Book Reviews Criticism

Table of Contents

• Criticism of Book Review Practices
• Impact of Reviews on Authors and Books
• Personal Preferences and Biases in Reviews
• Ethical and Professional Concerns in Reviewing
• Other

Criticism of Book Review Practices

Reviewing bad books is bad for the character – WH Auden

I will only start taking book reviews seriously from the day that books are able to review readers.

Most books reviews aren't very well-written. They tend to be more about the reviewer than the book.

I've read a lot of bad books. I used to review books for a living, and when you're a reviewer you read tons of terrible books.

I've sold too many books to get good reviews anymore. There's a lot of jealousy, because [reviewers] think they can write a good novel or a best-seller and get frustrated when they can't. I've learned to despise them.

Prolonged, indiscriminate reviewing of books is a quite exceptionally thankless, irritating and exhausting job. It not only involves praising trash but constantly inventing reactions towards books about which one has no spontaneous feeling whatever.

Nowadays, I only review books I really like. It's cowardly, I know, but I figure it's not my job to make people unhappy. I'll leave that to the professionals.

Here's the thing: Authors live or die by recommendations. [That's one of the reason I review so many books on Goodreads.] Giving books you love good reviews is one of the nicest things you can do for an author. What's more it's good for the entire community.

Is it ever worthwhile to buy a review? Not in my opinion. With independent paid review services, quality can be a problem; plus, there are plenty of non-professional book review venues out there that will review for free.

Most books reviews aren’t very well-written. They tend to be more about the reviewer than the book.

Few Amazon punters will explore a book with the depth of an 800-word review.

I might defend the reviewing trade, but a handful of haughty hired hands no longer having the last word on books is not a bad thing.

Reviewing good puzzle books is frustrating, because you get to page one of the introduction, find a curious puzzle, become engrossed for 20 minutes, miss your stop and then fail to get home in time to say goodnight to the kids.

Impact of Reviews on Authors and Books

You can kill a book quicker by your silence than by a bad review.

There is nothing like a good negative review to sell a book.

I work really hard at these books, and when colleagues write nasty reviews of them, I take it very personally.

I do not believe writers should read reviews of their own books, and I do not. If one is not careful one is soon writing to please reviewers and not their audience or themselves.

All my books are accidental books - they come from reacting to things and thinking about things and engaging in a real way. They are not about, 'Oh, did it get a good review in the Guardian?' I don't care.

There is the review intended to sell a book, – which comes out immediately after the appearance of the book, or sometimes before it; the review which gives reputation, but does not affect the sale, and which comes a little later; the review which snuffs a book out quietly; the review which is to raise or lower the author a single peg, or two pegs, as the case may be; the review which is suddenly to make an author, and the review which is to crush him.

All my books are accidental books – they come from reacting to things and thinking about things and engaging in a real way. They are not about, ‘Oh, did it get a good review in the Guardian?’ I don’t care.

The truth is that I’m never sure how any of my books will be received, and because I can be thin-skinned, I try not to read too many reviews when a book first comes out.

I don’t want to review books any more. It cuts in too much on my reading.

Some books are well-received with critics; other books sell.

I've adjusted to this, that my books are not going to get unanimously good reviews.

Authors are often sent a number of books to read for possible review and advance praise. It can be easy for new books to get lost in the pile.

I used to write reviews for 'Artbomb.' Our policy was to only cover books we loved and recommended.

Personal Preferences and Biases in Reviews

Why are all of my book reviews a five-star review? Because if the book is not a five-star book, I won't waste my time reviewing it.

I only give a review/male a comment if a book knocks me out of my socks, because the tastes are as different as the people are.

I only give a review/make a comment if a book knocks me out of my socks, because tastes are as different as people are.

If I like a book, I tend to read the author's entire collection. But I choose mainly through personal recommendations, general word of mouth and book reviews.

I rarely read or buy a book because of a review.

We count on a combination of user reviews and the author-provided summary and bio to give the browsing customer information to make a decision. But in the future, we want to provide a way for users to preview the books and implement a forum where consumers can query the authors and debate.

The first function of a book review should be, I believe, to give some idea of the contents and character of the book.

If I like a book, I tend to read the author’s entire collection. But I choose mainly through personal recommendations, general word of mouth and book reviews.

I'm the world's worst at reading reviews and then pretending I've read the book.

There are some books that get huge numbers of positive reviews, but reading them satiates people. They say, 'I've read enough now'.

There are several occupational hazards for book reviewers, chief among them being the Curse of the Jaded Palate - that sinking feeling when you start reading a new book and begin to suspect that you've seen it all before.

Ethical and Professional Concerns in Reviewing

Reviewing a book written by someone you're living with and sleeping with is, needless to say, wrong.

I recently had my graphic novel SONORA PASS reviewed by KIRKUS.My honest and humble opinion is that the reviewer assigned by KIRKUS should stick to reviewing PHONE BOOKS !

One cannot review a bad book without showing off.

Book reviewing dates only to the eighteenth century, when, for the first time, there were so many books being printed that magazines - they were new, too - started printing essays about them.

I did think reviewers were supposed to be polite about story collections - collections are rather delicate creatures in the literary environment - but not everybody got this memo, I guess.

A book reviewer is usually a barker before the door of a publisher's circus.

I'm calling it the book review of the decade.

A book reviewer is usually a barker before the door of a publisher’s circus.

Reviewing a book written by someone you’re living with and sleeping with is, needless to say, wrong.

I mean, when you’re tired of book reviews, you’re tired of life.

I did think reviewers were supposed to be polite about story collections – collections are rather delicate creatures in the literary environment – but not everybody got this memo, I guess.

Reading book reviews is like asking other people to chew your food for you.

Buying reviews of ebooks that include downloads is a well-known way to 'juice' an ebook's sales rank and attract new readers.

While I've never asked my publisher to pull one of my books off the shelves, I have deleted tweets or blog posts that have drawn criticism.

Other

Read, review and pass the book forward

I mean, when you're tired of book reviews, you're tired of life.

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