Book reviews are a good way for you to learn about a book and truly analyse the information you’re reading. By thinking about the book review you are going to write, it forces you to read more actively by thinking of the points the book is trying to convey to you.
Book reviews can give you a sense of completion where rushing through one cannot.
Writing a book review
When you are writing a book review, you can think about the different categories you want to write about such as,
- Overview
- Context
- Core themes
- Writing style
- Who’s it for
- What gave me the fizz
- Difficulty
While reading the book, highlight quotes and then categorise those quotes. Make sure that you are looking out for the parts that stood out to you and that are ESSENTIAL to the book.
How will this impact your reading?
Thinking about the book review allows you to INTENTIONALLY read. Writing a book review means that you are criticising the information within, that has to come with intention.
You can not be writing things such as “the vibes are off”. You will be critiquing the book with real life reasons, based arguments and rationality. You can not just take the book for what it is.
Examples for categories:
- Characters
- Worldbuilding
- Pacing
- Weaknesses
- Strengths
- Quotes
- Well-written passages
- Comparisons
- Dialogue
- Symbolism
- Conflicts
- Re-readability
- One-sentence summary
A tip to writing reviews would include writing own questions or looking for questions that are already available online, before you dive deep into the book.
Reading with intention is the whole point of this.