“a neat little flash app that permits you to select on a sliding scale up to four different features of a novel and then recommends a list of prospective reading to you. (Plain-text available here). (via sixdifferentways).” [MetaFilter]
Interesting application that would be even more interesting integrated into a library's online catalog. Here's more information about the project, which does indeed have librarians working in the background.
“Opening the Book and the Society of Chief Librarians have created a new company – Openlibraries Ltd – to develop whichbook.net, (previously known as Book Forager.)
Openlibraries has been awarded £350,000 from the New Opportunities Fund to expand whichbook.net over the next two years, by increasing the number of titles on the system and by creating links between whichbook.net and public library catalogues on the web. We are working in partnership with Applied Psychology Research, libraries, publishers, library systems suppliers, the Poetry Society and the National Library for the Blind to create a unique resource for readers….
The books in the database are all fiction and poetry in paperback written in or translated into English and published since 1995. Some library services are endeavouring to purchase all the titles in the whichbook.net database. To see a list of titles go to www.openlibraries.net.”
I know James and David will be interested in this one, too, right guys? Also, if you're looking for more sites to help you find good reads, see if your local library subscribes to NoveList, a commercial database for this kind of thing. You can find hundreds more links at Morton Grove PL's Webrary, including their homegrown MatchBook Service.
Addendum: I forgot to note that this is based on U.K. catalogs, although the “borrow” option that goes to a map and then a dropdown list of libraries is pretty slick in general. I'd love to see something like that implemented in the Virtual Illinois Catalog. [The Shifted Librarian]