FictionDB: Slurping Up All My Free Time

Attention! The following link will suck up an hour of your day. If you don’t have an hour to spend, maybe this isn’t the link you ought to be clicking on.

From Bitchery reader Robin comes the Time Suck of the Week: FictionDB.com. Robin was in the process of restocking her library with Nora Roberts books. The FictionDB “has become invaluable in this task because it takes a book like “Courting Catherine”  which is long out of print, and lists ever ISBN associated with it (including audio) and where it can now be found.”

Robin likes to use it for research, especially when hunting down the backlist of a favorite author, for work or for her own beleaguered bookshelves. Well, I don’t know for sure that Robin’s shelves are beleaguered or just a little weary, but I presume her shelves are like mine.

You can subscribe to the DB for about $3 a month and access all the free features plus a few extras: you can keep track of wishlists, TBRs, ratings, and notes, and sell your books through the site.

But even the free version is a book nerd’s paradise, especially the romance section. Enjoy.

Just remember. You’re not going to get that hour back.

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The Link-O-Lator

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  1. Lynda the Guppy says:

    This is hysterical, because I just discovered that site two days ago and have been surfing it ever since. And I’ve also forwarded it on to just about all my friends. LOLOL.

    Um…My spamfilter word was “Hospital68” Should I be worried?

  2. LizC says:

    Well, hell, I need something to do while pulling boring ass receptionist duty.

  3. KellyMaher says:

    Wow.  They’ve really changed it up.  I used it a bit a few years ago, but it just wasn’t working for me.  This looks like a whole new site.  Best excuse: exploring this is part of my day job as one of library-fu specialties is reader’s advisory.

  4. deputman says:

    I found this site a few weeks ago and it solved two age old mysteries that we’re headed toward being HABOs.

    I was trying to locate the first two category romance novels I ever read which I though were Harlequin Romances (they were).  I had one character name for one book and no names for the other and some info about professions, vague plotlines and random details.  A normal person would have asked you ladies but I’m obsessive and bent so I needed to find them on my own, though I’d had no luck over the years.

    My vague impression of when I must have read them and some ordered clicking through the category titles by years produced two books I thought lost forever.  So it’s both great for fun time-wasting and for research of the less than academic kind.

  5. Silver James says:

    I should bookmark this for when I have time. *chinstrokes* *considers peeking* *shakes head*Nope. Shouldn’t oughta. *blink* Must. Not. Look…..NoooOOOOOoooooOOOOooooo *gets sucked in*

  6. tudorpot says:

    Interesting site- I much prefer LibraryThing it does almost all that FictionDB does except provide synopsis and search for books by synopsis. It’s free for your first 200 books listed or you can pay a small fee for a lifetime membership. Reviews and series, author info are free, plus you can add your own reviews. 
    http://www.librarything.com
    You can’t buy books, but you can find books that are on swap databases and then go to those sites.

  7. Cor says:

    Ouuuu, fun!

    I’ve been part of LibraryThing for two years now, but this looks like fun!

    Another good site for finding an author’s entire backlist is Fantastic Fiction. I have literally spent hours at a time surfing there.

  8. ev says:

    I will not look.

    I will not look.

    I will not look.

    Today anyway.

  9. robinb says:

    Fantastic Fiction has saved my hide a time or two (or twelve!) LOVE that site.

  10. Liz says:

    Oh good heavens, why did I find this…

  11. JaniceG says:

    For the mystery readers, there’s a great site that does this for the mystery and suspense genre at http://www.stopyourekillingme.com Inval.uable for finding out the first book in a series, looking up mysteries for particular historical periods or with sleuths in a specific profession… hours o’ fun.

  12. Joanna says:

    For some reason, I’m finding the site offputting. Maybe it’s that SweetTarts color scheme! I second the recommendation for LibraryThing, it’s divine.

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