Book Club at Melbourne High School. Powerpoint by Eric Xie.

1. MHS cyber book club
the art of
BOOK DISCOVERY

2. Really Cool Steps That I Made Up
What Types of Find the names Research and
Books are you of (well-rated)
Read!
Looking For? books
These are simply guidelines, not rules

3. Determine What You’re
looking for
E.g. My keys.

4. Reading is Recreational
The key to discovering great new books is often to know what kinds
of books you’re looking for. This lets you know how to search.
Fiction? If so, what kind of fiction? Do you want deep, meaningful and
philosophical texts that make you seem educated? Or are you looing for an
epic fantasy to escape into whilst you’re reading on the toilet?
Determine
Personally: Deep,
philosophical “top 100
books of all time” kind of
books

5. Find The names of Books
This is the best part!

6. Something that really helps in this step is a
READING LIST.

7. Reading lists
Reading lists help you organize the
books that you come across and let
you know which books you’ve read or
have yet to read
They can also provide inspiration and
motivation for your reading. Whenever
you see your reading list, you can be
reminded of all the books that are waiting
to be read

8. Where do you go to find out about books?
So you know what you’re looking for – now’s the time to start
searching. But where do you go?
Discover

9. Book Clubs
Places such as the MHS Cyber
Book Club can provide us with
connections and people who
are more than willing to
suggest great things that
they’ve recently read.
Book Clubs

10. People
Don’t these guys just look like
that want to give you a hand?
Other people – especially
people who have similar
reading tastes to yours can
often recommend books that
you’ll probably like.
Librarians in all libraries are
more than happy to offer
suggestions!
People – Friends, Family, Librarians

11. Newspapers, Magazines,
Bookshops and Libraries
Media such as newspapers
often have reviews in their
arts and culture section.
Just browsing a bookshop or a
library can often lead to
discoveries of new books, and
a lighter wallet.
Newspapers + Bookshops/ Libraries

12. The Internet
The internet is one of the best
ways to find out about new
books that you may never
have noticed before.
There’s a vast range of
recommendations that exist if
you know where to look, and
additionally, the internet can
provide information about
books that you might not be
able to get otherwise.
The Interwebs

13. The cake is a lie!
internet and see where we
Lets have a look around the
can find sources of book recommendations

14. Top 100 Lists
Often, editorial websites (such as for
newspapers/ editors/ publishers/
etc.) publish “Top 100 Recommended
Books” lists.
Often when editors and academics make
these lists, these books are books that
have ‘contributed to the Western
understanding of literature’ and are deep,
philosophical, and meaningful (and
potentially very boring).
That’s why it’s often good to see
Discover
‘popular lists’ and the Top 100 lists
which are created by users and
individuals.
Modern Library has a great example of
one of these lists.
http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

15. Top 100 Lists
Often, editorial websites (such as
for newspapers/ editors/
publishers/ etc.) publish “Top 100
Recommended Books” lists.
Here’s another example from The
Guardian
Discover

16. Amazon. com
Amazon.com has one of the largest
ranges of books that are available for
browsing
And a great ‘Have you considered…’
mechanism that suggests books that
it thinks you would enjoy.
Discover

17. Amazon. com
Additionally, they categorize all
their books according to genre,
and have different lists of
popular books (based on things
such as: award winners, most
popular for the
month/year/decade, on the NYT
bestseller lists, etc.)
Discover

18. Amazon. com
Another great thing about Amazon is the customer reviews
often give you a GREAT insight into what the book’s like and
what the book is about, things that you like and things that you
might not like about the book. The website is almost like a
digital friend who can recommend for or against a book.
Discover

19. Amazon. com
Also, there are customer discussions which can be a great
source of new books to consider.
Discover

20. Reddit lists
Reddit often have massive, type/genre-specific lists of
recommended books. There’s a focus on ‘educated’ books.
Discover

21. Discover Reddit lists

22. GoodReads
GoodReads is a social networking site based around books. You can
see what all your friends or other people are reading and what they
think about the books (as well as professional opinions on the books),
you can post your own reviews and your favourite books, and you can
also enter discussions about books and contact authors!
It has a great discovery tool as well!
Discover
http://www.goodreads
.com/book/show/7716
140-married-with-
zombies

23. Research and Read
The best part!

24. Research and Read
Research the books that you’ve
considered interesting by asking
friends their opinion, reading reviews
(Amazon/ GoodReads/ elsewhere) or
even just jumping straight into the
book.
And then enjoy reading the books
see the pages you’ve just discovered!
read the pages

25. Cyber Book Club 2012
STAY AWESOME