-learning engine that updates recommendations as you add and delete books based on your likes and dislikes.
So to begin, think of a book that you read and would like something similar. Enter it into the Readow search bar and choose it, and then add other books if you want. You can update this search query at any point.
The app will give you a grid of book recommendations, with each card having three buttons. Press Like if you've read it and want to add it to your search query. Press Delete to remove it from your search, and Readow also learns and updates your recommendations accordingly. Finally, click the Buy button to go to the Amazon page for the book.
It's a simple app that gives a lot of good book choices without you doing much. Our only complaint, albeit a small one, is that you have to be specific and accurate with your book titles when entering them in the search bar.
4. The Non-Fiction Library and Non-Fiction Book Club (Web): Real Books, Real People
For every page-turning murder mystery, there's an intriguing true crime investigation. For every epic quest by one protagonist, there's an inspirational biography. The world of non-fiction books is just as riveting as fictional books, if not more so.
The Non-Fiction Library is one developer's effort to create a database of the best non-fiction books in English, currently listing 411 of the top titles. It covers various categories you can filter by, such as history, biographies, science, politics, business, psychology, etc. You can also filter the books by year of publishing and the size of their spine. And you'll get all major non-fiction releases if you sign up for the newsletter.
If that's not enough for you, head to the subreddit r/nonfictionbookclub. This is a community to discuss non-fiction books and get recommendations. Members write a short summary about any new book they read. You can also make requests for suggestions on particular topics.
5. Reddit Reads (Web): Best and Trending Book Recommendations on Reddit
As the world's largest online discussion boards, many people share their best book recommendations on Reddit. Of course, they can get lost in the many subreddits and threads. Reddit Reads is an analytical attempt to collect the most-shared book recommendations on Reddit monthly.
The site shows you the top mentioned books on all of Reddit, or you can filter by the many subreddits it analyzes. Book mentions are collected by checking every comment for links to Amazon, Goodreads, Google Books, and O'Reilly Media, eliminating duplicate comments for a fairer representation.
The monthly Reddit Reads newsletter (also represented on the site's blog) is an excellent analysis of the monthly comment data. For example, you'll find new books that are getting mentioned in the previous month, as well as some unique subreddits and their books. Overall, Reddit Reads is a great way to find the best recommendations on Reddit.
Create a Reading Plan for Your Books
With these sites, the problem isn't going to be figuring out what book you should read next. Instead, the problem will be how you can read them all, especially if you haven't developed a reading habit.
The best place to start is by creating a reading plan. A quick internet search will show several approaches for reading plans, from just 20 pages a day to detailed calendars and Kanban boards. The main thing is to stick to it and enjoy reading itself.