By CAROLE ALBYN
Southwest Georgia Regional Library System
Do you find yourself casting around for a good book to read? There are several time-tested traditions in finding your next book.
You may use book reviews in newspapers and magazines. The New York Times publishes book reviews each Sunday. Magazines, such as People, have reviews that match their readers’ interests from time to time.
The Decatur County-Gilbert H. Gragg Library provides Book Page, a publication reviewing the latest and greatest books. Book Page is free to take with you to read at your leisure, make notes in and is available in the library.
These are all great resources, but what if you want to connect with older novels? Are you stumped when it comes to finding good books to which you personally connect?
From time to time you may need a little extra help finding the “right” novel that match your tastes, temperament, and interests using “Novelist.” The best way to do this is to go to the Library’s website at swgrl.org, and select a resource called GALILEO. You may do this from the library’s computers, or get the quarterly password while you are at the library to access it from home.
GALILEO provides access to a range of online databases including Novelist. This database of authors and book reviews was created to provide fiction bibliographies of authors and to suggest read-a-likes. Read-a-likes lets you see authors that write in a similar vein as your favorite author. For example if you love Judith McNaught, type her name in, hit enter, and a list of other authors will come up, describing why these authors are similar. You may also search by genre or time period. For example, you may like to read fiction based in Victorian England. The database will provide you with a list of recommended titles from which to choose.
Another resource is Fantastic Fiction. It is located online at: fantasticfiction.co.uk. Besides providing bibliographies of authors, many authors have shared the titles of books that they like to read!
Whichever way you decide to go, the books are available through your library. Just ask, if they aren’t currently on the shelf — they can be put on hold, or borrowed through PINES.
Visit your library at 301 S. Monroe St. in Bainbridge, or call (229) 248-2665.