Just a week ago I would have been allo ver this, but then I was reading an article about Google basically depriving websites of traffic because when you do a search the summary and ratings of, in this case, restaurants were coming up on the one page and no one was clicking through to the websites to check them out any further. So now I have to think about it more.

Just came across this blog post from a while ago hinting at the same request, so wanted to share…Social Networking for Books: One Ring, or Loosely Joined?

Sadly I can't think of a site that does all of that, but it would definitely come in handy.

The closest I think I've seen is Reader's Advisor Online and it's by subscription only. I temporarily had access while they were doing some beta-testing when I was in grad school (MLIS program naturally). They work really hard to focus on the principles of using “doorways” to identify books that readers might enjoy and find similar. For more on the doorways, concept this is useful: http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/page/Doorwa…
I wish more websites and online resources would focus on this.

That would be fantastic. I love that from goodreads my reviews etc can be automatically pushed out to Facebook but it is frustrating to have to go to multiple sites to see a full range of reviews! Great idea.

the good thing about reviews is that you get to know what other people say about something..to know which celebrity hairstyles are hot these days, i just read reviews

You know, LibraryThing should just do this feature. Everyone wants it. Or thinks they want it.

The problem–and the reason I haven't done it–is that ratings aren't very powerful when it comes to books. Mostly people buy books they like, and if they don't like a book it's not necessarily a sign that they won't like other books that are like it. For example, I bought a stupid Firefly/Serenity book. It was terrible–one star. Does that mean that I shouldn't get any more Joss Whedon-themed books? No. It means I'm so desperate for a good Joss Whedon book I'll buy crap.

Other data:

*Books are rated about 3.8 with a very low standard deviation. Basically, most people like their books.
*On Amazon the best sign of a bestseller isn't the average star rating, or even the number of five-star reviews. It is the number of ONE star reviews. It's easy to explain. Books that reach a certain burst-point in culture–think Larsson, Brown, Life of Pi, etc.–start recruiting readers who won't like the book. Getting high ratings just means you've only attracted the most likely like-ers.
*Extensive conversations with someone who placed highly in the Netflix prize disclosed that ratings are the least powerful factor in good recommendations. The FACT that you've seen a movie is more important than what you thought of it. As someone who's seen a lot of crap Lovecraft movies–and keeps seeing them in hopes of getting a good one–that makes a lot of sense.

Anyway, my thoughts. Ratings are crap. Some day I'll make more features around them because that knowledge is not well distributed.

Best,
Tim

http://thebookscore.net.

Just getting going, but could be good.

How about going to a bookstore's website? Like barnesandnoble.com? Do
you think maybe they'll have books there? And what they're about?

So… 5 months late, but I recently started a book review aggregation site. I add new reviews daily, and I try to do current books from all different genres.

It’s at http://www.prosenotes.com

I’d love it to be a one-stop shop someday, but getting it up and running and keeping content fresh is almost a full-time job at this point.