Shelfari

Not sure I can claim to have stumbled upon Shefari as it is a wholly owned company of Amazon.com. Still, it felt like I found it by accident. Either way, I like the site quite a bit.

Put simply, Shelfari let's its members show the covers of the books they've read, are reading, and plan to read. Of course, as will all dot.com companies there's more to it than that.

Here's what Shelfari lists as its member uses:

• Build virtual bookshelves to express themselves to their friends and to the world
• Discover books that are popular in their trusted circles of friends
• Influence peers by rating and discussing books online
• Discover and learn from people with similar reading tastes
• Participate in online book groups to further explore literature and share ideas
• Interact with and learn from authors

This is good stuff and it's a very nice way to build a sense of pride and accomplishment in reader's of any age. It does also lend itself well to finding new books to read. I've found most reviews to be fairly delivered. And, because it is a subsidiary of Amazon, there's also the option to purchase a discovered book online.

Shelfari will keep your identity private from others, unless you note otherwise. You can limit who sees your actual name to friends you invite.