NPR Looks At [1] Book-centered sites like LibraryThing, Goodreads, Shelfari, aNobii and BookJetty, among others, allow readers to keep track of books they have read or books they want to read or buy — and see what others are reading and recommending.

Book social networking is believed to have begun in 2005, when Tim Spaulding, founder of LibraryThing, launched the site as a way to organize his own personal book sprawl.