Top Ten Tuesday is a blogging activity hosted by The Broke And The Bookish. They've been outdoing themselves lately for their weekly topic and I have to admit this one's ingenious. The top ten bookish web sites will allow readers to share links about their favorite sites and this helps promote reading big time. I salute you, BnB girls. You'll notice I left fellow book bloggers out of the equation. It's too easy to name ten blog and get away with it. My top ten here targets resources for readers.
1-Goodreads: This one's a no brainer. Goodreads is a reader's haven. It's tighly run and organized in a way that you can find fellow readers and writers that share your tastes without busting your balls too much. We have a discussion group over there.
2-Amazon: I don't care if you think I'm a fascist, Amazon is great. You can find most books at a cheap price over there, whether they are rare or out of print or whatever. The Kindle Store was also a great invention that democratized the publishing industry. Readers can try authors out without ruining themselves.
3-Librivox: All right, they might not have the burning hot novelties. But I like Librivox a lot better than Audible for audiobooks. You don't have to pay suspicious monthly fees (that are almost twice what Netflix charges). They do a great job and I try to pick audiobooks from there whenever I can.
4-Huffington Post Books: Shit's happening over there. The Post is one of the best bookish actualities web site. It's a little chaotic, there's some yelling matches in the comments sections going on, but it generates a lot of publicity for good writers.
5-The Rumpus Books: I love The Rumpus. It's a smaller, more streamlined version of The Huffington Post. They have amazing interviews with writers that deserve more recognition and they have this column called The Last Book I Loved which is always enlightening.
6-Smashwords: The next best thing to Amazon's Kindle Store when it comes to digging out new writers. It's a bit of a labyrinth of strange (and mostly bad) books, but once you get the hang or indie gold-digging, there are treasures at your reach.
7-Half Price Books: I'm not the biggest used book buyer, but these guys are great at what they do. Literature should be affordable and books should keep moving, at least until they get into appreciative hands. HPB keeps books cheap and the readers busy for a cheap price.
8-Charlie Rose: Charlie Rose talks to a lot of people. He loves to talk with writers. His web site is crammed full of interviews with the most important literary figures of the twentieth century: David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen, Hunter S. Thompson, John Updike, Kurt Vonnegut, etc.
9-McSweeney's: The content is not always interesting, but Dave Eggers' bunch are terrific at pushing new writers and to promote off-beat literature. If I'm looking to step outside my comfort zone, McSweeney's a great place. I doubt Adam Levin would have got any push without Eggers' help.
10-Paul D. Brazill's You Would Say That, Wouldn't You?: Tired of reading the same crime writers over and over? Then you should drop by Paulie's place, it's THE hot spot for new mystery/crime fiction. The man (who's a badass writer himself) knows what's going on in the scene.
2-Amazon: I don't care if you think I'm a fascist, Amazon is great. You can find most books at a cheap price over there, whether they are rare or out of print or whatever. The Kindle Store was also a great invention that democratized the publishing industry. Readers can try authors out without ruining themselves.
3-Librivox: All right, they might not have the burning hot novelties. But I like Librivox a lot better than Audible for audiobooks. You don't have to pay suspicious monthly fees (that are almost twice what Netflix charges). They do a great job and I try to pick audiobooks from there whenever I can.
4-Huffington Post Books: Shit's happening over there. The Post is one of the best bookish actualities web site. It's a little chaotic, there's some yelling matches in the comments sections going on, but it generates a lot of publicity for good writers.
5-The Rumpus Books: I love The Rumpus. It's a smaller, more streamlined version of The Huffington Post. They have amazing interviews with writers that deserve more recognition and they have this column called The Last Book I Loved which is always enlightening.
6-Smashwords: The next best thing to Amazon's Kindle Store when it comes to digging out new writers. It's a bit of a labyrinth of strange (and mostly bad) books, but once you get the hang or indie gold-digging, there are treasures at your reach.
7-Half Price Books: I'm not the biggest used book buyer, but these guys are great at what they do. Literature should be affordable and books should keep moving, at least until they get into appreciative hands. HPB keeps books cheap and the readers busy for a cheap price.
8-Charlie Rose: Charlie Rose talks to a lot of people. He loves to talk with writers. His web site is crammed full of interviews with the most important literary figures of the twentieth century: David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen, Hunter S. Thompson, John Updike, Kurt Vonnegut, etc.
9-McSweeney's: The content is not always interesting, but Dave Eggers' bunch are terrific at pushing new writers and to promote off-beat literature. If I'm looking to step outside my comfort zone, McSweeney's a great place. I doubt Adam Levin would have got any push without Eggers' help.
10-Paul D. Brazill's You Would Say That, Wouldn't You?: Tired of reading the same crime writers over and over? Then you should drop by Paulie's place, it's THE hot spot for new mystery/crime fiction. The man (who's a badass writer himself) knows what's going on in the scene.