Peer-to-Peer Book Reviews Fill a Niche

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After graduating from college, Otis Chandler began work at an online dating site. But he was in a serious relationship and wanted to contribute to a service he might actually have a use for. At the same time, he anticipated that social-networking sites would soon splinter into specialized niches, just as dating sites had. While perusing a friend's bookshelf, it hit him.

"When I want to know what books to read, I'd rather turn to a friend than any random person, bestseller list, or algorithm," Mr. Chandler wrote in an online letter on www.goodreads.com, the site he created earlier this year. "So I thought I'd build a website - a website where I could see my friends' …