"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend." - Paul Sweeney

As a librarian, people are always asking me to recommend a good book. Of course, the definition of "good book" is in the mind of the reader, but we librarians do have a few tricks up our sleeves to find titles to recommend. If you promise not to tell, I'll let you in on a few of our secrets.

If you haven't yet discovered Nancy Pearl, former Seattle public librarian and book reviewer extraordinaire, drop what you're doing and get yourself on the waiting list for her books. She's written three for the reading public: Book Lust, More Book Lust and Book Crush, each of which contains short descriptions of more than a thousand titles. Book Crush is written for young readers, but I've found lots of intriguing titles for adults in there too. Nancy is a regular commentator about books on NPR's Morning Edition and you can listen to her at www.npr.org. While you're there, search the site for Summer Books 2009 for lots of other recommended titles.

The Internet has been a boon to book lovers, and there are literally thousands of book review sites out there. Here are a few to try:

Rebecca's Pocket – Rebecca Blood is a blogger about books and a variety of other things that interest her. http://www.rebeccablood.net/archive/reading_lists/summer_2009

New York Times Book Review – With book reviews somewhere in the middle between a plot summary and a multi-page essay, the New York Times remains one of the top book review sources. http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books

BookPage.com – Consistent, well-written book reviews. http://www.bookpage.com

The Complete Review – Voted one of Time magazine's coolest web sites in 2005, this one will keep you entertained for hours. http://www.complete-review.com

The folks at Reading Group Choices have been "selecting discussible books for reading groups since 1994." They publish annual print guides (available for checkout from the Library), in addition to maintaining their eminently useful web site. Even if you're not in a book group, their books and web site are great sources of good book recommendations. http://www.readinggroupchoices.com

The Library subscribes to an electronic readers' advisory resource known as NoveList, which "assists fiction readers in finding new authors and titles." You can access NoveList by clicking on the Research Tools link at the Library's web site (www.jefferson.lib.co.us), clicking on the Books/Literature link and then clicking on NoveList in the blue box. If you're accessing this resource from home, you'll need to enter your name and library card number.

Finally, if you still can't find a good book to read, give the Library's Personalized Reading Recommendations service a try. By filling out a simple form giving us your reading likes and dislikes, Library staff will prepare a reading list of 10-15 titles just for you. You can start the process by clicking on the Find Library Books and More link on the Library homepage, clicking on For Book Lovers in the left column, then looking for the Personalized Reading Recommendation link.

Happy reading!

You can find these movies and many more at any Jefferson County Public Library location. Talk to your librarian for more recommendations.