The following sites are useful for readers who participate in both face-to-face and internet book groups, or who simply wish to enhance their individual reading experience. Some sites offer readers' guides for individual books, generally including background information on the author and/or novel, discussion topics and questions, and in some cases, interviews with the authors, while other sites provide "how to" information on setting up book discussion groups.

Amazon.com Reading Group Guides - This site offers discussion guides from a number of publishers.

NoveList - This expanding list of reading group guides is available to San Antonio Public Library cardholders. Responses are provided for discussion questions.

Penfield Public Library Guide to Book Groups - Librarian Sherri McCarthy has compiled a helpful guide for starting and running a book group, including how to read and how to lead, choosing good books, researching authors and more.

Reading Group Choices - The Resource Center for Book Groups presents this collection of its discussion guides for hundreds of titles from a number of large publishers and independent presses. In addition, it includes a " Guide Directory" that leads the reader to discussion guides available on other websites and directly from the publisher. Also features tips on how to start and run a book group.

SparkNotes - Though designed for students, this site is also an excellent resource for discussion group members and general readers. It leans toward the classics, but contemporary writers such as Amy Tan and Margaret Atwood are featured too. Each selection includes an overall summary, discussion of context and characters, analysis, lengthy chapter-by-chapter reviews and commentary, study questions, and further reading.

Thinking Out Loud - The Morton Grove (Illinois) Public Library collects the materials that staff produces for its monthly discussion group and features them at this site. Those materials include questions for discussion, author biographies and, in some cases, links to related Internet sites. They read and discuss classic and contemporary novels as well as some nonfiction.

Publishers' Reading Guides - Many book companies provide online reading guides for the books they publish. These guides usually include a brief synopsis of the book, discussion questions, and information about the author's other works.

• Avon Books
• Owl Books
• Ballantine Books
• Oxford
• Bantam Books
• Penguin/Putnam (click on "Browse")
• Beacon Press
• Perennial Classics
• Doubleday Books
• Picador / St. Martin's
• HarperCollins
• Random House
• Henry Holt & Co.
• Simon and Schuster
• Houghton Mifflin
• Time Warner Books
• Knopf
• Vintage/Anchor Books
• W.W. Norton & Co.