Nonfiction Readers' Advisory
General Nonfiction Booklists
- AllReaders.com — Extensive book reviews that give great detail on a book's plot, main character, setting, and style. Each review includes a short list of similar books and user reviews. Reviews can be searched by (1) title or author; (2) by plot, main character, setting, or style; or (3) by a "one-click plot search" for predefined plots like "History of a people" or "History of food." Includes author lists for two nonfiction genres:
- BiblioTravel — Free, although you must have an account to add books or comments. Brief comments on"books that take you away." Each review includes the genre, time period, place, and a rating. Books can be searched by author, title, genre, and place. Includes title lists for the following nonfiction genres:
- Bookmarks Magazine — A wonderful publication that reviews and rates hundreds of titles six times a year. Use the Four Star Books By Genre link to search for highly rated titles by several nonfiction genres and use the Power Browser to search for titles by genre and subgnre as well as theme and era. Examples of nonfiction genres are:
- BookBrowse — Free for the most part, although membership provides access to more in-depth reviews, more search capabilities, an online magazine, a Personal Reading List, etc. Free access includes a summary for each title, as well as its reviews, themes, an excerpt, reader reviews, readers' rating, author biography, and read-alikes. Books can be searched by keyword as well as genre, setting, time period, themes, and award winners. Includes titles for the following nonfiction genres:
- BookPage — A monthly book review publication that publishes its print content on the Website. The site includes a "Books by Genre" page where titles can be searched and genre categories can be browsed. Nonfiction genres include:
- Booklist Center — "The Web's Largest Collection of Book Lists”." Over 340 book lists, including lists of award winners and best books in over 80 categories. Among the many nonfiction genres are:
- Books 'n' Bytes — Short reviews of books in various genres. The emphasis is on Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Juvenile, but the following nonfiction genres are included:
- Downers Grove Public Library Good Reads - Nonfiction — Nearly 40 lists of nonfiction titles, some with brief annotations. Some lists include:
General Nonfiction Booklists
- Goodreads — The largest of several social sites for readers. Searching for a title will typically yield dozens or even hundreds of reviews and ratings as well as a brief description of the book. Reviews can be filtered based on the user ratings as well, so that you can read only reviews by people who loved or hated the book.
- iread — This wiki for Iowa librarians includes Adult Nonfiction and Teen Nonfiction. Most lists provide just author and title, but some include brief comments. Some of the genres include:
- LibraryThing — Sometimes called "Facebook for books," LibraryThing allows individuals to catalog their own books and then allows users to search those books for lists of similar books as well as user reviews and recommendations. Characters, places, awards, related movies, and tags are also provided for each title.
- Overbooked — "A Website for ravenous and omnivorous readers" that includes lists of nonfiction titles in several genres. Lists includes a brief description and rating for each title. Nonfiction genres include:
- Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (NC) Reader's Club: Non-Fiction Book Reviews — A particularly rich site that includes a book search, a wide range of very focused book lists, and annotated lists of titles in a number of broader nonfiction genres:
- Reading Group Choices — Short summaries of books with several discussion topics for reading groups. For the nonfiction books, select "Genre" in the keyword drop-down box and then "Memoir" or "Nonfiction" in the second drop-down box.
- Reading Group Guides — Over 1200 reading group guides to fiction and nonfiction. While fiction and nonfiction are often mixed together in a single genre, primarily nonfiction genres include:
- What Should I Read Next — Given the title of a book, this search engine will generate a list of similar books. Unfortunately, only author and title are provided. There are no reviews or annotations for the recommended titles.
Print Resources
More Specific Genre Booklists
Autobiographies, Biographies, and Memoirs
Humor
Microhistories
"Nonfiction That Reads Like Fiction"
Travel
True Crime