THE BENEFITS OF WRITING BOOK REVIEWS
Writing—as both a practice and profession—is a process of many drafts, each of which requires a series of conscious decisions before we can move onto the next. While this understanding of writing is far more accessible than that of the “creative genius” model, to a writer still early in their career, how to make such decisions can appear so opaque it might as well require an epiphany. That’s where writing a book review can help. An exercise that requires careful attention, book reviews sharpen the writer’s lens and uncover paths that can take us, and our writing, to where we want to go.
HOW TO WRITE A BOOK REVIEW
A book review is not a summary. It’s not a report. It’s a conversation. “And it should make a pleasurable reading experience even if the reader isn’t interested in the book,” says Tom Zoellner, politics editor of Los Angeles Review of Books.
Just because an author has reached their end destination for a book doesn’t mean they You’ll want to answer these kinds of questions, and while they may sound entirely personal, remember there is still the label of “reviewer” to live up to. The same way your expectations shape your reception of a book, readers will have expectations for you. It’s important to contextualize your response in a way that a literary audience finds relevant. How do you do that?
