Books in a Series

A series is defined as “two or more books linked by character, settings or other common traits”. Readers are constantely challenged by which book came first. Many readers like to read an author’s books in the order in which they were published. Some readers follow a particular character and like to know which book came first etc. The following resources are usefull in identifying books in a series:

What’s Next? Kent County Library (MI) http://www.kdl.org/libcat/WhatsNextNEW.asp
This database is searchable by author and series title.

Fantastic Fiction http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/
This is a UK product. Readers can search by author or browse by author. You retrieve a short biography of the author and their titles organized by series and/or date of publication.

Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of the Year

PW’s Best Books of the Year (2006) http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6388182.html?text=best+books

List of 100 best books chosen by the staff of Publisher’s Weekly (11/06/2006). The list is organized by genre and alphabetically by title within the genre category. The list includes fiction and noinfiction.

Best Fiction 2006 – the Christian Science Monitor

Best Fiction list for 2006 from the Christian Science Monitor 

The list includes general fiction, mysteries/thrillers, short stories, poetry and one children’s title.

Best Nonfiction 2006 from the Christian Science Monitor

Best Nonfiction 2006 – Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1128/p12s01-bogn.html

Annual list including general nonfiction, biographies, memoirs and religion titles.

Classic Science Fiction Titles

Fairfax County Library (VA) Science Fiction Resources http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/reading/adult/ADULTSf.htm

An annotated list of Classic Science Fiction writers.

Cozy-Mystery List

Cozy Mystery List http://www.cozy-mystery.com/ An alphabetical list of authors with brief summaries of each book. Useful for identifying the “next in the series” mysteries.

Literary Fiction

A Guide to Literary Fiction: http://www.conknet.com/~fullerlibrary/ReadersAdvisory/ A%20GUIDE%20TO%20LITERARY%20FICTION.htm This web site has a good discussion about the genre of literary fiction. It lists both print and online resources about the genre. This site also has an annotated lists of titles.

Metacritic: A Multi Media Review Site

Metacritic http://www.metacritic.com This web site was selected as a “Best free reference web site” by the Reference and User Services Association of ALA. It has reviews of DVD’s, Music and books. The book reviews are pulled from the major media outlets and coverage is extensive. This is a “commercial site” and there is a lot of advertising on the site. The book reviews include both fiction and nonfiction.

***As of Dec, 2007, Metacritic will no longer add book reviews to this site.  They state that they will do a book occasionally.  You can still get reviews of older titles. KLM (2/11/2008)

Book Club Planner and List of Titles with Reading Guides

Essential Book Club Planner http://www.bookmovement.com Book Clubs can register on this site and use it to manage their administrative details.  This site also has lists of titles selected by book clubs. These titles include reading guides.

Williamsburg Regional Library

WRL BOOKWEB http://www.wrl.org/bookweb/ A web site with resources for readers. Included is the online RA service, “Looking for a Good Book?” The reader completes a profile and a WRL librarian selects titles based on the profile.