Writing a Book Review

Writing a book review is something I haven't tackled myself on any serious basis, but many bloggers like to review books at least occasionally, and I hope to do some, as well.

I found an article on the web that describes how to go about it, so I thought I would link to it in case you would like some direction to get started. It is from Los Angeles Valley College and is called, appropriately enough, "How to Write a Book Review."

Book reviews don't need to be all that formal or thorough, but the suggestions in that article will give you some guidance and some ideas. It is common practice to link to the book on some booksellers website, such as Amazon, just so that people can see it and read the publisher's description and perhaps some customer reviews. If you want, you could add a disclaimer that says you are linking there for information purposes only.

I personally find book reviews helpful in deciding whether I would like a book well enough to either buy it or look for it at the library. It helps to find out whether the book reviewer thought it was well written or poorly written, whether it is scholarly or more for the lay-person. Of course, a reviewer might hate a book and you would love it, but at least you would know something about it to help you decide whether to seek it out or not.