finding book reviews

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Getting Started

Reviews for a general audience, reviews for a scholarly audience.

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Do you want to know how a book was received by scholars? Are you trying to determine the quality of a particular book? Or, are you just interested in knowing if a book is worth reading? Book reviews are a great place to start. This guide provides guidance on finding two types of book reviews, those for a general audience and those for a scholarly audience.

Literature and popular works (memoirs, travel writing, manuals, etc.) are often reviewed by journalists or fellow authors upon publication in newspapers or magazines. Use the following databases to find reviews in these publications.

• Book Review Index This link opens in a new window & more less... A comprehensive online guide to book reviews with over five million review citations from thousands of publications.
• Book Review Digest Plus This link opens in a new window & more less... Book Review Digest is a reference database that provides review excerpts and book summaries for current English-language fiction and non-fiction books. Limit of 1 simultaneous user.
• Book Review Digest Retrospective This link opens in a new window 1903-1982 & more less... Indexes and abstracts reviews of English language adult and juvenile fiction and non-fiction titles. Reviews are selected from journals in the humanities, sciences, social sciences and library review media.

Other Sources for Book Reviews

Many reviews are published in newspapers and magazines. Use the guides below to find the best databases to search for reviews in these publications.

• How do I find magazines? by Ask a Librarian Updated Feb 17, 2024 436 views this year
• How do I find newspapers? by Ask a Librarian Updated May 15, 2024 6689 views this year

Scholarly books are reviewed in academic or peer-reviewed journals and are written by academics. As these reviews place the work in the context of current scholarship, they can take several years to appear after the book was published.

Starting Points

• JSTOR This link opens in a new window Recommended Starting Point . Use Advanced Search and limit to "Reviews". You can also limit by discipline. & more less... A database of back issues of core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. All issues of each journal are included in full-text except for the most recent 2-to-5 years.
• IBR Online This link opens in a new window & more less... Multilingual and interdisciplinary index to book reviews, chiefly in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
• Web of Science This link opens in a new window Conduct your search for book or author, and then limit to "Book Reviews". & more less... Authoritative, multidisciplinary content covers over 10,000 of the highest impact journals worldwide, including Open Access journals and over 110,000 conference proceedings. You'll find current and retrospective coverage in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, with coverage available to 1900. Includes the Science Citation Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Web of Science is especially useful for its citation linking.
• Periodicals Index Online This link opens in a new window & more less... Part of Nineteenth Century Index. Indexes the contents of thousands of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences from 1665 to 1995, including many European titles. Includes links to some full-text articles. Dates of full-text coverage vary by title.
• Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective This link opens in a new window & more less... Database corresponds to International Index, 1907 - March 1965; Social Sciences & Humanities Index, April 1965 March 1974; Humanities Index, April 1974 March 1984; and Social Sciences Index, April 1974 March 1983

Other Databases for Book Reviews

We strongly recommend searching the article database or index that covers the academic literature in a specific field for reviews. Use the Advanced Search option and limit to "Book Reviews" or "Reviews".  Find the best database for book reviews in your field by using our subject guides.

• Library Subject Guides

Book Review Indexes in Print

Below are a few print sources for finding book reviews.

• Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, 1802-1974 & more less... 10 vols. Ed by Evan Ira Farber. Woodbridge: Research Publications, 1982-1984. Covers 150 literature, philosophy, classics, folklore, linguistics & music journals, from England and the US Organized by primary authors or editors and then by book titles.
• Literary and Historical index to American Magazines, 1800-1850 & more less... Ed by Daniel A. Wells & Jonathan Daniel Wells. Westport: Praeger, 2004.

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Publications with Book Reviews

• London Review of Books Library has on microfilm 1979 - present.
• New York Review of Books This link opens in a new window & more less... New York Review of Books reviews contemporary books in all subject areas.
• New Yorker Library has in print 1925 - present.
• Publishers Weekly Library has in print and microfilm 1873 - present. Recent issues available online via Find It!
• TLS: Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive This link opens in a new window & more less... Covers 1902-2006. This easy-to-navigate, fully-searchable resource is a witness to the cultural revolutions of the last 100 years and offers unparalleled opportunities for tracking the views of influential opinion-makers, the response of their peers, the controversies of the day and how they developed. --Publisher's website
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• Updated: Feb 17, 2024 12:09 PM
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Finding Book Reviews

Introduction, basic sources.

• Additional Sources
• 18th-19th Century British Book Reviews
• Major Review Periodicals and their Indexes

This guide is intended to help Harvard students and faculty find book reviews. Book reviews are published in general/popular magazines (e.g., Newsweek ), scholarly journals (e.g., British Journal for the History of Science ), and in book review periodicals ( New York Review of Books ). The reviews may be brief summaries or long scholarly evaluations.

Find them by consulting periodical indexes and book review indexes. This guide lists some of the major general indexes which include book reviews. Many periodical indexes index book reviews; others do not. See Finding Articles in General and Popular Periodicals (North America and Western Europe) for general periodical indexes which may index book reviews. Research guides to specialized periodical indexes are listed in the Introduction to Finding Articles in General and Popular Periodicals (North America and Western Europe) .

Online resources are available through Harvard Library (Harvard ID and PIN required) unless otherwise indicated.

If you want scholarly evaluative book reviews, you may wish to omit reviews in: American Libraries , Booklist , Choice , Library Journal , Publishers Weekly . These reviews do provide good short statements of the subjects of books.

HOLLIS In the Catalog+Articles search, enter the title of your book in quotes ("").  If the title is short and insufficient to specify the book, add the author's name. If there are too many other kinds of articles, choose Reviews under Resource Type on the left side of the screen. Example: Emigrants Sebald.

Academic Search Premier (EBSCOHost) coverage is, largely, from the 1980s to the present. For book reviews enter author and title words. Thus, "Buell and imagination" for reviews of Lawrence Buell's The Environmental Imagination . Results can be limited to book reviews by using the Document Type limitation, but this may exclude some articles of interest, e.g., interviews with the author, which are not strictly speaking book reviews.

Citation Indexes (Web of Science) . Choose General Search. You may enter the authors last name and a word or words from the title. Thus for W. G. Sebald's Vertigo , search Sebald and Vertigo. You may limit to Book Reviews using "Restrict search by languages and document types:". A guide is available: Searching the Citation Indexes (Web of Science) . The Web of Science comprises three indexes: Science Citation Index, (1900- ), Social Sciences Citation Index (1956- ) and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (1975- ). The indexed journals are listed by subject categories in the Thomson Master Journal List .

H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences (1994- ) offers online reviews of academic books.

JSTOR contains full text book reviews for over 200 journals in many subjects. Journals are covered from their date of inception to around 5 years ago. Choose Search JSTOR, then enter search in the form <rt:book title ra:book author>. Thus, for MacArthur and Wilson's Theory of Island Biogeography search: ra:MacArthur rt:biogeography.

Periodicals Index Online includes several thousand general/humanities/social sciences journals indexed from their dates of inception to 1995.

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• Last Updated: Nov 4, 2023 9:05 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/bookreviews

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• Research Methods for English and Comparative Literature
• Finding Book Reviews

Research Methods for English and Comparative Literature: Finding Book Reviews

• Getting Started with Library Research
• Library Research Skills / Concepts
• Reference Resources
• Articles and Books
• Digital Collections (Primary Sources)
• Archival Collections at UNC

What is in This Guide?

Print indexes, web resources.

• Finding Short Stories & Short Story Criticism: Finding Published Short Stories
• Finding Short Stories & Short Story Criticism: Background Resources
• Finding Short Stories & Short Story Criticism: Short Story Criticism
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• Using Zotero
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A book review can be an effective resource for evaluating a particular book and determining how scholars and other reviewers view it. This guide is designed to provide resources to help you locate professional book reviews from scholars and other reputable sources.  There are many specialized resources not listed in this guide, so contact the Library via email, chat, or in person for additional assistance. This guide is organized into the following pages:

• Databases - Provides links to databases that contain book reviews, both in scholarly journals and in newspapers
• Print and Web Resources - Provides links to print and other web resources that contain book reviews
• An Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities Call Number: Z1035.A1 I63 Indexes book reviews in the humanities for the years 1960 - 1990. Located in Davis Library reference under the call number Z1035.A1 I63.
• Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, 1802-1974 Call Number: Z1035.A1 C658 Provides citations for book reviews across a number of different humanities journals, from the years 1802 to 1974. Located in Davis Library reference under the call number Z1035.A1 C658
• Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974 Call Number: Z1035.A1 C66 Provides citations for book reviews across a number of different scholarly journals, from the years 1886 to 1974. Located at Davis Library reference under the call number Z1035.A1 C66
• Bookmarks Bookmarks Magazine aggregates and collects reviews for a number of books, mostly popular fiction, and republishes excerpts of them online. They also publish a magazine with additional information, which UNC subscribes to electronically.
• H-Net Reviews H-Net Reviews provides a number of reviews of academic books by scholars and researchers.
• Amazon Amazon often incorporates reviews from Choice , Library Journal , and New York Times Book Review in the available book descriptions.

In addition to the multidisciplinary sources listed below, many subject specific indexes will cite reviews of scholarly books (though some major indexes do not). First search E-Research Tools by Discipline , select a subject (e.g., Psychology ) , then try the Recommended Databases -- as they usually include the pricipal indexes for a subject discipline (e.g., PsycCRITIQUES is a database of book reviews in Psychology).

• Articles Plus Index to hundreds of millions electronic resources, including journal and newspaper articles, e-books, dissertations, and media in campus library collections. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
• Academic Search Premier Find information on academic areas of business, social sciences, humanities, general academic, general science, education and multi-cultural topics; resource provides access to major popular and scholarly journals with many full-text articles. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. Coverage: Indexing, 1975-present; Full-text, 1975-present
• Readers' Guide Retrospective Offers indexing of over 500 popular periodicals and magazines for a period of over 100 years. From the presidency of Benjamin Harrison to the election of Ronald Reagan, from the Spanish-American War to the Cold War, from the "robber barons" to the oil embargoes, the Readers' Guide provides access to articles chronicling the daily lives and the momentous events of America in the 20th century. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. Coverage: 1890-1982
• Book Review Digest Retrospective: 1903-1982 An index to book reviews from 1903-1982, this database was purchased with funds from the Howard Holsenbeck Endowment. This database provides excerpts from and citations to reviews of adult and juvenile fiction and non-fiction. Virtually every major idea that shaped the 20th century found expression in books. The reactions to those ideas are reflected in the books reviews. The coverage reflects nearly eight decades of H.W. Wilson's Book Review Digest.  more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
• Periodicals Index Online Provides keyword indexing to the articles of over 4700 periodicals in the humanities and social sciences in dozen of languages from their first issues to 1995. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. Coverage: 1665-1995
• American Periodicals Series Online Contains over 1,000 journals published between 1740 and 1900.  American Periodicals From the Center for Research Libraries provides full text to nearly 400 journals.  The collection contains special interest and general magazines, labor and trade publications, scientific and literary journals, and photographic periodicals,. See "About" within the database for a fuller description. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
• LexisNexis Academic (Please see Nexis Uni ) LexisNexis Academic has been discontinued and the content moved to Nexis Uni. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. Coverage: Varies. Some of the files go back to the 1970s
• Times (London) Digital Archive Digital archive (1785-2019) of the British daily national newspaper, also know as The London Times and The Times of London. Please note that online coverage of The Times after the end date in this archive is available in several sources. Click here for more details. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
• Times Literary Supplement (TLS) Historical Archive "Publishes reviews of books in a variety of fields (but with a decided emphasis on the humanities, especially literature) and, in recent years, of art exhibitions, television programs, movies, operas, and productions of plays; occasional essays on literary and other topics." (James Harner, Literary Research Guide) more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers Search hundreds of thousands of pages of full-text and full-image newspaper articles. Includes news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, and birth and marriage announcements; historical photos, graphics, and advertisements are also included; display the complete image of any page in any issue or browse the database to scan individual issues page by page. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
• Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers Provides access to about 500 newspapers from localities all across the United States during the 19th Century. Also searchable from within Gale Artemis: Primary Sources. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.

When searching in databases, try these handy tips for better results:

• Use quotes to search for phrases.
• Also try searching for the name of an author along with the book title.
• Determine when the book was written. Something written in 1952 will not have a review available in a database covering only more recent publications.

Using Find @ UNC

If an article search comes back that we don't have an item:

2) If available, click an article link, if not, click the journal link

3) If not available online, then Search the UNC Libraries' catalog by Title/ISSN to see if we have the journal in print.

4) If none are available, click the request via interlibrary loan link

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• Last Updated: May 21, 2024 8:14 AM
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How to Find Book Reviews: Scholarly Reviews

• Getting Started
• Scholarly Reviews
• Critical Reviews
• General Interest Reviews

About Scholarly Reviews

Scholarly reviews are written for scholars by scholars. These reviews place the book within the scholarly discourse, compare the book to other works in the field, and analyze the author's methodology, interpretations, and conclusions. Due to this amount of engagement with the book, reviews of academic titles may appear two or three years after publication of the book.

The searches in most of the databases below will find scholarly book reviews in addition to general interest and critical reviews. Scholarly reviews will be published in journals, and tend to be longer and more recent.

Best Bet Library Databases

• Library Catalog Search engine for materials in the library. Includes a list of all the books in the library, and a selection of articles. Does not include all articles owned by the library, but it's a good starting place.

Resources for Recent Reviews

In addition to the resources below, see also subject databases related to the discipline of the book.

Resources for Older Reviews

Research Tip: Book Review Searching

Book review searching.

• Search for the title of the book, enclosed in quotation marks ("World's Best Book")
• If the title is not very distinctive, add the author's last name
• Look for limit to "book review" or add search term "review"

Need Help? You can ask!

Other ways to get help:

Call us at 413-597-2505

Text us at 413-648-6071

Stop by during our service hours .

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• Last Updated: Apr 8, 2024 10:24 AM
• URL: https://libguides.williams.edu/book-reviews

Book Reviews: A Finding Guide: Introduction

• Introduction
• Online Resources
• Print Resources
• Resources by Date
• Need Help? Ask A Librarian

Introduction to Book Review Searching

Reviews are important tools for evaluating books. Online databases have made finding book reviews quicker and easier. This brief guide lists the major resources available to Cornell users for finding book reviews. The print resources listed are available in the reference collections of Olin Library. This is not an exhaustive list of ways to find book reviews. Many disciplines have indexes that may be used to locate book reviews for that subject area (literature, history, religion, and so on). A few examples are listed here. Reference staff can guide you.

Book review indexes provide a citation to the review appearing in a newspaper, magazine, or journal. Search the newspaper, magazine, or journal title in the Cornell Library Catalog to find all the formats we own for that journal. Academic Search Premier , Amazon.com, ARBA online, Bowker's Books in Print , JSTOR , ProQuest Research Library , and ProQuest Historical Newspapers have the full text of at least some reviews (or online links to them).

For further information or to locate titles not listed here, consult a reference librarian .

The Difference between Book Reviews and Literary Criticism

The simplest criterion for distinguishing book reviews from literary criticism is the time of publication of the review/critical article compared to the original publication date of the book. Book reviews are written around the time the book was originally published; literary criticism appears in later years, usually about titles considered classics or in the literary canon.

For example, reviews of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby that appeared in 1925 or 1926 (right after the novel was published) are book reviews. Gatsby is considered an important work in the history of American literature, and literary criticism about the novel continues to be written today. MLA Bibliography is an important database to search for literary criticism.

In general, the sources cited in this guide find reviews that reflect the response near the time of a book's publication.

Reference Help

Permission to Use

If you wish to use or adapt any or all of the content of this Guide, please review our use permissions and Creative Commons license .

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• Last Updated: Mar 28, 2024 2:10 PM
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Join Discovery, the new community for book lovers

Trust book recommendations from real people, not robots 🤓

Blog – Posted on Friday, May 01

The best book review sites for enthusiastic readers.

Book lovers, stop us if you’ve heard this one before: you’ve just finished a mind-blowing book and you need to hear some discussion about it. What do you do? Dive straight into the limitless realm of the Internet and search for book review sites, of course. 

Or here’s another scenario: you’ve finished reading a novel and now you’re searching for something to fill the void. Maybe you want more of the same, or maybe something completely different to switch things up. You’ll probably also scour the Internet for ratings and trustworthy recommendations. 

Fortunately, there are endless review blogs and book review sites that you can peruse. Un fortunately, not every one of them features a wide enough variety to help you. But don’t worry: we’ve got you covered with ten of the best book review sites to satisfy the bookworm in you. If you want to cut to the chase and get a personalized pick for a book review site in 30 seconds, we first recommend taking this quick quiz:

Which review community should you join?

Find out which review community is best for your style. Takes 30 seconds!

Then read on for the full explanation of all of the best book review sites out there!

1. Goodreads 

It’s impossible not to mention Goodreads when discussing book communities: it’s the Facebook of book reviews — the ultimate social media platform for bibliophiles. If you’ve somehow managed to go this long without stumbling upon this omnipresent site, here’s the run-down: you can use Goodreads to organize, display, and discuss your virtual bookshelf with other users. 

Goodreads recommendations are based on your listed interests. You can follow authors and book influencers ranging from Celeste Ng to Bill Gates . This allows you to see all their reviews, which vary from compact one-liners to critical analysis, and watch the new reviews roll in. For a quick verdict, just take a look at the star rating that they give the book. 

Also if you like to browse lists, Goodreads compiles the best and most popular books for every genre. There’s also the annual Goodreads’ Choice Awards to celebrate each year’s new releases, where you can cast your vote or peruse the list of contenders to find a new book to read. It’s a site for every kind of reader, with abundant ways to comment and interact. 

2. LibraryThing

This is the OG of all online book catalogues and discussion boards — take a look and you’ll see that it’s an oldie but a goodie. Of course, the basic functions of LibraryThing are rather similar to Goodreads: there are millions of books that readers can add to their lists, as well as review with star ratings.

While the interface harks back to the earlier days of the world wide web, LibraryThing has a secret weapon that’ll appeal to all readers, especially modern ones: their Zeitgeist . This page displays the latest crème de la crème of the whole site, from the most popular books to the hottest reviews , which you can also write with the help of a good book review template . Just a glance shows that the readers here know how to read between the lines and wield their words!

So if you’re hoping to read or share some in-depth literary thoughts with fellow sharp-minded users , LibraryThing is the site to browse. (You can even access it without creating an account!) 

3. Reedsy Discovery 

Now, if you’re searching for some hidden gems to peruse, Reedsy Discovery ’s got your back. While our blog features everything from classics to contemporary hits, Discovery’s specialty is indie publications, many of which are accompanied with succinct comments from experienced reviewers . There’s no better way to broaden your horizon! 

Moreover, if casual and creative reviews are more your cup of tea, then rejoice: the burgeoning community of readers on Discovery can leave comments, one-line reviews, and video reviews (calling all Booktubers!) on just about any book. It’s a fun and interactive way to geek out over your favorite reads and discover all the coolest new titles you won’t find anywhere else.

Looking for something new to read?

Trust real people, not robots, to give you book recommendations.

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4. LoveReading 

Though it’s UK-based, this prolific site caters to audiences around the world. LoveReading is strictly a reviewing site, with a base of staff writers and carefully selected contributors, so you know the reviews are top-notch. The staff often give quite personal reading experiences in their reviews, which make their recommendations very endearing, like they’re from a close friend. They even offer you presents — well, if you think of giveaways as presents! 

LoveReading covers books from every genre you can think of. They also have weekly, monthly, and yearly list features to keep you up to date with the latest stellar releases, so you’ll never be in want of something to pore over. 

5. The Millions 

In search of reviews that really dive into the themes, metaphors, and overall executions of interesting and highbrow books? The Millions has got you covered. 

Written by a collection of seasoned critics, these reviews are speckled with memorable quotes, elegant analysis, and plentiful comparisons to other works — which means extra reading recommendations for you! If contemporary and literary fictions are your go-tos, then The Millions is the site for all your lit nerd needs. 

6. SFBook Reviews 

Those who think quantity and quality don’t go hand in hand, you clearly haven’t encountered SFBook Review . The five reviewers on the team here share two common and important goals: firstly, to follow the outpour of new titles in the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror genres every year, and secondly, to give thoughtful reviews to as many of them as possible.

This team knows their SFF niches inside out, so their verdicts are very credible. Still, their reviews are quite friendly and personal — they discuss other related books and share their reading experiences to help you make your own reading choices. 

7. Bookpage

Bookpage features all kinds of genres: from children’s books to nonfiction, from the works of household names to debut authors, and so much more. Their format is neat and straightforward — they bring you the volumes they think are most worthwhile, recommending them to you by summarizing and concisely commenting on the prose, the theme, and the plot of each chosen book.

In addition to this, Bookpage also features author interviews and articles that unearth the deeper themes and purposes of certain books. If you’re a true book lover seeking like-minded literary aficionados, this may be the perfect place for you.

8. Book Riot 

Avid readers, you’ve probably stumbled upon Book Riot more times than you can remember. While it’s not a site that individually assesses titles, it has lists for everything — from timeless literary giants to the top books in each genre. What’s more, Book Riot has lots of thinkpieces that dive deep into the way certain titles make readers feel — be it exhilarated, motivated, or enraged — and that’s really all you need to know when deciding to embark on a new reading adventure. 

Additionally, if you’d rather listen to discussions and reviews rather than read them, you'll be happy to know that Book Riot has a range of podcasts for you to choose from. 

9. NetGalley 

NetGalley is another platform bringing you new and unconventional recommendations. They specialize in connecting authors who are publishing to readers who’d like to preview and put in their two cents. While the database of books available here are not the most expansive, those that are featured are certainly worth your time. 

Readers can benefit most from NetGalley via their book recommendation site, Bookish , where the staff reviewers update you with their recent reads and in-depth thoughts on those reads. Along with that, Bookish also has book club kits, equipped with comprehension questions and discussion points, to help readers explore stories mindfully. 

10. BookBub

While it’s very similar to Goodreads, BookBub focuses more on connecting readers to books that might suit them specifically — which is partly why you’ll see plenty of bargains and deals promoted on the site.

Because of this promotional value, BookBub has quite a strong author community. Diana Gabaldon and Gillian Flynn , for instance, are constantly recommending books on their accounts. So if you’d like to tag along with your favorite author, this is an excellent website to visit. The only drawback of BookBub is that they only have community reviews from users based in the US, and you have to sign up in order to read them. 

With these ten sites, you’ll be sure to find your little community of fellow book lovers regardless of what your interests are. Here’s to exciting TBR lists and nourished minds!

If you want to try your hand at reviewing, we’ve got a little guide to help you out ! On the other hand, if you want to plough away at your books, why not consider the Kindle Cloud Reader ?

Continue reading

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Finding Book Reviews

• Critical Reviews
• Getting Started
• Scholarly Reviews
• Popular Reviews

Critical Book Reviews

Critical book reviews include an analysis of the work, but are are authored for a general audience not necessarily an academic one. The authors of critical book reviews are often experts in their respective fields, but not always academics or scholars, and their reviews are lengthier than general interest (popular) reviews. These reviews can be used to help determine if a an individual or a larger entity, such as a library or a bookstore, want to purchase the media in question, or for determining if a book is relevant to one's research.

Select Titles for Recent and Older Reviews

• The New York Review of Books Includes reviews from 1963-present. The New York Review of Books is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs.
• The New York Times Book Review Includes reviews from 2001-present. The New York Times Book Review is weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed.
• Times Literary Supplement Includes reviews from 2010-present. The Times Literary Supplement is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK.
• The Times Literary Supplement Index, 1902-1939 Main Library Microform Reference: AI21 .T53 1978
• The Times Literary Supplement Index, 1940-1980 Main Library Microform Reference: AI21 .T532 1982
• The Women's Review of Books Reviews from 1983-present.
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• Last Updated: Oct 17, 2023 11:56 AM
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General Interest Book Reviews

• Finding Scholarly Book Reviews

Book Review Journals

Finding book reviews, introduction.

Book reviews can serve a variety of purposes: they can help you decide whether you'd like to read a book, or they can help you understand a book's place in the context of a larger scholarly conversation. There are two main categories of book reviews: general interest reviews of popular books, and scholarly book reviews. These two types of reviews have several distinct characteristics and can be found using different tools. See below for more information and for links to useful tools for finding book reviews.

About general interest book reviews:

• General interest reviews usually focus on popular books (memoirs, nonfiction, cookbooks, etc.) and works of literature.
• They often appear in newspapers and magazines such as the New York Review of Books , the Times Literary Supplement , the New Yorker , etc.
• They may be written by other authors or by journalists.
• General interest book reviews usually appear soon after a book's publication.

The following indexes will help you locate general interest book reviews:

Scholarly Book Reviews

About scholarly book reviews:

• Scholarly book reviews focus on scholarly books.
• They are written by scholars or librarians.
• They are published in academic journals.
• In some cases, these reviews cover two or three books on a single topic.
• Scholarly book reviews often appear more than a year after the initial publication of the reviewed book.

Subject Specialized Tools

Since so many scholarly book reviews are published in peer-reviewed journals within the relevant discipline, it's best to search for reviews in an article database that focuses on that academic discipline (e.g., Sociological Abstracts for sociology, or CINAHL for nursing).

In most cases, you can select the Advanced Search option and limit your search results to "Reviews" or "Book Reviews."

• Falvey Subject Guides - these guides will point you to the top recommended databases for your subject area, and will connect you to a subject specialist librarian who can help you find what you need.

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• New York Review of Books   (available online from 1963 - present)
• New York Times Book Review   (all back content available to the VU community via our NYTimes.com subscription; 1997- present available online via ProQuest)
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Book Reviews: Finding Book Reviews

About book reviews.

A book review  may include a summary of the content of a book, critical analysis of the book, comparisons of the book to other similar books, or even a broader, contextual summary of the subject matter addressed by the book.

Book reviews may be published in sources including scholarly journals, popular magazines, newspapers, and websites, and are generally published near the time of the book’s publication. 

This guide presents recommended sources for book reviews available through Murphy Library or recommended by librarians.

Book reviews may be published in sources including scholarly journals, popular magazines, newspapers, and websites.  They  are generally published near the time of the book’s publication. They may include a critical analysis of the book, a summary of the subject of the book, and even a comparison with other similar books.

This guide presents sources for book reviews available through Murphy Library or recommended by Murphy librarians.

Comprehensive Coverage of Book Reviews

Additional Databases for Book Reviews

Public Websites

The following web resources contain book reviews:

• CM: Canadian Review of Materials Issues biweekly electronic journal reviews of books and electronic media for young people.
• Bookwire By Bowker. A book industry site featuring reviews, book awards and many library or book related links.
• H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online An international interdisciplinary organization of scholars and teachers, offering peer reviewed essays, multimedia materials, and discussions, plus funding opportunities. Hosted by the History Department at Michigan State University.

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10 places to find reviewers for your self-published book

But before we get to that – and before you start to contact reviewers – it’s important to understand how to contact them.

What to do:

1. Do your research. Only contact reviewers who are interested in reviewing the type of books you have written. (See below for some good places to find the right reviewers.)

2. Read their review policy. Do they only want e-books, or printed books? What genres are they currently interested in reading? Are they currently accepting new books for review? Check out their rules, and follow them.

3. Write a personalized email to the potential reviewer. No one likes to get a form letter, or spam. Use a salutation, and their name – not just “Hi” or “Dear reviewer,” but rather, “Dear Jane Smith” or at least “Dear Jane.” If there’s no personal name listed, use their username.

Tell the reviewer who you are, how you found them, a little bit about your book, when it will be published. Tell them that if they’re interested, you’d be glad to send them a copy. Specify what format the book will be in (which ebook format, printed book, or if they will have a choice). Thank them for their time and consideration, and say that you look forward to hearing from them. Then sign it, with your full name.

Don’t forget the subject line, either: emails with the subject “Review Inquiry” or “Review Request” will get a better response as they make it easy to identify what your message is about.

Here’s how to write an excellent review query.

4. Before sending your email, spell-check and proofread. Errors leave a poor impression and make the reviewer less likely to accept your book. They’ll figure your book is full of typos, too.

5. The ultimate purpose of a review isn’t to please you. Books with reviews do tend to sell better. However, it’s important to understand that reviewers ultimately aren’t written for the author’s benefit. They’re written for the potential reader to give them enough information so that they can make a purchasing decision.

What not to do:

1. If they do accept the book, don’t expect the reviewer to guarantee a review. Reviewers don’t accept books they have no intention of reviewing, but sometimes they may not be able to – or wish to – eventually review it. That’s OK. They’re not the only reviewer out there. Move on.

2. Don’t expect, or ask for, a positive review. No reviewer can promise this. Any reviewer worth approaching has integrity and will always post an honest review, whether one star or five. (As people’s opinions will naturally vary, there’s often something fishy when books have only five-star reviews, anyway.)

3. Don’t ask the reviewer to promise a review to be published on or near a particular date. (Do feel free to tell the reviewer the date of your book’s publication.) Please understand that most reviewers have a big stack of books to review. Reviews take more time than you might think. The reviewer reads the book – maybe more than once – takes notes, then writes and posts the review. You’re asking them to do at least several hours of work for you, on their own time, for free. And they’re not doing it for money, but rather for the love of books, and of reviewing.

This is why you can’t expect a promise of a review by a certain date (or even at all). It’s understandable that you’re anxious for the reviews to start rolling in, but just hang tight, keep soliciting reviews, and one day you’ll have a bunch of them.

4. Never offer payment for a review. All an honest reviewer will accept is the book itself. Don’t offer a bribe! Paid reviews are not allowed on any reputable websites and can get the reviewer – and sometimes yourself – in a world of trouble, and banned from review websites.

5. Don’t expect an answer to your query. I know – that almost seems unreasonable, doesn’t it, not to expect the reviewer to reply. The reason that some don’t reply is that many reviewers – especially popular and highly-ranked ones – get so many review queries that it takes too much time to reply to them all. So, they wind up only replying to those they have an interest in reviewing.

6. If a potential reviewer declines to review your book, take it graciously. Don’t ask why, try to change their mind, or pester them. Stay on good terms – reply briefly with thanks for their time and consideration. Who knows, perhaps they’ll review your next book.

7. After a review is published, don’t comment on the review . Not even if you disagree with it. Even if the reviewer says something terribly wrong, even factually wrong. Even if they say it’s the best book they’ve ever read. Or the worst! Commenting can make you look petty, overbearing or argumentative, and can turn potential readers against you, ensuring they never read your book. Just. Don’t. Do. It. Ever. ( Here’s why. )

10 places to find reviewers for your books.

OK. Now that you understand how to approach reviewers, how do you find them?

1. Amazon’s “Meet Our Authors” Forum

Amazon has “Meet Our Authors” forum where you can introduce yourself, and also ask for reviews. There are various genre-specific threads too.

Update: Amazon has shut down all of their forums. They suggest that you visit Goodreads instead, where it’s easy for authors to interact with readers. (Amazon owns Goodreads.) See #4 on this list for more about Goodreads.

2. Amazon’s Top Reviewers

Amazon ranks its reviewers according to a variety of criteria and publishes the list. You can go through the list to look for those reviewers who review books in your genre. It will take some time. Those reviewers who include an email address or website in their profile are usually open to being contacted regarding potential reviews. (Some are not.) Before emailing, read their reviews of books in your genre. Pay close attention to any review guidelines which are included in the reviewer’s profile.

TheCreativePenn has a great blog post on getting Amazon reviewers to review your book .

3. Peruse the Amazon book pages

Check out other books similar to yours, and see who’s reviewed them. Look on these reviewers’ profiles to see if they’re open to review offers, as described above. If so, contact them.

4. LibraryThing & Goodreads

On LibraryThing , people catalog, review, and discuss books. The site also functions as a social networking site and is a great place for authors to connect with potential readers. There are lots of things you can do to get the word out about your book here. One of them is to find reviewers.

LibraryThing offers the “Member Giveaway” – where you can give out your own books. Ebooks and printed books are equally welcome. You set a number of available books to offer, and people will enter a drawing to win them. Usually there are more people who sign up than available books, so there is a drawing at the end of the giveaway period.

Though those who receive your books are not required to review your book, you can let it be known that you hope they do. LibraryThing reviewers can post their reviews on that site, but some often post their reviews elsewhere, such as Amazon.com and Goodreads.

Goodreads is similar to LibraryThing, but bigger. Only publishers can give away books for free there, but you can still find potential reviewers through their groups , some of which are dedicated to connecting authors with reviewers. (Use the group search box to find them.) Before posting review opportunities, be sure to check that the rules of the particular group allow it.

5. Social networking sites

Search for people who review your genre of book on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites, and start making connections. Much has been written elsewhere on how to connect with people on these sites, so that’s all I’ll say about it here.

Turn to Google to find bloggers who review books similar to yours. Try various searches such as the name of your genre (e.g. YA, poetry, American history, vampire fiction) followed by one of these phrases: book blog, book blogger, book reviews, book review blog, book review blogger. Try various combinations and think of some of your own, investigate the results, and you’re bound to come up with some good ones.

7. Services which connect authors and reviewers

There are quite a lot of specialized websites which will make your book available to reviewers. Here are a few we know of:

The Bookbag . Publishes book reviews on their site, with links to the books on Amazon.

4226 Spruce St . Makes it easy for authors of Kindle books to connect with Amazon reviewers. Free.

8. Reviewer directories and lists

The Book Blogger List . A categorized directory of book reviewers, organized by genre, which makes it easy to locate potential reviewers for your book. Free.

Book Reviewer Yellow Pages (formerly Step By Step Self Publishing). Offers an online directory of book reviewers. It’s free, but they also offer paid Kindle and paperback versions.

List of literary / poetry review publications (many print-based)

9. Ask other authors

Ask other authors you’re acquainted with – either on or offline – who reviewed their book, and who they think you should get in touch with. Most authors are very willing to share their experiences and recommendations. When writing to a reviewer, be sure mention that your fellow author recommended that you contact them.

10. Look close to home & offline

There are plenty of local, offline sources for reviews, too:

• local daily or weekly newspapers
• school newspapers
• organization and company newsletters
• contact local indie bookstores to see if they know of any local reviewers

11. (yeah, forget 10 – we’re turning this baby all the way up to 11!) The Indie View

The Indie View has a great list of reviewers in a number of genres. They also spotlight reviews and authors. Check it out.

don’t forget us

You know, if your book is arts-related nonfiction, or has anything to do with the Beat Generation, you might check out our very own review policy . We don’t accept many books for review – but you never know until you try! We also sometimes publish author interviews and book excerpts.

Summing up…

That’s all for now. If you have suggestions about getting reviews, please leave a comment. And stay tuned for more articles about promoting your self-published books!

Empty Mirror publishes new poetry, criticism, essays, book reviews, and art every Friday.

You might also like:

Pat Sutton says

March 4, 2020 at 11:53 am

Denise, thank you, Your comments and explanations will save me time on how to find a reviewer and what to expect.

Antonio Chevalier says

October 11, 2020 at 3:47 pm

You need to pay for The Bookbag. Publishes book reviews on their site, with links to the books on Amazon.

Empty Mirror says

November 8, 2019 at 4:50 pm

There’s also a directory of over 300 reviewers, sorted by posting frequency, at https://indiestoday.com/reviewers-list/ . Thanks to Dave Allen for pointing out this resource!

Derrick Washington says

October 31, 2019 at 7:13 pm

Hi, Denise, I just want to say thank you for sharing this information. I have been searching online where to find book reviewers, and your blog answered, pretty much, all of my questions. Once again, thanks.

Bruce Miller says

October 16, 2019 at 2:36 pm

Excellent article and we enjoyed reading it. It is very comprehensive and useful. Well done!

We review books. We are retired people in New Zealand and we are amazed at the creativity and original ideas people have. It’s like sitting in a school class with students raising their hands and announcing amazing creative ideas! We love it. But we only review books we like. No erotica, but most everything else. We’ve done hundreds of reviews. Check us out > https://www.teamgolfwell.com/free-book-reviews.html

Julian Hardy says

July 1, 2019 at 8:44 pm

Denise Thank you for your insightful website. I have recently self-published a book on KDP/Amazon. After doing some research about reviews/reviewers, I found the Artisan Book Reviews website. Is it worthwhile using such services as those provided by Artisan Book Reviews (as they are quite costly). Also, I’m assuming such paid reviews do not contravene Amazon’s review rules. Is this true? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Regards Julian

Denise says

July 29, 2019 at 11:07 am

It’s true that paid reviews are forbidden by Amazon and can’t be posted there by the reviewer.

However, you can post them yourself with your book information on your book’s page. They can also be useful for use on your website and promotional materials.

Thomas Juarez says

May 4, 2019 at 8:16 am

Thank you for the quick reply! While searching through other parts of your website I found someone I made a connection with. Finally gaining some traction (I think).

Awakening Cocijo will be making a book tour to test its worthiness!

May 3, 2019 at 9:24 am

I have recently self published on Amazon, currently Amazon is having an issue tracking my book sales and I am falling in the ratings. I made them aware of some of the recent purchases, they know there’s a problem and they are looking into it…I have faith in them!

In any case, it has been very difficult to find reviewers that are available in the next 3-4 months. It’s been frustrating to say the least.

I paid for the editing of my book so that I would have a polished product. I was hoping this would make my book more attractive to buyers and/or reviewers. I would be more than happy to provide a pdf or kindle copy to potential reviewers.

The book is called Awakening Cocijo and is available only on Amazon. It is a metaphysical fiction book centering on the Zapotec empire and a current attempt (fictional, of course), to awaken Cocijo…the god of lightening and rain.

May 3, 2019 at 2:13 pm

You might try getting reviews via Goodreads (you can even give away free books/ebooks in Goodreads’ Member Giveaway). That might give you some reviews in shorter than three or four months.

If you’re on social media, you could try giving some copies away for review that way.

Celeste says

April 26, 2019 at 10:55 am

Thanks Denise! I’m going to network as best I can, which means helping other authors with their efforts, too. I joined Goodreads so I could post reviews and hopefully boost the sales of books that I enjoy reading.

April 22, 2019 at 7:57 pm

Denise, thanks for the quick follow-up.

I believe it’s far too time-consuming to find reviewers on Amazon, considering that many of them don’t have contact info available. It’s probably better to invest time and effort in building a network, e.g., through Goodreads and Bookbub. I’m an introvert, so it makes me cringe to think of having to actively pursue getting followers. Otherwise my novel is likely to die on the vine after it’s published, no matter how good it is.

April 25, 2019 at 11:40 am

That’s certainly a valid objection and there are other methods of getting reviews. I wish you success with your novel!

April 21, 2019 at 4:28 pm

This article is dated March 6, 2014, so perhaps something has changed as far as finding book reviewers on Amazon. I went to the Amazon Top Customer Reviewers listing. There are 10,000, with zero indication as to what they review. To find that out, you have to click on each name one by one, then scroll through their reviews to see (1) if they even review books, and (2) what genre of books they review. With 10,000 reviewers, you may be able to go through that list in, oh, let’s say a year. And of course it changes daily so you’ll need to keep a list of whose reviews you looked at.

If someone knows of a better way, I’m all ears. Otherwise, I think Amazon is doing its best, as always, to make things difficult.

April 22, 2019 at 1:34 pm

Yes, you do have to look at each reviewer individually — there’s no list with email addresses included. So, it’s usually best to find books similar to yours, see who’s reviewing them, and get in touch those with contact information (email, website, or even a Google-able name) on their profile. It does take some detective work, for sure.

Diane Fadden says

April 10, 2019 at 6:12 pm

Indiebook review is a scam operation. Buyer beware.

roy tawes says

August 25, 2018 at 10:43 am

Denise- Iasked for a personal review. Never heard back, but I see you’re using my complimentary comments for this website. Just give me a simple yes or know

August 29, 2018 at 10:53 am

Congratulations on the publication of your book! It sounds fascinating.

EM’e review guidelines are here: https://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/empty-mirror-review-policy

Guidelines in short: Due to time constraints, I’m only able to accept very few books for review. I’m looking for specific types of non-fiction and am unable to review fiction, poetry, or memoir.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of book review requests received and that fact that I’m the only one here, I’m only able to reply to those I intend to review. I regret that I’m not able to respond to all.

Comments are voluntary and are not “used” for anything. They can be deleted by request. I did leave the link in your previous comment so that others could check out your book!

best wishes, Denise

Tyrell Perry says

August 19, 2018 at 12:13 pm

Great intel. This newly published author will be putting it to use.

Wilburson says

July 2, 2018 at 6:30 am

This is such useful information Denise, which I have added to my growing information pile on getting reviews. Thanks for taking the time.

Vishal Sharma says

April 6, 2018 at 11:14 pm

Hey Denise, Thanks for sharing such awesome tips loved it. It was very useful for me.

Roy lawson tawes MD , FACS says

January 10, 2018 at 2:22 pm

Very helpful information for INDIE authors.Thank you. I like your considerate style.

It’s a long shot to request a personal review, but you mentioned an interest in the Beat generation that spawned the hippies in the ’60s. I just published my sixth novel, RECALL that deals with the topic . Returning to San Francisco from Vietnam where I served as a flight surgeon, I witnessed the cultural revolution up close and personal. I tried to capture that turbulent era in my historical narrative. You might find it interesting and enlightening. I’m getting good early reviews , but not from anyone of your professional stature. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.So why not ask you?

If you have any interest, please consult my website: RLawsonauthor.com. All the information you require to make a decision is available there, including blogs. Maybe we will find an intellectual connection. Life never follows a straight path, Stranger things have happened. I love writing and hope someone influential in the literary field will promote my work.

Thank you for your consideration. You sound like a nice person in your responses above, trying to help aspiring writers. We need guidance, It’s a maze to navigate.

Brad Foster says

January 3, 2018 at 4:06 am

No worries, Denise – thanks anyway and careful of that perilous tower of books! :)

January 2, 2018 at 6:48 pm

HI Denise – thanks for this post! I noticed that the link to Amazon’s “Meet Our Authors” is defunct – this is what I get: “Our Discussion Boards feature has been discontinued.

Amazon would like to thank the members of this community for contributing to the discussion forums. As we grow and evolve, we encourage you to explore Goodreads Groups for book discussions and Spark for other interests. For device questions and help, please see our new Digital and Device Forum.”

I will try the other tips, though I haven’t had much luck so far with the Amazon Top Reviewers (reminds me of my dating years, when I got completely ignored! ). Say, if you wanted to review my newest e-book, I’d be happy to send you a free copy. No pressure – thanks again and I hope one — if not more — of your points help me out!

January 2, 2018 at 9:08 pm

Hi Brad — Thanks for the update about the Amazon forums. I’d heard about that but had forgotten to update this list. I really appreciate the reminder.

Top reviewers are tough — you really have to find the ones who are into your genre, and Amazon has begun making it tougher to find contact information for them (although email links still appear on individual profiles).

Wish I could help with your book, but I don’t typically read e-books, and my reading stack is perilously tall. But I wish you much success with it!

Cristina G. says

October 21, 2017 at 3:02 am

Gold dust. Thank you so much. I am working on a few new books and I need reviews. Blessings to you and to those who invest their valuable time reading and reviewing our lifetime work.

August 8, 2017 at 8:31 am

Thanks, Denise, for your helpful information.

June 12, 2017 at 3:55 pm

This site looks nice but there are two issues with it: – The reviewer lists can’t be accessed without completing a third-party offer. – Kaspersky shows a warning about a phishing link when the site is loaded.

If you would like to talk about this, please email me. Denise

May 15, 2017 at 6:51 pm

Thanks Denise for a cohesive listing of what to do. It’s early days for me in the world of marketing my children’s mystery novels, so it’s really helpful. Many thanks.

May 15, 2017 at 7:34 pm

Cathy, I’m so glad to hear that you found this article helpful. I wish you much success with the novels!

Indira Sahay says

April 9, 2017 at 9:54 am

Thank you for your reply. I shall certainly take up some of your suggestion

April 8, 2017 at 11:42 am

I was looking for interested reviewers for two Sociology books written by my late husband which remained unpublished when he passed away last year.the first one is already printed and the second one is being got ready for printing. this will take about three months. As the books are academic I would like to send them to academics with similar interests. What do you suggest?

Layla Rose says

March 20, 2017 at 7:03 pm

What a great find. I did some freelance publicity work for an author recently, and as a writer myself, it was sobering to see what it takes as an indie author. So much work. And having a disability which is difficult to manage really slows me down. So I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.

Walter Stoffel says

March 3, 2017 at 1:23 pm

In part helpful ,in part confusing. Denise, you suggest steering clear of Amazon Top Reviewers(they’re touchy) yet you link to Creative Penn article that outlines process for contacting those same top reviewers.

Lanre Ayanlowo says

February 28, 2017 at 1:41 am

Hello, i have two self published books. Can you please help me publish them traditionally?

March 3, 2017 at 3:13 pm

I wish I could help, but Empty Mirror is just an online magazine; we don’t publish books. I may be able to answer some questions for you, but can’t recommend any particular publishers.

Tom Turkington says

February 21, 2017 at 7:16 pm

Thank you, Denise, so much. As a first-time author and technophobe besides, I’ve despaired of generating any sense of direction in my efforts to get my book into the hands of unbiased readers. Your suggestions are clear, concise and orderly, and likely the jumpstart I’ve needed. Were my book concerned with the arts or the Beats, I’d try to hoist it upon you, but no: it’s a 120,000-word chronicle of the first eighteen years of my life. Trying to make an asset of living in the past. Thanks for your push in the right direction(s).

Marcus De Storm says

January 1, 2017 at 2:36 pm

Thank you Denise for this information useful as a Self Published Author. As it is difficult to find genuine information and where to go to get my book reviewed. This has helped me very much.

January 1, 2017 at 2:37 pm

I’m glad you found the article useful, Marcus! I wish you much success with the book!

Mdu Rohtak says

November 18, 2016 at 5:33 am

Excellent tips, and thanks for the shout-out.

Sheree W. Davis says

November 17, 2016 at 7:52 am

Denise, Thanks for this wonderful check list! I’m a new self-published author and am grateful for the wisdom you are willing to share! God Bless! ~Sheree W. Davis

Johnb9 says

June 8, 2016 at 5:18 am

Thanks so much for the article.Much thanks again. Great.

ferris robinson says

May 2, 2016 at 5:11 am

Denise, Thank you so much for this informative and detailed post! So helpful! And I really appreciate the heads-up on commenting on reviews – I had no idea! I feel like I should be writing them a thank you note for taking the time to read my book, and taking even more time and energy to review it! Thanks for all you do for writers!

January 13, 2016 at 6:56 am

Hi Denise, great article, thanks. Quick question – when do you suggest author start asking for reviews? How long before the publish date – or after the publish date? Thanks.

Alec Stone says

August 20, 2015 at 6:14 am

Hi, don’t forget about reviews-easy.com.

This service is doing all the work for you. You only have to register and search the Amazon the reviewers by categories, products they review or by personal details. Then, a list of reviewers with contact details will be generated and you can download it. Then you can send personalized emails to all of them or do what you want with that data.

August 20, 2015 at 7:25 am

Alec, thanks for the suggestion. I have mixed feelings about Reviews Easy. I haven’t used it myself, but from a brief look at their website, it certainly appears to make it easy to search for Amazon reviewers.

Maybe too easy. I don’t enjoy reading e-books and don’t review them. That fact is stated very clearly on my Amazon profile. And yet, authors very often email to ask me to review their e-books. Some of these authors have told me that they were referred to me by Reviews Easy, and they’ve been surprised that I have no interest in e-books.

It seems that somehow Reviews Easy is leading authors to believe that I want to read e-books. (But since I haven’t used the site, I am not sure how or why this is happening.)

The site may be a good resource. But authors who choose to use it should double-check the reviewers’ profile information and preferences!

Thanks again — Denise

Tim Williams says

August 2, 2015 at 5:06 am

after reading everything that i’ve read i find myself asking …why self publish it seems like more of a pain in the ass then what it’s worth . i mean is this he only way to to go ? i write because i like to write not to share. the only reason publishing has come up is cause everyone that reads my book won’t stop bugging me about it . anyone hit me up cause i don’t see the benefit . thanks

August 3, 2015 at 1:06 pm

Most authors self-publish because they want their work to be read. But there’s no sense in publishing if you don’t feel compelled to.

While most people who write never publish, some of those still have a few books printed for themselves, family and friends who have expressed an interest. It’s an option. And, in that case, you needn’t bother with arranging for reviews, or with other promotional methods.

Others wish to reach a wider readership so look into either traditional or self-publishing, and eventually spend time promoting their book.

If you fall into the latter category, then self-publishing may be for you. But if you don’t, just keep writing for the love of it — and ignore those who pressure you.

all best, Denise

Rena George says

April 10, 2015 at 11:35 pm

Thank you for such a helpful, informative post, Denise. Authors really do need to put in the work to find approachable reviewers – and be prepared to overcome disappointments. Most reviewers are so overburdened that they have closed their lists for the foreseeable future. However the more potential reviewers an author can contact, the greater the chance of success. Perseverance is the secret, I think.

April 11, 2015 at 3:44 pm

Hi Rena, Thanks for your comment. I’m happy to hear that you found the post helpful.

Unfortunately I’m one of those reviewers who is often full-up on books to be reviewed…but I try to make time if just the perfect book is offered. There just isn’t enough time, though, to read – and review – everything I would like to.

Thanks again! Denise

Erik D. Weiss says

March 9, 2015 at 5:47 pm

Thanks, Denise! This is a fantastic little guide, great for new writers like me, eager to get my two fiction books out there. This is great advice, and you’ve inspired me to get to work getting my books reviewed and more visible!! Erik

March 9, 2015 at 7:32 pm

Erik, I’m so glad to hear you found the guide to reviews helpful. Good luck in finding reviewers! – Denise

J Haeske says

January 20, 2015 at 1:56 pm

If I only had known then what I know now… Thanks for that, Denise.

Molly Gambiza says

January 11, 2015 at 6:49 am

Thank you very much for taking your time to share this helpful information. That’s very generous of you. I am after honest reviews for my book A Woman’s Weakness. Now you have given me the directions, the ball is in my hands.

January 11, 2015 at 11:07 am

Glad we could help, Molly! Good luck with the book reviews!

christynathan930 says

September 24, 2014 at 5:28 am

Thanks for the great information and also for great tips too, and now I also check my book reviews.

James Jean-Pierre says

September 8, 2014 at 10:58 am

Thank you for this post, this list will definitely boost up my reviewer count.

August 10, 2014 at 7:55 am

I published my book in may, overlooking the need for a review. Since the time I must have approached 200-300 bloggers/sites for review unsuccessfully. any advice to get a free review? regards, jt

Denise Enck says

August 10, 2014 at 8:43 am

Congratulations on the publication of your book! Getting reviews is definitely a challenge. Without having seen your book or query email, I’m not sure why you haven’t had positive responses to your review query. But a lot depends upon the particular reviewers contacted, and how they are chosen.

First, do your research to find reviewers who review the types of books you write, and who are currently accepting books for review.

For example, I’m a reviewer; I clearly state on my review page here on Empty Mirror that I review Beat Generation and art-related books, do not review fiction, and am not accepting more books for review for the next few months. However, almost every day I receive review queries from authors who didn’t bother to read that; they offer me books about knitting, fantasy fiction, memoirs, guitar chords, children’s books, cooking, and more. I receive a lot of these, and most of them are deleted without reply.

There are websites which categorize book bloggers/reviewers by the genres they review; those can be really helpful in finding the right reviewers. Or go to Amazon and see who has reviewed similar books to yours, and see if they have an email address on their profile.

Second, sometimes it’s in the way that you approach the reviewer. Many queries I’ve received have been very impersonal, had spelling errors (doesn’t bode well for the book), were poorly written, required me to click a link to find out about the book, or wanted me to download free from Amazon on a particular day. Make it easy for the reviewer – address them by name if possible, give a brief synopsis of the book, tell where and when it’s available and in what formats. Don’t require the reviewer to do additional work to find out the basics about your book.

(However, include a link to Amazon – or wherever the book’s sold – so they can investigate more if they want to.)

Your query should contain everything necessary for the reviewer to make a decision.

Also – make sure the book is in good shape and ready for review. Sometimes, before accepting an already-published book for possible review, I’ll read the sample on Amazon to see if it appeals to me. If I find excerpts full of typos, formatting errors, or awkward writing, I won’t accept the book.

It’s harder to find reviewers for some genres than others. For example, fiction, YA and children’s book reviewers are plentiful (though often overburdened); reviewers for non-fiction, art and poetry are a little trickier to find.

But some of it is just timing, and a little bit of luck. Most reviewers get lots of queries and have to turn down even books that sound really enjoyable to them due to time constraints. But following the tips above can give you better odds.

You might also take a look at our article, “How to write an excellent review query” – https://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/publishing/how-to-write-an-excellent-book-review-query

Good luck, JT! If you have further questions, just let me know – I’d be really glad to help. all best, Denise

November 27, 2014 at 1:10 am

Hello Denise, I have a question is that any website which can give all the details of ebooks like how much ebooks are sale and in which with reviews because if any tool provide all of these things in one place it will be really helpful for many publishers.

selfpubber says

April 22, 2014 at 6:06 pm

I’ve used https://www.selfpublishingreview.com/ and it worked out pretty well. It’s a paid review, but it wasn’t a shill review (i.e. overly nice).

February 26, 2014 at 9:13 pm

I’ve used easybookreviews.com a few times. If you are willing to review other books in return it is a guaranteed way to get some (honest) reviews.

I’m also going to try story cartel but my books are already in kdp so I can’t have them available for free anywhere else at the moment. Also, story cartel aren’t amazon verified purchase reviews.

February 27, 2014 at 11:40 am

Thanks for the tip, Emily!

Be careful though, if you’re posting those reviews on Amazon. Amazon doesn’t allow reviews by “reviewing circles” (groups of people who review each other’s books) and has been known to revoke reviewing privileges for those caught doing it.

Gerard Thomas says

November 6, 2013 at 1:02 pm

OMG! I’m so happy now you’ve mentioned everything from A-Z.

Lenita Sheridan says

November 1, 2013 at 9:49 pm

This really helped me. I already got one “yes.” You might tell people to put “Review Request” in the subject line, otherwise they might get ignored the way I did when I put “possible book review?” I learned the hard way, but one website fortunately told me what to do, so I changed my tactic from then on.

November 1, 2013 at 10:04 pm

That’s a great idea, Lenita! Thanks so much. I’ll edit the article to include that. I’m glad you got a good response!

@IolaGoulton says

July 7, 2013 at 6:05 pm

10 ways to find book reviewers (and some useful links) #writing #reviews

June 30, 2013 at 11:35 pm

https://storycartel.com/ is another resource for authors to connect with reviewers.

July 1, 2013 at 8:36 am

Thanks Iola. I hadn’t heard of this one before, but I just checked it out – great resource! – Denise

@marqjonz says

May 28, 2013 at 3:50 am

@Phaedra4Real says

April 2, 2013 at 11:09 am

Dan’s right, great write-up.

ChaoticReader says

April 2, 2013 at 11:02 am

Great article on how and where to find reviewers for your book. https://t.co/wtpNTZszk5

Vennie Kocsis says

March 27, 2013 at 4:32 am

This was so very informative. Thank you for providing these resources for us budding authors.

March 27, 2013 at 11:16 am

So happy to hear you found it helpful! I wish you all the best with your book! – Denise

Rinelle Grey says

March 6, 2013 at 8:38 pm

A very extensive list of resources, I’ll be trying some of these.

One you missed is Goodreads. There are several forums that have dedicated space to helping authors find reviewers. Make sure you check that this is OK though, some groups encourage it, some dislike it.

March 6, 2013 at 9:24 pm

Thanks, Rinelle. I’ll add it. Unlike LibraryThing, GoodReads’ giveaways are only through publishers rather than authors, which is why I left it off the list. But I forgot about the forums! So I’ll add it to the list. Gracias. – Denise

Established in 2000 and edited by Denise Enck, Empty Mirror is an online literary magazine that publishes new work each Friday.

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Reviews of Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts

Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio

Finding Dorothy

by Elizabeth Letts

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Book Summary

This richly imagined novel tells the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum's intrepid wife, Maud.

Hollywood, 1938: As soon as she learns that M-G-M is adapting her late husband's masterpiece for the screen, seventy-seven-year-old Maud Gage Baum sets about trying to finagle her way onto the set. Nineteen years after Frank's passing, Maud is the only person who can help the producers stay true to the spirit of the book - because she's the only one left who knows its secrets. But the moment she hears Judy Garland rehearsing the first notes of "Over the Rainbow," Maud recognizes the yearning that defined her own life story, from her youth as a suffragette's daughter to her coming of age as one of the first women in the Ivy League, from her blossoming romance with Frank to the hardscrabble prairie years that inspired  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . Judy reminds Maud of a young girl she cared for and tried to help in South Dakota, a dreamer who never got her happy ending. Now, with the young actress under pressure from the studio as well as her ambitious stage mother, Maud resolves to protect her - the way she tried so hard to protect the real Dorothy. The author of two New York Times bestselling nonfiction books , The Eighty-Dollar Champion and The Perfect Horse , Elizabeth Letts is a master at discovering and researching a rich historical story and transforming it into a page-turner. Finding Dorothy is the result of Letts's journey into the amazing lives of Frank and Maud Baum. Written as fiction but based closely on the truth, Elizabeth Letts's new book tells a story of love, loss, inspiration, and perseverance, set in America's heartland.

Chapter 1 Hollywood October 1938

It was a city within a city, a textile mill to weave the gossamer of fantasy on looping looms of celluloid. From the flashing needles of the tailors in the costume shop to the zoo where the animals were trained, from the matzo ball soup in the commissary to the blinding-­white offices in the brand-­new Thalberg executive building, an army of people—­composers and musicians, technicians and tinsmiths, directors and actors—­spun thread into gold. Once upon a time, dreams were made by hand, but now they were mass-­produced. These forty-­four acres were their assembly line. Outside its walls, the brown hills, tidy neighborhoods, and rusting oil derricks of Culver City gave no hint of magic; but within the gates of M-­G-­M—­Metro, as it was known—­you stepped inside an enchanted kingdom. A private trolley line that cut through the center of the studio's back lots could whisk you across ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

• Almost everyone remembers watching the iconic 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz . Share your special memories: Did you see it in a theater or on television? Did you watch it every year? What characters and scenes have remained with you? What frightened you the most? Did reading Finding Dorothy make you want to watch the film again?
• "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." "Follow the Yellow Brick Road." "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." What is your favorite line from The Wizard of Oz ?
• Did you ever read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , the book? Before reading Finding Dorothy , how much did you know about the author's life? Do you think it's surprising that the story is so much better known than its author? How often ...
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Finding Dorothy is a fictionalized yet thoroughly researched peek behind the curtain of the famous stories of Oz, exploring the lives of Maud and Frank and their experiences that later surfaced in Baum's famous novels, including one that inspired a classic American film. Elizabeth Letts narrates Maud Gage Baum's biography eloquently, while reminding readers that they should never lose hope that a brighter day is waiting just beyond the rainbow... continued

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The restoration of dorothy's ruby slippers.

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Monday is Memorial Day, when Americans pause to remember those who have lost their lives in the country’s wars, and if that somber occasion puts you in the mood to think about global politics and foreign policy, this would be a good weekend to settle in with “New Cold Wars,” in which my Times colleague David E. Sanger and his collaborator Mary K. Brooks evaluate the current state of tensions among China, Russia and America.

Elsewhere, we also recommend new fiction from Colm Tóibín, Juli Min and Monica Wood, along with a biography of the groundbreaking transgender actress Candy Darling and a book of photos by the incomparable Corky Lee, documenting moments in Asian American life. Happy reading. — Gregory Cowles

NEW COLD WARS: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West David E. Sanger with Mary K. Brooks

In this compelling first draft of history, Sanger reveals how a generation of American officials have grappled with dangerous developments in great war competition, from the war in Ukraine to the technological arms race with China.

“Vividly captures the view from Washington. But, as Sanger makes clear, … the fate of the U.S.-led order rests more than ever on the ideas, beliefs and emotions of people far outside the Beltway.”

From Justin Vogt’s review

Crown | $33

LONG ISLAND Colm Tóibín

More than a decade after Tóibín introduced us to Eilis Lacey, the finely wrought Irish émigré heroine of his novel “Brooklyn,” he’s conjured her again, this time as a married mother whose suburban New York life is disrupted by a crisis that propels her back to Ireland once more.

“Eilis is hardly passive. She is an interesting and vivid character because she manages to make her destiny her choice. … In her own mind, and in the eyes of sympathetic readers, she is free.”

From A.O. Scott’s review

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SHANGHAILANDERS Juli Min

Min’s debut is a sweeping story, told in reverse. The novel opens in 2040 with the Yangs, a wealthy family tense with frustrations and troubles. Then the novel gradually moves backward to 2014, revealing along the way the complex lives of each family member and how they got to their anguished present.

“Having knowledge of these characters’ futures before we know about their past makes stumbling on their bygone days all the more touching.”

From Jean Kwok’s review

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HOW TO READ A BOOK Monica Wood

The latest from Wood (“When We Were the Kennedys”) brings together three lonely people in and around Portland, Maine — a retired teacher, a widower and a young woman recently released from prison — for a dextrous and warmhearted tale of unlikely redemption and connection.

“A charming, openhearted novel, deceptively easy to read but layered with sharp observations, hard truths and rich ideas.”

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CANDY DARLING: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar Cynthia Carr

Carr, an astute guide to the Manhattan demimonde, offers a compassionate and meticulous biography of the transgender actress, who flitted in and out of Andy Warhol’s orbit before dying of cancer at 29 in 1974, after being immortalized in a famous photograph by Peter Hujar and in the Lou Reed song “Walk on the Wild Side.”

“There wasn’t really vocabulary to describe the territory Darling was exploring back then … and her biographer extends a sure hand across the breach. To push her from the Warhol wings to center stage, at a moment when transgender rights are in roiling flux, just makes sense.”

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CORKY LEE’S ASIAN AMERICA: Fifty Years of Photographic Justice Photographs Corky Lee; edited by Chee Wang Ng and Mae Ngai

Several years after his death from Covid at age 73, the famed photographer’s work remains enduringly relevant. This new book, a sort of survey course in Asian Americans’ decades-long fight for social and political equality, offers both intimate, atomized portraits of the everyday and galvanizing visions of a larger unified movement.

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Books We Love

20 new books hitting shelves this summer that our critics can't wait to read.

Meghan Collins Sullivan

June is around the corner, meaning summer is almost here! As we look forward to travel and staycations, plane rides and trips to the beach, we've asked our book critics for some advice: What upcoming fiction and nonfiction are they most looking forward to reading?

Their picks range from memoirs to sci-fi and fantasy to translations, love stories and everything in between. Here's a look:

Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope

I was hooked when I first saw the gorgeous cover for Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope. But the novel's premise put it at the top of my summer reading list. Penelope is known for unforgettable characters, world-building, beautiful writing and robust storytelling. Her latest work, inspired by actual events — the drowned Black towns of the American South — promises a magical, mythical and powerful tale of a young woman's quest to save her town. A historical fantasy must-read. (June 4) — Denny Bryce

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The Future Was Color by Patrick Nathan

The Future Was Color by Patrick Nathan has everything I look for in a book: a unique and startling voice, a queer protagonist and a deep understanding of a particular time and place. George — once György — is a gay Hungarian immigrant working as a screenwriter in McCarthy-era Hollywood, occasionally fantasizing about his officemate, Jack. When a once-famous actress named Madeline invites George to stay and write at her spacious Malibu house, she won't take no for an answer — and so George finds himself in a hedonistic milieu where pleasure, politics and strong personalities intermingle. (June 4) — Ilana Masad

Mirrored Heavens: Between Earth & Sky, Book 3 by Rebecca Roanhorse

Rebecca Roanhorse is one of my auto-read authors — and one major reason is because of her fire Between Earth and Sky series. That trilogy comes to a stunning, fevered conclusion with Mirrored Heavens . All of the characters you love, hate and love to hate will converge on the city of Tova. Get ready for an epic battle between ancient gods, their human avatars and the mortals caught in between. (June 4) — Alex Brown

Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Under Water by Amorina Kingdon

You may know about 52 Blue , whose vocalizations likely go unheard by some other whales; it captured worldwide sympathy and became a pop-culture metaphor. But did you know all whale song is critically disrupted by ships? If that gets you wondering, keep an eye out for Sing Like Fish , which promises to illuminate the fragile symphony of the deep. (June 4) — Genevieve Valentine

Consent: A Memoir by Jill Ciment

I look forward to reading Jill Ciment's Consent and to the discussions it's sure to provoke. In this follow-up memoir to Half a Life, Ciment reconsiders what she wrote 25 years ago about her teenage affair and marriage to her art teacher, 30 years her senior. Half a Life was written before the #MeToo movement, and before her husband died at the age of 93 after 45 years of marriage. Consent promises a fuller picture. (June 11) — Heller McAlpin

Do What Godmother Says by L.S. Stratton

As we continue to experience the frenzy of Harlem Renaissance celebrations, commemorations and historical resonance, Do What Godmother Says by L.S. Stratton is the perfect addition to the litany of works set in this artistic period this year. It examines the intense and frequently degenerating relationship between patrons and artists during this intellectual and cultural movement. In this dual-timeline gothic thriller, a modern writer discovers a family heirloom painting by a Harlem Renaissance artist, which connects her family to a mysterious past. This historical novel is one I'm eager to read because it deftly exposes the layers of creative ownership, especially when race and wealth are involved. (June 11) — Keishel Williams

Horror Movie: A Novel by Paul Tremblay

Paul Tremblay is one of the most entertaining and innovative voices in contemporary fiction regardless of genre. Horror Movie , a story about a cursed movie that never came out and is about to get a remake, is a love letter to horror novels and horror movies, as well as a tense narrative that will redefine the cursed film subgenre. Tremblay is one of the modern masters of horror, and this new novel promises to be packed with the author's distinctive voice, knack for ambiguity and intrigue, and superb atmosphere. (June 11) — Gabino Iglesias

Cue The Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum

Every so often there's a nonfiction title I covet like it's the next installment in my favorite mystery series. This summer it's Cue the Sun! Based on in-depth interviews with more than 300 sources from every aspect of the production process, this book is a cultural history of the genre that ate American entertainment, from New Yorker critic Emily Nussbaum. It combines the appeal of a page-turning thriller and the heft of serious scholarship. Juicy and thoughtful, it's a must-read for anyone interested in television or popular culture. (June 25) — Carole V. Bell

The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen

In this return to the delightfully wacky world established in one of my personal top-five romance novels of all time, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy , Megan Bannen takes on the friends to lovers trope with a combination of madcap joie de vivre and the exhausted practicality of a mom who's had enough. Also, there are dragons! (July 2) — Caitlyn Paxson

The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş

I am eagerly awaiting Ayşegül Savaş' The Anthropologists . Born in Istanbul, Savaş has lived in England, Denmark and the U.S. also and now resides in France; in this novel she takes up themes of cultural migration through focus on a young couple seeking an apartment in a foreign city. I'm intrigued to discover how Savaş gifts her characters with an anthropological lens of exploration. (July 9) — Barbara J. King

Elevator in Saigon by Thuân, translated by Nguyen An Lý

Elevator in Saigon is a literal and structural exquisite corpse , capturing Vietnam's eventful period from 1954 to 2004. Mimicking an elevator's movement, the novel heightens our yearning for romance and mystery, while unflinchingly exposing such narrative shaft. Channeling Marguerite Duras and Patrick Modiano, the book also offers a dead-on tour of a society cunningly leaping from one ideological mode to the next. As if challenging Rick's parting words to Ilsa in Casablanca , Thuận's sophomore novel in English implies that geopolitical debacles might have been mitigated if personal relations were held in more elevated regard than "a hill of beans." (July 9) — Thúy Đinh

Goodnight Tokyo by Atsuhiro Yoshida, translated by Haydn Trowell

Atsuhiro Yoshida's Goodnight Tokyo begins with a film company procurer who's tasked with finding fresh kumquats for a production. From there, interlinked tales of Tokyo residents unspool in unpredictable directions. Characters range from a cabdriver to a star of a detective TV series who might be an actual detective. Readers will be reminded of Jim Jarmusch's 1991 movie Night on Earth , which also takes place in the wee hours of the morning and threads together the stories of strangers. (July 9) — Leland Cheuk

Navola: A novel by Paolo Bacigalupi

I love when a beloved author — especially one known mostly for a certain type of book — throws us a daring curveball. Navola is exactly such a pitch. Paolo Bacigalupi, who has won pretty much every major award in the science-fiction field with his climate-conscious dystopianism, is veering hard left with his new novel. It doesn't take place in the future, and it isn't a cautionary tale. Instead, it's a hefty tome of high fantasy set in a dreamed-up world akin to Renaissance Florence. Only with, you guessed it, dragons. But also high finance, political intrigue, and de' Medici-esque opulence. Bacigalupi is one of today's most gripping spinners of speculative fiction, and I can't wait to dive into this surprising magical foray. (July 9) — Jason Heller

The Lucky Ones: A Memoir by Zara Chowdhary

In 2002, two train carriages were set on fire in Gujarat, India. Within three weeks, more than 2,000 Muslims were murdered in response by Hindu mobs. By the end of the year, more than 50,000 Muslims became refugees in their own country. The Lucky Ones is a unique memoir in English of this largest-ever massacre in independent India . It is also about a communal crisis bringing a fractured family together. A must-read in our warring world today. (July 16) — Jenny Bhatt

Sharks Don't Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist by Jasmin Graham

Author Jasmin Graham is a marine biologist specializing in smalltooth sawfish and hammerhead sharks. Who are the real sharks in this story? Graham had to face the sharp-teethed truths of academia, while creating a world of curiosity and discovery around the complex lives of sharks. To combat the racism she encountered in academia, Graham created an "ocean of her own" to become an independent scientist and a champion of social justice, a journey she unspools in this new memoir. (July 16) — Martha Ann Toll

Liars by Sarah Manguso

I have long been a fan of Sarah Manguso's crystalline prose, from her fragmented illness memoir The Two Kinds of Decay to her tightly constrained 2022 novel Very Cold People . Her second novel , Liars , marries restraint with rage — in it, Manguso traces the full arc of a 15-year relationship between Jane, a successful writer, and John, a dilettante artist-cum-techie, in aphoristic vignettes. The result is a furious, propulsive meditation on wifehood, motherhood and artistic ambition. (July 23) — Kristen Martin

The Horse: A Novel by Willy Vlautin

Musician and Lean on Pete author Willy Vlautin captures the American West like few other writers. His prose is always excellent, his characters always beautifully drawn, and that promises to be the case with his next novel, about an isolated Nevada man in his 60s who is visited by a blind horse that refuses to leave. (July 30) — Michael Schaub

Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came Up With the Universe by Ken Krimstein

Art and science collide in Ken Krimstein's new graphic biography . In this book, the author of the brilliant and whimsical The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt similarly translates careful research into scenic, emotive comics — in this case tracking the potential effects of an adventitious meeting in Prague between two geniuses on the cusp of world-changing discoveries. (Aug. 20) — Tahneer Oksman

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

I'd probably be interested in a new biography of Audre Lorde if it focused on the eating habits of the brilliant thinker, poet, feminist and activist. But biographer Alexis Pauline Gumbs promises to more than exceed that bar. An award-winning poet, writer, feminist and activist in her own right, Gumbs is among the first researchers to delve into Lorde's manuscript archives. The resulting book highlights the late author's commitment to interrogating what it means to survive on this planet — and how Lorde's radical understanding of ecology can guide us today. (Aug. 20) — Ericka Taylor

Et Cetera: An Illustrated Guide to Latin Phrases by Maia Lee-Chin, illustrated by Marta Bertello

To those claiming Latin is dead, I say res ipsa loquitur — the thing speaks for itself — in children's cartoons , Hollywood cartoons and enduring epics . As a fan of both Mr. Peabody and the Muses, the idea of combining Maia Lee-Chin's thoughtful scholarship and Marta Bertello's dynamic artistry is captivating. Their new book reimagines the world of Latin's invention and tops my summer reading list. (Aug. 27) — Marcela Davison Avilés

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Briefly Noted

A Body Made of Glass , by Caroline Crampton (Ecco) . The author of this thought-provoking exploration of hypochondria—which counts Marcel Proust and Charles Darwin among its sufferers—describes it as a difficulty in identifying “that boundary between fictional and real illness.” Delving into the medical literature, Crampton discovers that the conception of hypochondria has shifted greatly during the millennia, from its earliest diagnoses as a liver-and-abdomen complaint to its current unofficial status as a psychological problem (“hypochondriasis” is no longer included in the DSM ). What emerges is a portrait of a condition that, though nearly as old as recorded human history, continues to elude neat definition, even as it raises urgent questions about “who is believed when they speak of their pain, and who is not.”

Little Seed , by Wei Tchou (Deep Vellum /A Strange Object) . A family story and a natural history of the fern run in parallel through this memoir, in which chapters alternate between botanical esoterica and descriptions of Tchou’s personal life: she grew up in Appalachian Tennessee as the daughter of Chinese immigrants, and she has a brother who, as an adult, is beset by psychotic episodes. The two narratives initially stay on their separate paths, but eventually Tchou finds graceful moments of glancing association, especially on the vexing topic of identity. “My family is rigid about identification with one another and with the whole,” she explains. “We lack the flexibility of taxonomists, to allow things to break apart and come back together.”

What We’re Reading

Discover notable new fiction and nonfiction.

Faraway the Southern Sky , by Joseph Andras, translated from the French by Simon Leser (Verso) . This brief but layered novel follows a nameless figure wandering around Paris searching for traces of Ho Chi Minh, who lived there as a young revolutionary, near the end of the First World War. Ho is glimpsed through police files, plaques, and publications on his unlikely path to political power, working as a cook and a photo enlarger while managing his ceaseless political agitation. During the search, scenes of contemporary Parisian life are overlaid with memories of past struggle. In Andras’s depiction, the city’s history emerges as a deep record of past disruptions—and, perhaps, the stuff of present inspiration (the gilets jaunes make an appearance), if an observer is able to draw connections between the eras.

The Ministry of Time , by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader) . In this compelling début novel, set in the near future, the British government has created a time machine and used it to retrieve a handful of people from other periods of history, referred to as “expats.” The book’s narrator is a minder for one of them: a nineteenth-century Royal Navy commander and polar explorer. Complications ensue when the narrator, who is Cambodian English, begins to fall in love with her charge, while also closing in on the truth of the mysterious extraction program. Throughout, Bradley meditates on mortality, grief, and imperialism. “Everything that has ever been could have been prevented and none of it was,” she writes. “The only thing you can mend is the future.”

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After high-school football stars were accused of rape, online vigilantes demanded that justice be served .

The world’s oldest temple and the dawn of civilization .

What happened to the whale from “Free Willy.”

It was one of the oldest buildings left downtown. Why not try to save it ?

The religious right’s leading ghostwriter .

A comic strip by Alison Bechdel: the seven-minute semi-sadistic workout .

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Patrick Melrose’ on Netflix, Where Benedict Cumberbatch Is A Man At War With His Addictions And Personal Demons 

Where to stream:.

• Patrick Melrose
• Benedict Cumberbatch

‘Sherlock’ Season 4 Was Actually Great, Despite What The Haters Say

New movies on streaming: ‘argylle,’ ‘the end we start from,’ + more, stream it or skip it: ‘the swan,’ ‘the rat catcher’ and ‘poison’ on netflix, a trio of shorts demonstrating wes anderson’s darker side, stream it or skip it: ‘the wonderful story of henry sugar’ on netflix, a new wes anderson short, adapting a roald dahl tale.

Patrick Melrose arrives on Netflix as part of a Cumber-content punch up. While the streamer already features Benedict Cumberbatch in Power of the Dog and The Imitation Game , the premiere of his new limited series Eric will be accompanied by 1917 and this brilliantly caustic five-episode miniseries, directed by Edward Berger ( The Terror , All Quiet on the Western Front ) and starring Cumberbatch in the title role, which originally premiered on Showtime and Sky back in 2018. Based on the book series by Edward St Aubyn , Patrick Melrose received numerous Emmy nominations, won BAFTAs for Best Mini-Series and Best Leading Actor, and features a stellar cast alongside Cumberbatch, including Hugo Weaving, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Holliday Grainger. 

PATRICK MELROSE : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?  

Opening Shot: The ringer rattles on a dark green table top rotary phone. It is 1982. “ Patrick, Is that you?…I’m in New York…Rather bad news…Your father died the night before last… ”

The Gist: While it looks at first like Patrick Melrose (Cumberbatch) has doubled over with grief upon learning that his father David (Weaving) has died, he’s actually just reaching down to grasp a hypodermic needle, which fell under the side table after Patrick’s most recent injection of heroin. So the old bastard’s gone and died, he’ll summarize in one of his frequent and frequently salty voiceovers. “What did that feel like? Pain or rage? Were you scared? God, I hope so.” Patrick will take the comfort of lovers like the willing Debbie (Morfydd Clark) or the cynical Julia (Jessica Raine); he’ll also take their Valium while reiterating his adoration for heroin and musing that he might finally give up hard drugs. He could do that, and maybe he finally will. But what is the source of the void within him, the one Patrick temporarily fills with smack, coke, ‘ludes, and booze? His journey will start with 48 frenetic hours in New York, where he must pick up his father’s ashes, attempt to maintain outward stability, and hopefully not submit to other, darker urges.

With David Melrose’s death, we begin to learn about the wealthy man’s character – no compromise, best or nothing, don’t trust anyone – but also about his fractured relationship with Patrick, which is revealed in flashbacks full of suggested trauma and emotional abuse. (Patrick Melrose is played as a boy by Sebastian Maltz.) Beginning in 1982, the series travels through the decades across five episodes. And by the time 2005 rolls around, Patrick will have found new highs and lows as a person, even as he continues to try and process how his father treated him and how his mother Eleanor (Leigh) seems to have let it happen.

While the Patrick Melrose cast is uniformly terrific, this is Benedict Cumberbatch’s show, and that makes it particularly binge-able for anyone who’s a fan of the actor’s trademark breadth and intensity and who might have missed it the first time around. There is a lot of serious stuff here, including emotional and physical trauma, suicidal thoughts, rampant drug use, and revelations from old wounds reopened. But Patrick Melrose is also bitingly funny, powerfully directed, and full of chances for Cumberbatch to channel a kind of redemption for his very broken, but very watchable main character.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Patrick Melrose is at least partly set in 1980s New York City, which also happens to be the setting for Netflix’s Eric , where Cumberbatch plays a puppeteer struggling with the disappearance of his son and the more frequent appearances of a giant blue monster puppet. And in 2020, Melrose director Edward Berger helmed Your Honor for Showtime, which featured an all-consuming performance from Bryan Cranston. (All-consuming performances, of course, are the norm for both Cranston and Cumberbatch.)  

Our Take: In 2024, we know and love a Cumberbatchian performance. The range, the intensity, the unexpected ease with comedy. We know and love that stuff so much that Benedict Cumberbatch has built on it with a kind of humorous meta-extension of his established persona, like when he’s hosting Saturday Night Live or even when he’s cutting down Tony Stark with one-liners as Dr. Strange . Which is why it’s such a thrill to return to Patrick Melrose six years after its debut. 

Cumberbatch was already a star when it premiered, of course. He’d already landed Emmys and BAFTAs for Sherlock . But playing the twitchy, acerbic, cynical, hilarious, self-absorbed, and very emotionally scarred Melrose brought all of the actor’s considerable talents to bear, and often brought them to bear in the course of a single scene. Physically expressing the fits and starts of an addict looking for his fix, diluting hours of soul-searching and clinical care into a frazzled internal dialogue between himself, his therapist, and his father, with the added input of his NYC heroin dealer – and with Cumberbatch shuttling through each of their accents as Melrose stumbles and frets, high as hell in his fancy hotel room – is to watch, fascinated, as an actor totally rips into a role. And what’s equally fascinating? He makes Patrick, who Allison Williams as Marianne correctly calls a “self-involved little shit,” into a character who is totally compelling despite his myriad faults. And if none of that does it for you, just stick around to watch Cumberbatch transform his features and limbs into Silly Putty once Melrose gets ahold of some 1980s quaaludes.

Sex and Skin: There are a few sexy situations, and sex happening in situations. But maybe what you need to remember about this series is Decider’s headline from back when it premiered in 2018: “ ‘Patrick Melrose’ Is A Benedict Cumberbatch Thirst Trap .”  

Parting Shot: He’s decided. It required copious amounts of street drugs, and a bungled, half-cocked suicide attempt, but Patrick Melrose has decided. “I’m going to get clean.” Which is great! But then there’s the thought of what comes after. And for the very first time, Patrick cries for real.

Sleeper Star: It’s a toss-up between Hugo Weaving as the elitist, boorish and profoundly awful David Melrose, who we meet by reputation and in flashbacks, or Benedict Cumberbatch’s spot-on impersonation of Hugo Weaving as the elitist, boorish, and profoundly awful David, who Patrick knows will never fully depart his memory.   

Most Pilot-y Line: Patrick’s serious trauma can be pretty delicious when it becomes fuel for Cumberbatch to deliver lines like this: “Ironic that my father’s remains were so hard to find, when I have no trouble discovering them in myself.” 

Our Call: STREAM IT. Benedict Cumberbatch is a revelation in Patrick Melrose , with a multi-faceted performance – many moods, many accents, many states of relative sobriety – that centers the hard hitting emotions of the series in a character who’s never too fucked up not to root for.  

Johnny Loftus ( @glennganges ) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.   

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