How to Write a Book Review

Book reviews are not all created equally. As a reviewer, you can gain raving fans who hang on your every word...if you know what kind of details to give them, that is. Want to know how to write better book reviews and earn followers?

Take Notes

When you're reading, keep a pencil handy. If you hate marking up the pages of your book, or if you're on a kindle, use a separate notebook. I like to highlight quotes I found particularly delicious, and make a general outline of the character relationships and plot. This will help you when you move onto step 2, which is creating a brief summary.

Often we read a book and then want to talk about it -- but can't remember the details. By taking notes you'll make it so much easier to jump into writing your review so that it's compelling, clear, and spot-on.

Offer a concise summary - but leave out the important details.

The best way I've found to do this is write the review as if it were a long-form blurb on the back of the book. You want to leave tension and mystery so that the reader will want to pick up the book and read it herself.

Look at the backs of other books and get inspiration for what kinds of information you could include and what you should leave out.

It's especially helpful to find a book blurb for inspiration that's in the same genre as the book you're reviewing. Each genre has its own way of appealing to an audience. Ie. a mystery is going to sound different than fantasy or sci-fi.

Putting a summary first lets the reader decide if they're interested in the book depending on the book's own merit, which is why I suggest leaving your personal opinion for after the summary.

If you start off saying "I liked it," or "I found it really dull," you cloud the reader's ability to decide for themselves whether a) they trust your opinion or not, and b) if the book's summary suggests the same.

Once you've laid out the landscape of the book, the reader can then seek your opinion. After hearing about the plot, what you thought about will make a lot more sense than if it came before.

Include personal details by explaining how the book as a whole affected you.

Was it fast or slow? Was the writing on point? Readers want to hear how you felt when you read the book. Once you've established credibility by writing a solid summary, you can offer your own thoughts about the fluidity of the writing or the stilted dialogue.

Be sure to temper your opinions and back them up with the contents of the summary -- you don't want to undermine your credibility by slamming the author when the summary seemed like everything was pretty good.

Go deep.

For a stand out review, go deeper than just stating the plot and how you felt about the book. Give the reader some tantalizing information by answering the question, "What really stood out?"

Character development? Plot twists?

Make sure your language is up to snuff. Readers judge reviews based on how well they read, so please please edit your review and make sure your grammar and spelling are on point.

Wrap it up with a strong call to action.

End by telling the readers what you want them to do. Kirkus review has a rubric their critics like to use:

Buy It = this is a can't-miss, fabulous book; Borrow It = not perfect, but we think you'll enjoy it; Skip It = critical miss

Follow this recipe for a review and you'll build up a stockhouse of raving fans in no time!

How to Start Your Own Book Group

Book Groups are a fun way to not only read much more, but also to get more out of the books you read. In a book group, you get to discuss the book with your friends, share your opinion and hear other ideas you hadn't considered before.

• As you may have guessed, the first step to any functional book group is to have members. Optimally, I would suggest that you have at least three people. This is because only two people would be just you and your friend trading book recommendations, which is certainly pleasant and fun to do, but doesn't quite qualify as a book group.

Ask around your group of friends. It shouldn't be too hard to find members since most people wish that they read more. Make sure to tell them the benefits of joining your book club, like how it will be a great way for them to get more reading time in, and they don't have to go through the process of trying to decide what book to read because one will be chosen for them. Also, being in a book group give just the right amount of pressure to actually read and finish the book, while when you read on your own time, it can be hard to motivate yourself to read if you're busy. And then when it's their turn in your book group, they get to choose a book to share with everyone else, which is always fun.

• Once you have your members, set up the meeting time and place.

I suggest that you contact all of your members individually and find out what days and times they are available. Write it all down, and then you should be able to come up with a day and time that works for everyone. If everyone is busy on different days and it's hard to pick a specific day, it’s okay to rotate days as long as you find a consistent schedule that you can all agree on. The location will also depend on everyone’s schedules, but some common spots are in a library, cafe, or in the homes of the members. If you're able to, you can host every meeting at your house, or rotate to have the meeting at the home of whoever offers or whose turn it is. Your members may offer suggestions of where to meet also, but in general try to find a spot that is easy for everyone to get to, and if possible close to everyone's home so now has to commute a long way to get to the meeting.

• You first meeting: planning and setting things up

Now that you have everyone in one place, it's time to discuss some important questions about your book group:

-How much time will you have you have to read a book? Commonly, book groups will meet once a month just to give everyone enough time to finish the book, but you can adjust the length of time base on the length on the book or how busy everyone's lives are.

-Find out what types of books everyone likes to read, and what they don’t. If several people dislike scary horror stories, then maybe than genre can be ruled out. But even if everyone likes a different genre, you don’t have to struggle to find a common genre of interest. Part of the fun of a book group is reading a book you’ve never considered before.

-Consider ways to make the book group fun, by making it a pot luc or going out to dinner before the book group and ten reconvening at someone's home after. I know of one book group that decided that whoever got to choose that month's book would bring snacks for everyone. This seemed fair and worked for them, but you can also rotate snacks and other duties.

-The last step is to exchange contact information with everyone. Make sure you have at least one way to contact each member- I recommend getting their main phone number and email dress just so you can contact them about changes in the meeting time or place, and so people can get in touch if they can't make it to a meeting.

• Now it's time for you and your book group to start reading!

It's customary for whomever starts the book group to choose the first book. All you need to do is give each member the book's title and the authors name. Even if you choose your favorite book that you've read over and over, it might still be a good idea for you to re-read it along with everyone else.

-While you read, annotate and take notes as you read so you can keep track of all your thoughts and have then ready when its time to discuss. If you own the book, you can write your notes in the margins, or dog-ear the pages. If it’s a library copy or not yours, then you can use sticky notes and/or write your notes on a separate piece of paper (which can double as a book mark!)

-Even when your turn isn't coming up, you can still be on the look out for the next book you want the book group to read. I recommend having a list of potential books

-Just because someone has read your book of choice before doesn't mean you have to skip it! It does depend on how they feel about re-reading the book again, but usually most people don't mind a re-read, especially if other members of the group haven't read it yet. If you and/or another person has already read the book, challenge yourself to think of at least one question

• Now that you've finished the book, it's time for your group's first real meeting

-In a single meeting, book groups typically discuss what everyone thought of the book, addressing any questions or concerns and having a fun discussion about it. If the book you read has a movie adaptation, and you and your friends have enough time, consider watching the movie during the meeting as well. Then at the end of the meeting, the next book will be announced, as well as the next meeting's time and place.

• Discussion:

-Don’t be afraid of discussion- its okay if not everyone likes the book, often times the best discussions arise when people have different opinions. Just remember to be respectful and keep the discussion civil.

-You can also start a discussion by each of you rating the book (secretly so people won’t feel obligated to change their score) maybe a grading system of A+, or a 1/10 or simply a thumbs up/down.

-some books have questions for discussion in the back, but since most of them don’t, you can look up some questions and/or read reviews others have left online. While you read them, discuss with your friends whether or not you agree with that person's review, and potential biases they might have.

-After your turn is over and the group has met and discussed your book, then decide who's turn it will be to choose a book next. In the beginning, just go with whoever volunteers or has a book ready. Then, once everyone has had their turn, begin the cycle all over again.

Thank you for reading and good luck with your book group!

What You Can Expect From Popular Reading Apps

While I love my physical books as much as I love my eBooks, there are times when I forget my book at home, or don’t expect to have the time to read, and in those cases, it’s nice to have a book or two available on my smart phone. Especially when I want to read a heavier book like War and Peace, I can download it on my phone and not carry a heavy book around. Lately, I’ve been curious about what sort of reading and book-related apps are out there, and today I found several I could download for free. While I was looking through them, I decided to record my findings and share them here so other people can determine which apps would be best for them without having to download them all through trial and error.

Scribd

It is a free download, but then if you want a month-long free trail, you have to sign up for a renewing subscription of $8.99 a month for access. You can choose three eBooks to read and one audio book per month, so in a way, you’re paying $8.99 for four books, one of which you can only listen too. It’s not a bad deal if you’re serious about reading.

I’m sure that you could sign up for the free trail with renewing subscription and then just cancel on the last day before the free trail is up and read the three free books and listen to the one audio book in that time.

Some benefits are that you can download the books so you can read them offline, and that there’s also sheet music and documents available (although I’m not sure how that fits into the “three eBooks, one audio book” per month plan. Maybe they're included with access.

-On a separate note, the app has a nice color scheme and is clean and easy to navigate- blue and white palette. The book page has a clear rating system, page count, how long of an expected read, and a good summary.

 

-I’m reading the preview to see what the in-app reading lay out is like. It took about a minute to download a 1200 page sample. Swipe right to left to turn pages, nice spacing, no awkwardly cut off words or spacing issues. This makes sense, since it’s expecting you to be doing all your reading in the app, so it’s well formatted.

Would I recommend it?

If you can afford to pay $8.99/mo for 3 eBooks and 1 audio book, and you like reading on your smartphone screen, then yes. It's a high quality app and looks like it delivers a high-quality experience.

Audible

Something you should now before you open the app is that if you don’t immediately connect your amazon account and press “Try App” in the top right corner of the screen, you’ll get 10 free audiobook excerpts, all best sellers. Here are the ones that came with my app, I imagine that they’re all the same, and you can see that they all average about 40 minutes or so. Even if you have an amazon account you can sign in with easily, I always recommend trying something new first, before you commit with your email address. This is a good way to see if audio books are for you or not if you’re uncertain, like I was.

-If you know you like audio books and aren’t interested in listening to any of those free excerpts, then go ahead and sign in straight away. The free excerpts won’t be available if you do though. Instead, you can browse the library for any book, and then you can listen to a sample of the book, an average of about 4 minutes (vs. a 40 minute excerpt)

-When browsing the audio books, I noticed that there were no prices on anything, and when I clicked on book I saw:

Note: Audible Content cannot be purchased in-app

So you can’t buy the audio books in the app, you have to go online to audible.com.

-so then I went to audible.com and go the real story:

So after the 30-day free trial, audible is 14.95 per month as it says in small print at the bottom.

So to use this app, you have to go online to audible.com and purchase the books there and refresh the app for them to show up. If you are a big fan of audiobooks and can afford 14.95/mo, then maybe this is a good deal for you. Since I am just a casual audiobook listener, I chose not to sign up.

I still used the app to listen to a few samples of random books, but otherwise, it’s useless to me. I might re-install it and listen to more of those free 40 minute excerpts though.

Would I recommend it?

If you’re a fan of audiobooks and can afford $14.95/mo, then yes, I do recommend it. Especially if you already have an Amazon account, that makes it just a bit easier.

-Also, if you’re curious about audio books and want to listen to sum, I recommend downloading the app and bypassing the sign in to get to the 10 free excerpts. These are the 1o excerpts that I got:

   

Goodreads

Just in case you’re not familiar, Goodreads has a website that functions in the same way as this app. Essentially, Goodreads is a website that helps you find what books to read next. You give them information about what kind of books you like (usually by rating books you’ve read), and it suggests books you might also like. You can also read other’s reviews of books your considering reading, and if your friends use Goodreads, you can also use it as a form of social media, sharing what books you’ve read or are interested reading, and your friends can share their book choices with you.

It’s a nice app, and I like it, but it’s the same as the online website I find.

Would I recommend it?

It all comes down to a preference of if you like using your phone or your computer more. If you love to read, then you definitely need to have an account and use either the computer or the app, if not both. It’s a great resource to have.

The only thing that could make it better for me would be to actually be able to read the ebooks in the app. But since you can’t access the books on the website version other, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense. It’s just a resource for planning and managing, not actually reading the books. Still, as I said before, I think it’s necessary for every reader to have an account.

iBooks (For iPhone users only)

If you have an iPhone, then you already have the iBooks app, whether you like it or not. It’s one of the pack of apps that comes pre-installed with your iPhone that can’t be deleted. Since I’ve been reluctant to try eBooks, I’ve ignored it along with a lot of other pre-set apps, but now I gave it a try.

The iBooks app is designed the same way the App store and iTunes Store are, so it’s a familiar and easy to navigate design. The design isn’t the only thing these apps have in common. The iBooks app is basically the iTunes store, but for books instead of music and movies. You can sample them, buy them, and then have them on your device. And it’s convenient because it all gets automatically charged to your Apple ID, which it automatically signs you in to, so you don’t have log in at all or enter any payment information.

The in-app reading looked like this:

  

I’m not a fan of the page turning animation, but that aA button on top has a lot of good options, one of them being the scroll feature. It’s better than the cramped page and page turn animation, but it makes me a little motion sick, especially if I would be reading on the bus or train. But I’m glad that there are so many options to make my reading experience more comfortable.

Would I recommend it?

If you have an iPhone, then you already have it, but still, the answer is “yes”. So far, it’s one of the best options for reading both eBooks AND audiobooks and then just buy then straight away with a pre-connected account. However, there aren’t as many free options as there are in the other apps mentioned.

Nook App

-This app is supposed to accompany a nook, but functions just fine if you don’t have one. You can explore the app first, instead of signing in straight away, and I like having that option.

The app has a “Discovery” section that updates daily containing quite a few samples of two-minute reads. You can edit what sort of things you want to see by genre. This is available without even signing in.

Since I have a nook, I did sign in after looking around and found that I had 4 free downloads. I’m not sure if everyone starts with those four, or if they were left over from my nook and got transferred over once I logged in. Either way, I downloaded one and it only took about 2 seconds, which is extremely fast for my Wi-Fi, and it seems to be the full book.

Like audible, you can’t purchase eBooks in the app, but you can download samples of anything. You purchase the eBooks on your nook or on Barnes and Noble.com, and then it’ll show up in the app. That way, if your nook runs out of charge or you forget to take it with you, you can still continue reading the story on your phone.

The only problem that I found with it is that the reader was very clunky and needed to be better formatted.

Luckily, they also have the options to adjust the text, so it can be reasoned with and improved. I think this happens because the samples are meant to be read on a nook, not the smaller screen of a smart phone. But the problem is fixed easily enough.

Would I recommend it?

If you have a nook, I’d say, yes, get it. It’s a well-designed and aesthetically pleasing app. It also gives you a lot of free samples, but is otherwise unnecessary. You can organize your nook books on it, but you can also just use your nook just as well without it.

Kindle App

Like the nook, this app is made to accompany the kindle reader, so you have to sign in with an Amazon account first. But once you do, the app gives you unlimited access to every book available for one week. There isn’t even a pressure to sign up to pay.

Shortly after I signed it, I got an email saying that after the 7 days I’ll be eligible for a 30 day free trail, which I bet is when you have to sign up for an automatically-renewing subscription

-this app seems simpler, its mainly black color scheme. You can synch books with your kindle, but if you don’t have one like me, that section is blank. I downloaded a full story and again, even though I’m on crappy Wi-Fi, the book downloaded in seconds.

Would I recommend it?

Since simply downloading the app gives you a week of unlimited access, the answer is yes. All you have to do is open the app and sign in with your Amazon account. From there, it’s up to you if you want to continue using it. I can see how it would be useful with a kindle too.

I hope these little informal reviews help you with your e-reading, whether it be on a smart phone or tablet.

How to Read MORE Now

Whether you’re new to reading or if you’re already a book worm and are just looking to increase your literary intake, you need to ask yourself some questions: What is preventing me from reading more?

First, I'd like to dispel some myths that you probably believe:

Myth #1: “I don’t have time to read.”

This is false and is no excuse for lack of reading. My ultimate piece of advice for this struggle is:

MAKE the time to read! Don’t just expect it to happen because you it want to- schedule time to read and make a commitment to yourself to make it happen. You can even set rewards for yourself, like seeing that movie you wanted to see, or buying that new expensive book instead of waiting for the library, etc. Positive reinforcement if a great way to form habits.

-If you're struggling to find the time to read, I recommend that you try to read before bed (and after waking up in the morning once you get the hang of it). I used to stay up way too late into the night on my computer, making me tired and groggy the next morning, which is no way to live. So finally I had enough and decided that I would cut myself off from the computer and not use it past 10:00 at night. But after 10:00, I would lay awake in bed, my mind still racing from the internet, and the bright screen still stimulating my eyes, a while after I’d stopped looking at it. It took me far too long to finally fall asleep, and it felt like my plan would never work. The next night, I got off the computer at 10:00 and got into bed. I still didn’t feel tired at all, so I picked up the book that had been sitting near my night stand for months and decided to give it a try.

I ended up loving the story, and in no time, the bed was warmed up, my body was relaxed, and I was starting to feel sleepy. I had just read myself to sleep, and the best part was that all I had to do was lay down and turn off the light, I didn’t have to get up and get ready for bed because I already had. It was clear that this was the best way for me to read.

Then the next morning, I saw my book on my night stand and was interested in what happened next in the story. To my surprise, it works both ways! You can read to relax yourself at night, and read to wake up your brain in the morning. Reading woke me up quickly and more effectively than an just my alarm clock jolting me awake. The book actually got rid of the sleepiness and cleared the fog in my brain.

And that’s my reading success story. If I have the time to read, then so do you!

Myth #2: “There’s nothing that I want to read.”

First of all, yes there is.

There are plenty of websites out there to help you with this problem. GoodReads is an excellent example.

-Also, when you're out hunting for a new book in the bookstore or library, read not only the synopsis of the book, but also start reading the book as well. Sometimes, a book sounds good from the summary, but once you start reading you might find that the author's writing isn't to your liking, or maybe it just isn't what you're looking for after all.

-If you find a promising book online, on GoodReads for example, and you don't have a kindle, I've heard that you can download the kindle app on your iPad and you can download the first chapter for free on to the app to see if you like it.

• Book Stacks:

A "Book Stack"is what I like to call the stack of books that most readers have of the books that they want to read- usually in order. I have one myself, and in fact, I highly suggest that every reader who does not have a book stack should make one.

Some people who are trying to read more might already have a stack of books that they want to read. In most cases, I bet that the stack is just sitting in the corner or on a shelf of a book case, being ignored.

-First of all, go through your stack and make sure you WANT to read every single book that is there- it's going to be hard to motivate yourself with books you don’t want to read. If the book doesn’t make you excited or spark your interest in some way, then don’t read it. You don't have to cross it off your list forever, just until you get into the habit of reading regularly again. It won’t be hard to find a better book you actually WILL want to read to kick off your reading frenzy.

-After you’ve found a good amount of books that you’re just dying to read, PUT THAT STACK WHERE YOU CAN SEE IT! If it’s tucked away and out of sight, bring it out and put it someplace you can’t ignore- or next to the place you’ll be doing the majority of your reading- like next to your bed, so it’s the first thing you see when you get up and within convenient reach.

With a book stack of interesting books, you’ll want to finish your current book way more when you see your stack of enticing books just waiting to be read by you. You’ll be more motivated to read AND finish your books faster this way.

-Now that you have a book stack, don’t let that pile shrink! As soon as you take one from the top, find another to place at the bottom. And on that note: don’t be afraid to move the books up and down the pecking order! This will help ensure that you are motivated to read the next book, and can help you weed out ones you thought you were excited about but actually aren’t anymore.

• Other tips:

-Always carry a book with you everywhere. Don't leave the house with out a book- make room in your purse or bag, or bring it in the car with out so if you have to make an unplanned stop you'll have it easily accessible.

-Read things besides books- such as the newspaper, articles online or in a magazine, and take the time to read the text on menus and pamphlets. This will help you get used to reading regularly- and it's important to read more than just books. The internet has made our attention spans shorter, so it will be good to challenge yourself to read long articles you might be intimidated by, or go out of your way to watch foreign films so you'll have to read the subtitles.

-Set goals for yourself: depending on your reading speed, figure out the amount of time it might take you to finish a book if you read ___ amount every day. Also consider how big the book is and the amount of time you want to devote to reading it. Plan to finish it this week, or try to read at least one book a month, and then set your goal. Then, you can adjust your future goals accordingly. You can use positive reinforcement here as well.

-Think about WHY you want to read more. Just having a reason alone can motivate you to read far more than you have otherwise.

-Lastly, consider the fact that maybe you’re having trouble reading because you’re too busy giving your attention to other things, like your phone and your computer. Shut the screen you're reading this on and pick up a book instead!

Thank you for reading~

Kid’s Book Gift Ideas (Ages 8-12)

Trying to get your kids to read more? Not sure what to give your niece/nephew for their birthday? We all know how important reading is for kids, and books are an easy and fun gift to give in any situation. Thinking back on some of my own favorite books as a kid inspired me to make this handy list of quality chapter books for the young reader in your life.

For this blog post I’ll be focusing on the tricky 8-12 age range, where kids are too old for picture books, but still too young for the teen section. I tried to go a little deeper than the Harry Potter series or Charlotte’s Web, which most kids have probably already read or seen the movie.

• Any Book by Sharon Creech: Heartbeat, Ruby Holler, Chasing Red Bird, Love that Dog

Every book by Sharon Creech has its own colorful story and interesting characters, and each is so well written that it doesn’t matter which one you chose, you’re sure to be captivated by it. Love that Dog specifically also happens to be a great way to teach kids about poetry.

   

• Any Book by Andrew Clements: Frindle, A School Story, The Laundry News, Lunch Money

Every one of these books are about resourceful kids making changes and being proactive in their own lives.

Check out my new Children's Book:

The Temptation of the Golden Pedestal

It's a fun Fable story for ages 8 and up with pictures you can color.

  Available as a FREE ebook download!

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• Savvy – Ingrid Law

Every person in Mibs’ family inherits their own unique power, or a “savvy” when they turn 13, and Mibs’ birthday is only days away!

• The Invention of Hugo Cabret – Brian Selznick

Historical fiction about a boy named Hugo who discovers small robotic machine called and automaton, and how it connects with early French filmmaker Georges Méliès.

• So You Want to Be a Wizard – Diane Duane

This is the first book in the Young Wizard series, which follows Nita Callahan, who discovers a book titled “So You Want to Be a Wizard” in the library while hiding from bullies. She takes the wizard’s oath in the book and discovers that the book’s magic is real, and starts her journey as a wizard.

        

• Dragon Rider – Cornelia Funke

Ben the human boy explores the world on the back of a silver dragon named FireDrake and a brownie creature named sorrel, encountering many magical creatures on their journey to “The Rim of Heaven” mountain range.

• Inkheart – Cornelia Funke

Yet another excellent fantasy novel by Corneila Funke about a magical storybook called “Inkheart” and what happens when the characters inside the book come out into our world.

• Cryptid Hunters – Roland Smith

Grace and Marty O’Hara are sent to live with their Uncle Travis Wolfe, who lives on his own private island after devoting his life to searching for “Cryptids”- or animlas "whose existence has not yet been proven scientifically."

And that's the end of my list. Thank you for viewing!

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