Writing A Book Review

While you may have had to review a book at school or college, most people these days write reviews because they bought a book on Amazon and were later prompted to leave a rating and a review.

Leaving a rating is easy, and doesn’t really require much thought, but writing a good book review is a bit more difficult.

This article looks at why you should review the books you read, the steps you need to take, what a good book review should include, and where you can publish them.

Why Write Book Reviews?

The common assumption about a book review is that it is written to assist others when deciding whether to buy (or borrow) a particular book, and that is true, in probably the majority of cases.

It’s why you find book reviews in newspapers and magazines, a practice that goes back decades.

But there’s another reason to write a review of a book – for your own benefit.

Yes, that’s something most people haven’t considered.

So why go to the time and effort of writing a review of a book that you’re already reading?

Well, the fact is that if you know up front that you’re going to have to review the book once you’ve finished it, you’re going to pay more attention to it – and that increases the chances of getting more out of it and remembering the key points.

It’s said that you only truly understand something when you can explain it, in simple terms, to somebody else (e.g. a child or your grandmother).

Putting in the thought to write a book review allows you to do exactly that, because you have to be able to summarize the major take-aways succinctly and clearly.

How To Make Notes

The first step is to decide whether you are going to write a review, before you start reading it, and if you are, then you need to make notes while you are reading the book.

Under no circumstances should you try to remember all of the details and thoughts it stimulates!

You have a few options here:

• You can write in the book (if it’s your book and you are happy to do that). Of course, you will only have space for short notes if you do it this way.
• You can write notes in a separate notebook (or using an app or software, e.g. Evernote, depending on your preference). This way, your notes can be as detailed as you want. Remember to include a reference to what the note refers to (e.g. page, paragraph, even the sentence), or, if the book is yours, you could highlight the relevant part of the page.
• If it’s an electronic book such as a Kindle one, you can use built-in features to write your notes. The advantage here is that the note will be attached to the exact part of the book you’re focussing on, and you can export your notes later on.
• You could record your notes using a dictation machine (or app), and then transcribe your notes later on.

Which option you use is up to you and how you prefer to work, because they all have their pros and cons. For example, a dictation machine might suit you personally, but you couldn’t easily use it if you’re reading in a public library.

What To Make Notes About

Then, you need to consider which parts of the book to comment on. For example, you could make notes on any of the following:

• specific points that you find especially helpful or relevant
• places where the pace is too slow
• If there is insufficient detail (e.g. a point is not explained well enough)
• illustrations are unclear or confusing
• there is too much repetition
• it’s too waffly
• references are missing or inaccurate
• vocabulary that was inappropriate (e.g. technical terms that the average reader could not be expected to know or acronyms / abbreviations that are never explained)
• plot holes (e.g. if this is a fiction book you’re reviewing)
• was there an index and if so, was it useful, and if not, should there have been one

Re-Read The Book

This would be the ideal way to make your review as strong as possible, but if you cannot read the entire book a second time, you should at least skim through it again to remind yourself of the overall structure and flow of the book.

What Should Your Book Review Contain

Your review should contain:

1. A summary of what the book is about. This could include the genre, information about the author, and how long the book is, although if you’re reviewing a book that’s on Amazon, for example, you can omit some of this because they already include it in the book details. In the case of fiction, do not include any spoilers!
2. Why you chose to read the book. For example, did a friend recommend it, was it based on one or more existing reviews, or was it the cover that grabbed you.
3. What you especially liked about it – again, without spoilers.
4. What you didn’t like about it. Your points should be succinct, honest, and, where necessary, backed up by evidence (e.g. if your comment says that something in the book is incorrect). You don’t need to be nasty about this – keep it professional with no name-calling.
5. What were your overall thoughts about the book. For example, for a non-fiction book did it add anything new to the subject area, or is it just a rehash of existing ideas. And for a fiction book, was it enjoyable, would you read anything else by the same author or in the same series.
6. Did it meet your expectations and the promises made either on the book cover or in the book description.
7. What did you learn from it. This could apply to fiction books as well as non-fiction books, of course.
8. You can include quotations from the book that you found particularly thought-provoking or entertaining, or that illustrate comments you have made.
9. You can mention other, similar (or better) books that you think those interested in the one you’ve reviewed may also enjoy or find useful. Making appropriate references to other books can make your own review more credible.
10. You can include a rating. Some sites (e.g. Amazon) have this as a built-in feature, but if they don’t, you can always put your rating as part of the review (e.g. 4 out of 5, or 3 out of 10). This rating should, of course, reflect your review. In addition, you can, if you like, provide a rating for different aspects of the book (e.g. accuracy, plot, pace).
11. And lastly, would you recommend it or not.

Try to make your review as balanced as you can – a review that is all negative may make it look like a vendetta against the author.

And finally, remember, no spoilers!

What If You Didn’t Finish The Book

There are those who say you should never write a review of a book you didn’t finish, because it won’t be complete, by definition.

However, if you simply couldn’t finish the book (e.g. because the content was so poor or badly written, or because there were too many errors, or because it was too slow to get going), then I think it’s reasonable to write that in your review – i.e. why you gave up part way through, because that may be useful to other potential readers, but be as detailed as you can about why you gave up. For example, if you found the writer’s style was getting in the way for you (and you explain what that style is), then say so, because other people may not react in the same way.

Where To Publish Your Book Review

Firstly, of course, unless this is an assignment from school or college, there is no requirement to publish the review you wrote if you don’t want to.

And if you only wrote it for your own benefit, the same applies.

But, if you do want to publish it, with a view to helping others decide whether the book might be for them or not, or to generate a discussion, then you have a few options:

• Amazon is probably where the majority of book reviews can be found, but other online book sellers also offer this feature.
• Goodreads is an online community for both readers and authors.
• Your own website / blog.
• Magazines – there are publications that will accept book reviews, but you’d need to find ones that are related to the genre of book you’ve reviewed. These magazines will likely have style and submission guidelines that you will need to follow, especially if it’s a scientific journal, say.
• Social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn).

Conclusion

Needless to say, not all book reviews need to be so thorough and take so much time – but the more detailed they are, the more useful they will be to other potential readers.

And, of course, if you’re writing the review for your own use, then the more information it includes, the better you will be able to recall what the book was about and what it taught you (without having to re-read the entire book) – think of it as being your own personal Cliff Notes.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Goodreads
2. Note Taking App