GooReader is a snazzy way to search and read Google Books

There are loads of books and magazines available for perusal on Google Books, but the web interface is a bit... lacking. It's cluttered, and it doesn't have that trademark laminate bookshelf background which is apparently a required component for eBook apps.

Fortunately, there's GooReader. And while the name isn't particularly awe-inspiring the app itself is very good. Fire it up and search by keyword or Google BookId and GooReader displays your matches cover-out on its virtual shelves. Books with a green bookmark can be read -- red ones, obviously, cannot. Click a book to open and get reading!

Type renders nicely in full screen mode, but readability suffers a bit when zoomed out (not really the program's fault, more a limitation of Google Books' original scans). There's also no way to create bookmarks or even to add a book to your favorites. Those two features would make GooReader a much stronger program -- so here's hoping we see them added to a future version.

GooReader is available in both free and paid versions: paying for a license gets you the option to save books as PDF files. It's currently Windows only and .Net 3.51 is required.