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Explore books, emerging authors, reviews, and ideas selected for relevance—not simply popularity.
A BETTER WAY TO DISCOVER BOOKS
Discover remarkable books. Help new authors be discovered.
WebToTell brings readers and authors together through in-depth book reviews, original articles, and thoughtful discussion — helping readers discover books that match their interests while giving promising authors a fair chance to be seen.
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Articles, reviews, and conversations help you explore your interests and find books you might otherwise miss.
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A thoughtful space for readers, authors, and publishing professionals to discuss books, exchange ideas, and help good work grow.
New in-depth book guides
See all booksSummaries, themes, historical context and discussion questions for books recently added to WebToTell.
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 book follows Raoul Duke, a journalist standing in for the author, and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, on a chaotic trip to Las Vegas. Duke is meant to cover a desert motorcycle race and later a…
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Bridge to Terabithia
Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson's 1977 novel, follows Jess Aarons, a fifth-grader in rural Virginia who feels out of place in his struggling family and at school. His life changes when Leslie Burke, a bookish…
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Carrie
Carrie is Stephen King's first published novel, a short, fast-moving horror story about Carrie White, a sixteen-year-old in Chamberlain, Maine. Bullied at school and dominated at home by a mother whose faith has curdled…
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Shogun
Shōgun is James Clavell's 1975 epic of Japan in the year 1600. John Blackthorne, an English pilot, is shipwrecked on a coast he does not understand. He is pulled into the struggle between Lord Toranaga, a cunning regent…
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Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Alex Haley's Roots follows one family across roughly seven generations. It begins with Kunta Kinte, a young Mandinka man from the Gambian village of Juffure who is seized in 1767 and shipped to the Americas. It then…
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Salem's Lot
'Salem's Lot is Stephen King's second published novel, a vampire story set in the fictional Maine town of Jerusalem's Lot. Writer Ben Mears returns to the hometown he left as a boy, hoping to finish a book about the…
Latest articles
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Three Rules for a Book Blurb That Sells, Explained for New Authors
A practical guide to the three rules behind a blurb that sells: character and conflict, clear stakes, and an ending that holds back. Each rule comes with worked examples and the places where it bends.
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Your Librarian Is the Best Source for Personal Book Recommendations
A skilled librarian can turn your tastes, dislikes, mood, and practical limits into useful reading choices. Digital tools work best as supporting sources, not automatic authorities.
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The Unreliable Editor: What Framed Manuscripts and Fictional Footnotes Do to a Story
Learn to recognize fictional editors, translators, archives, and annotations—and to judge how each intervening voice changes the apparent source, credibility, and meaning of a story.
Questions readers are discussing
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