Book Reviews

[zcaveman]

If I want to see how a video is rated, I can go to Rotten Tomatoes, NetFix or Blockbuster and look at the member reviews and the 1-5 star ratings.

For books, I currently I go to Literary Guild which is pretty good but many books do not have a rating or review.

Does anyone have a good place to go for book reviews?

[jblum8156]

Well, I go right to the New York Times which, so far, is free to read online. Here's the address for the book reviews:
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/review/index.html

[ojm]

Amazon.Com and the Barnes and Noble websites usually include a national book review as well as user reviews. You can usually tell which reader reviews are worth taking seriously and which can be ignored. Just be careful as some reviewers reveal too much of the plot of a novel.

[zcaveman]

Thanks. But I am more interested in a reader review/rating. I want to know what others thought about the book. Was it worth buying or checking out at the library. Kind of like a movie review - is it worth watching or am I wasting my time.

I know that no one reads a book and sees the same thing but maybe I can save myself some time if there is an abnormal number of 1s vs 5s.

[ojm]

The sites I mentioned all give Star reviews. In my opinion, the reviewers are generally more generous or negative than need be.

[Pturner]

Amazon's reader reviews are very easy to navigate. If you like a particular reviewer, search the reviewer's other reviews. Readers can rate the helpfulness of reviews. Amazon highlights the most popular favorable review along-side the most popular unfavorable review of a particular book (or other item). It's easy to sort reviews by number of stars or date. The default sort is by most helpful. If you decide to buy the book, Amazon's prices are good.

Happy reading!

[l2ridehd]

I used to use the New York Slime, but have changed to Amazon. They have lots or reader reviews for most books. And Pturner is right, find a book you have read, look at the reviews, find a couple you agree with, then look at their other reviews on books you have not read. That seems to work pretty well to identify books you like. I also go by author. I find one I like and then try their other books. I really like Wilbur Smith books on Africa, James Patterson, Michael Connelly, Lawrence Sanders, James Clavell, James Rollins, Nelson Demille, Phillip Margollian, Steve Martinni, Clive Cussler, Dan Brown, Carl Haisen and a few others. I am sure I spelled a few of those wrong. Each of those author's has written many books so I tend to have new ones available.

[zcaveman]

The sites I mentioned all give Star reviews. In my opinion, the reviewers are generally more generous or negative than need be.

Somehow your post was posted after I read the first post even though the time is lower. I checked out the Amazon site and like the info. It is similar to the Literary Guild site. I guess I will have to check several sites to see which one I like the best.

Thanks,
Z

[ojm]

Just a note that probably need not be included. Years ago, the economist John Kenneth Galbraith started reviewing books for publications such as the New York Times Book Review. Reviewers who previously had been highly critical of his work suddenly suddenly were more complementary. As Galbraith suspected, the reviewers were concerned that he might in the future be assigned to review their book, and who wants the reviewer to already be angry at the author.

Which is why I take the reviews in Amazon a lot more seriously than the reviews in the major publications. I think more often than not, you can figure out who is writing an honest unbiased intelligent review and who has some sort of preset bias towards the work.

[zcaveman]

Good point. This is why I like the Literary Guild reviews. They are by the members as opposed to a paid book reviewer. It looks like Amazon is that way also. I will use these two when I want to check on books before I buy or get them out of the library.

[Lynne2387]

Try bookpage.com

[zcaveman]

Try bookpage.com

Thanks. I guess I need to amend my post. I am really looking for user reviews. I can read the flyleaf or the book synopsis at the site where I buy books.

I really want to know what the readers think of the books. They are the ones that tell the truth. As I am slogging through a book, I look at these review sites and they are rave reviews. If I get to the user reviews, they say what I think. Boring and long, etc.

[dominick]

This is a bit off point, but this thread may be a good place to ask------ does anyone have a firm opening date for the new county library on 466A???. Thanks.