Book review

This article is about the use of the term in literary criticism. For the animated short, see Book Revue (film). For other uses, see Book Review (disambiguation).

"Book reports" redirects here. For the term "Book report" in teaching, see Book report.

"Literary review" redirects here. For the British magazine, see Literary Review. For the American magazine, see The Literary Review.

A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is described, and usually further analyzed based on content, style, and merit.^[1] A book review may be a primary source, an opinion piece, a summary review, or a scholarly view.^[2] Books can be reviewed for printed periodicals, magazines, and newspapers, as school work, or for book websites on the Internet. A book review's length may vary from a single paragraph to a substantial essay. Such a review may evaluate the book based on personal taste. Reviewers may use the occasion of a book review for an extended essay that can be closely or loosely related to the subject of the book, or to promulgate their ideas on the topic of a fiction or non-fiction work.

Some journals are devoted to book reviews, and reviews are indexed in databases such as the Book Review Index and Kirkus Reviews; but many more book reviews can be found in newspaper and scholarly databases such as Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, and discipline-specific databases.

History

Photios I of Constantinople has been called "the inventor of the book review" for his work, Bibliotheca.^[3]

Types of reviews

Academic reviews

Academic book reviews are both a form of academic service and a contribution to the academic literature.^[4] They are frequently published as a section or part of academic journals.^[5] They help the profession understand what has been happening in their profession, and work on the emerging intellectual challenges of their field.^[4] However, not all academics are incentivized to take on the work required in a book review, because they are often not rewarded for that work.^[4] Book reviews can be used to predict which monographs are likely to have subsequent citations.^[5]

Newspaper and magazine reviews

Newspaper reviews became prominent in the 18h century, as a form of reader responses.^[6] They were common throughout the 19th and 20th century. However, the decline of newspapers began in the 21st century, and book reviews have suffered along with other newspaper sections. The Associated Press (a service many newspapers subscribe to that produces articles shared among all of them) announced it would no longer be producing book reviews in 2025, although they would still publish stories about current events that intersect with major books.^[7]

In academic criticism, popular book reviews in newspapers and magazine reviews are often used to evaluate the relative audience and impact of books during a period.^[6]

See also

• Australian Book Review
• BookBrowse
• Booklist
• The Book Club Bible
• Claremont Review of Books
• Kirkus Reviews
• Library Journal
• Literary criticism
• London Review of Books
• National Book Critics Circle
• The New York Review of Books
• Publishers Weekly
• Self-Publishing Review
• Shelf Awareness