keep track of your books

With the internet taking off the way it has, and the incredible effect it is having on all media outlets, including newspapers, magazines and terrestrial radio, books surprisingly continue to thrive. To this day, whenever you go into a Barnes and Noble or Borders, hoards of people are crowding the coffee shop with books in hand or books out the door. This also includes Amazon, where although they have moved on to much more then just books, their Amazon book rankings are still heavily relied upon as a popularity factor, and still get a lot of their revenue via paperbacks and hardcovers.

With the overwhelming majority of readers still buying books, instead of going to their local library, many like to have a nice way to organize what they're reading, share it with the world and give their take on it. So, like any other popular forms of media, several websites and applications have been born to do these tasks. I've chosen four of the best. So enter, best websites to keep track of yor books.

Shelfari

shelfari-catalog books online

If you are looking for a product that does it all, and looks gorgeous, Shelfari delivers. They cover almost all aspects - from getting connected to friends, to selecting your books, to embedding your current reads in your blog or website. They make it extremely easy and user friendly, while delivering a beautiful look and feel at the same time.

  • A gorgeous graphical user interface, that is incredibly user friendly.
  • Give book reviews and ratings.
  • Embed books on your blog or website.
  • Find friends and family to share your books with.
  • Join groups with your likes to discover new titles.
  • Get e-mail updates from friends and groups.
  • Communicate with authors.

Features:

Easy to use drop-down interface, to select the current status on a title.

shelfari

A look at your user profile, where you'll see the current book(s) you are reading, plan to read or have already read.

shelfari 3

A preview image, provided by Shelfari, of what you can embed in your website or blog. A great way to communicate to friends and family, not only about your current books, but also about Shelfari itself.

shelfari books 4

Goodreads

goodreads - organize your books

Another great cataloging site that doesn't quite have the same nice GUI interface as Shelfari, but is still incredibly simple and still has a lot of the same capability. Goodreads has the funding behind them and have a huge loyal following.

If you are looking for a site that has a huge database of recommendations, friends and groups then Goodreads is a solid selection.

  • Add and remove an endless amount of books.
  • Give book reviews and ratings.
  • Share your books, book reviews and comments with friends and family.
  • Get great recommendations based upon your ratings.
  • Get continuous e-mail updates on your friend's and family's books.
  • Communicate with authors.
  • Get book specials and deals.

Features:

An example of what one of my friends is reading. I'm not displaying anything, but below this you will see books your friends have read in the past, their reviews, and their rating.

Goodreads

A look at my current bookshelf. What I've read, my ratings, my reviews, and future books.

Goodreads 2

LibraryThing

Librarything isn't all that much different from the previous sites I have mentioned. It has a lot of the same capability, but has been around much longer then the others, so it has a much bigger following.

  • Enter up to 200 books for free. After 200, it's $10/year or $25/life.
  • Huge tagging engine, with tag cloud and other options.
  • Catalog from Amazon, Library of Congress and almost 700 other libraries.
  • The ability to request early reviews of unreleased books.
  • Yet another that includes a recommendation engine.
  • Get information on local visits from authors, or book clubs.
  • Forums, groups, books covers, you name it, they've got it.
  • Offline desktop installation.
  • Track Books, DVDs, Music and Games
  • Add items through your webcam, by barcode scanning
  • Import items through spreadsheets or LibraryThing

A look at a 'book profile' and some of the details it displays.

librarything

There are many many groups to join and collaborate with.

Libra (no longer available)

Libra

Libra's desktop application is an offline media storing program that you can use to track not only books, but DVDs, games and music as well. The program is free and has no limits, but it does lack any online connection. It does have the ability to link to Amazon books, and uses its search ability to find books, but you do not have the ability to view your collections online.

Check out Simon's review of Libra here.

A look at your bookshelf through Libra.

Libra bookshelf

A book's profile after you click on an item.

Libra book profile

Other Notables:

Gurulib

Listal

Amazon YourMediaLibrary

As you can see, there are a few other options out there for tracking your book collections. All of them have their own unique features and abilities. From my own personal opinion, the most user friendly and most feature rich choice, is Shelfari. However, I don't think you'll be disappointed with any of the other choices. Try them all out for a while, and form your own opinion.

Which of these do you like? Do you know of any sites or applications that you use besides these? Let us know.