Here are some of the websites I follow for book-related news and trivia:
— The amazing, invaluable Online book section of The Guardian is my foremost go-to website for anything related to books or literature. It’s a tad Anglo-centric, but there’s just so much well-organized, easy-to-access content, updated daily, that I always end up spending more time that I intended on its pages. On top of the usual reviews and book news, the site has loads of cool stuff like podcasts, slideshows, videos, quizzes, in-depth essays, blogs, a book club, and the occasional short story. They also run interesting series like Writers’ Rooms and Chris Power’s A Brief Survey of the Short Story.
— Caustic Cover Critic is certainly the blog I follow the most regularly. I check it almost every day to make sure I haven’t noticed anything. The Cover Critic in question is smart, funny, resourceful, and has good taste to boot. The blog comments new and interesting book covers, as well showcasing book designers and publishers who take particular care in the quality of their covers. CCC is also very funny, sometimes writing about hideous/saucy book covers, and he has an uncanny ability to find different books that all use the same image on the cover.
— The Millions is an American e-magazine set out to prove that lit coverage can survive online, and with insightful essays, good reviews, and a decent news feed of book-related news, it does its job pretty well. (In a self-promoting aside, I got a couple of essays published there myself.) It’s also the books website with the most extensive “Year in Reading” feature out there (I think they may even have invented the concept), which lasts through every December.
— The New Yorker’s Book Bench describes itself as “loose leafs from the New Yorker Books Department”. It’s an eclectic kind of place with lots of different features including essays, interviews, quirky musings, covers contests, and a really useful survey of book news online.
— Granta Magazine’s online section is the quantity beats quality kind of place, were one always finds something unexpected and satisfying to read, be it an interview, a short story, or an essay. And all the content is exclusively available on the web!
— The Paris Review’s website usually manages to convince you to buy their magazine, but it still has a plethora of online content. The most interesting remains the archive of world-famous interviews (The Art of Fiction and The Art of Fiction), with words of wisdom from literary celebrities from the 1950s to today — every reader’s guilty pleasure, I’m sure.
— I’ve also recently discovered a blog called Reading the Short Story, written by Charles May, an American academic specializing in short story theory. The blog is updated regularly with essays and reviews on short stories or short story writers. It’s all very accessible and insightful.
— #fridayreads is the coolest hashtag on twitter right. Every friday, every week, thousands of people tweet what they’re reading, be it an e-book, a magazine, a newspaper, or a good old book. It’s become an international e-movement and a global community of book lovers. It supports and gives visibility to reading, and there are prizes to win! Check out the Fridayreads blog and remember to like the facebook page!
If you have any other suggestions of websites with good book-related content, by all means, share them!
