How to Write a Book Review

Writing a quality book reviews sounds simple... until you need to do one. Learn how to write a book review that will seriously promote the book you read, from someone who writes book reviews for a living.

One of my favorite pastimes is reading. I literally devour books, up to 6 per month. As I am reading, I often realize that what the author is sharing is a profound truth that needs to be realized, and implemented, by more people in our world.I do not have enough reading friends (to tell about the book) to feel satisfied that I played my part in spreading this truth. The solution? I write reviews online.When you write a book review online, you are spreading the news about it. You are creating awareness, and promoting the book.

As people see and read your review, they will most probably be enticed to read the book (if it’s a good review) and the message of the book is spread further and wider.The only question that remains is “How do I write a successful, high-quality book review?” I hope to answer that in the rest of this article.Firstly, a set recipe for creating a book review is not necessarily a good idea. Organic is the new way. People like to read something from the heart, something natural and authentic. Something organic. Therefore, let your emotions and your heart be your guide. Write about books that you feel passionate about (why in the world create a buzz about something you dislike?), but also write the review in a way that communicates your strongest emotions on the subject matter.

Secondly, use short, sharp sentences and paragraphs of four or fewer sentences. Reading an online review is something that you are supposed to enjoy. Fancy, difficult-to-grasp words, complicated sentences or paragraphs that look like pages hardly ever contribute to my enjoyment of reading anything online.

I prefer lots of white space, and writing that communicates FAST.
As a third point, I will consider adding a section on how the book read. You will agree with me that some books read easier than others. Is this book long? Did you need to fetch the dictionary once or twice? How long are the pages? What is the font size used?How many footnotes were used? Did that distract you? All these things are factors contributing to the reading experience. And where better to talk about a reading experience than in a book review?Fourthly, I would consider making the main aim of my review to share the main message of the book. What sells a book is its message, or topic. Share with your readers what this is, in your opinion, and share with them why you are excited about this message.

I prefer never to write about books that I am not excited about, or that I would like to criticize. I am not a criticizer… I just want to promote quality, useful books. Books that will make a difference in other people’s lives.Finally, add some structure to your review. Share your main thoughts in the first few paragraphs, while making sure you introduce the book thoroughly. End the review with a Conclusion, maybe right after telling readers what the book meant to you personally.What better proof is there of the fact that a book is life changing than the testimony of someone who read it? Go on, share your story. Tell those readers how and why this book made a positive impact on your life.

Good reviews conform to certain accepted length guidelines. I would call a 300 word review short, an 800 word review solid, and a 1,300 word review long.So, there you have it. My advice for writing an online book review. What do you do once you have completed it? Good question. You can post it on your own blog, or website.If you are going to publish reviews on your own site or blog, consider rating the reviews. Five stars to a good review and four stars to a fair review. If a book deserves less stars than that, I will not write about it.You can also post reviews on the Amazon website.

Or, you can post it at one of the numerous free article directories. Here you are sure to get the word out, as webmasters and newsletter authors will pick up your review publish it.Have fun reading! And then next time you discover one of those real life-changing books, why don’t you take a bit of time to do a review on it? It might just be a blessing to someone who really needs it.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dries Cronje is the Founder and Webmaster of http://www.BookDisciple.com. He reviews and recommends quality Christian books and other media. To read some of his reviews, visit http://www.bookdisciple.com/christian-book-reviews.html.Dries also writes about his life and ministry on his blog, http://carboncopy.typepad.com. You can follow his posts, or subscribe to the blog’s feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/CarbonCopyDriesCronje.

How Not to Review a Book

Dear Mr. Ilesanmi:

Dismayed. Disappointed. That was exactly how I felt after reading your review of Mr. Mike Uzor’s book, How to Buy and Sell Shares in Nigeria, published in Financial Standard of December 20, 2004. I should have said that I was dismayed, but not disappointed. Because that was my first time of reading your “review.” For I do not know if you used to write masterpieces. Perhaps, you wrote the said “review” on your “bad” day.

In one of my published books, How to Write a Best-seller, I wrote that the author that would write an error free manuscript has not been born. That includes myself.

Great writers like Miguel Cervantes who wrote Don Quixote and James Joyce the author of Ulysses made mistakes. Bill Clinton’s book, My Life, is said to be short on editing. And Tom Clancy himself pays an editor $2.50 per word to proof read his works.

So, writers are susceptible to slips, errors. In that review, however, you not only betrayed a shocking ignorance of the rules of English grammar but also an abysmal incompetence about how to review a book. The review reads part biographical and part lazy student’s book summary.

You don’t start a book review by devoting five long opening paragraphs in a twenty paragraph work to announce the degrees and honors garnered by the author. That is not the first thing the reader wants to know. In fact, that blaze of glory biography; that “I hail thee” guitar in hand introduction, passes you off as a paid praise singer, not a book reviewer. Not that I detest paying book reviewers to do reviews. But there must be “a method to the madness” according to the bard, William Shakespeare.

If your method is to first give your readers a long list of the author’s degrees and awards, I think that you will be at a loss if you were to review literary greats like Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, and many others. Because they had no degrees.

One could see how you were desperately reaching your hand into your vocabulary bag to qualify the out of this world author who “bagged his first degree”; was “founding business editor”; reported for “both local and foreign publications”; is “concretely grounded in management consulting”; has “become a renowned financial analyst / investment adviser”; is “a regular commentator on macro-economic policy matters”; and now “managing director / chief executive.” Thank heavens! I thought it wouldn’t end. Even the Nobel Prize winners didn’t get that citation. Ask your brother, Professor Wole Soyinka.

A prose work should be lively, jazzy. But when I finished reading the excellent biography, and went into the “review,” I was confronted in every paragraph by the following sins of literature: repetition (the word sub-concept was mentioned seven times); redundancies ( “According to this author on how to become a shareholder, you can either become a shareholder . . .”); ineffective sentences (“On a how to beat inflation, this author didactically illuminates that with inflation rate rising and interest rate falling under heavy government pressure on banks as we have seen over the past few years, if you are earning less than inflation rate on your money, then you run the risk that the real value of your savings is being washed off by rising consumer prices”); disjointed paragraphs ( one long sentence per paragraph as the one above); meaningless words (“didactically illuminates”); quoting a bad sentence (“For many people who are quite interested in share INVESTTING”); circumlocution (“ In addition to these 15 basic chapters, there is another section, a textual appendage of sort.”)

I was ashamed reading through those sentences. In the name of the muses, what do these mean? “The sub-concepts of what a share is”; “the sub-concepts of what you should know”; “this author nationally x-rays the sub-concepts of the possibility of risk in share-making”; “this financial analyst examines the sub-concepts of the basic nature of unit trusts”; “the concepts of what to consider”; “the sub-concepts of starting to invest”; “the simplicity of conceptual presentation.” You actually have a romantic attachment for that word, sub-concept.

Then toward the end of the “review,” you played smart by trying to correct a few grammatical errors in the book. Like telling us that presently (American) should have been currently or at present (British). That was good editing—straight from the 6th edition Oxford dictionary (page 919 box).

The point is that it is not necessary for a reviewer to make a list of the badly written words of the author and publish it on the pages of a newspaper or magazine. You can do that if the review is for the eyes of the author only.

Not many writers like it—especially if the reviewer has been paid to do the work. He could simply say in his review that the book needs editing. You know the saying about those who live in glass houses that take delight in throwing stones.

That old saying became poignant to me as I read the next sentence explaining the reason for your correction: “to achieve a high level of GRAMMATICALITY.” To tell you the truth, when I read that sentence, I thought that a stray missile had just come from the Middle-East and landed on my desk. I docked. Grammaticality? Where did you get that?

I don’t know what the author of the book must have done after reading the “review.” I guess he must have been full of thanks to you for letting his “great” book appear in your newspaper. If so, he got it all wrong. You did him a great disservice.

The book was about buying and selling of shares. Now, let me answer your question: “Do you aspire to make money through buying and selling of shares?” My answer is yes, but not by reading the book that you have just “reviewed.” You killed it!

There are some things that good editors and reviewers do. First, they cross check facts with other editors. Second, they read good reviews in respected newspapers and magazines. You can find excellent book reviews in London Review of Books and The Spectator.

Those of us who are in the writing business should have the humility to learn. There is more to editing than sitting in swivel editorial chairs behind huge mahogany desks, looking through tinted glasses like mine, and giving deadlines to less privileged reporters. Writers should know that their writings are read by authorities in the language—and that includes the native speakers. So, there is need for us to strive for perfection—to write living, meaningful prose.

In those good old days, students learnt English by reading newspapers and magazines. "Not anymore," according to Raven the bird. These days, everyone is a writer and an editor. I remember a principal lamenting that an English graduate job applicant couldn’t write an application letter. It is as bad as that.

But I am happy that there are a few humble ones. Not long ago, I was discussing editing with the head of the English department of a prestigious university. I was surprised when she admitted to me that she gives her works to a junior lecturer, who she says is good in the language, to edit for her. When I heard that, I thought I was transported to the ideal world of Sir Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis. And my respect for her grew from that day on.

If you like truth, your prose was drab, breathless, dead. Just to tell you how bad it is, you never for once mentioned the title of the book in your "review." What I kept seeing were references like: "According to this author, the production of the book"; "Structure-wise this book is segmented into 15 chapters"; "Chapter two of this book"; "Stylistically speaking, this book is a success." I kept asking myself, Which book is he referring to?

I could only find the book's image, not an existing book title that was being referred to. You just wrote dangling modifiers. The GRAMMATICALITY of the “review,” therefore, is hopelessly wanting.

Writing is not a crossword puzzle. Or a game of charades. Good prose should be clear-- devoid of ambiguities. There should not be sentences like: "The witches said to Macbeth." Because what they told him has two meanings.

There is one thing about truth--it is hurtful. It is not the same as drinking a cup of honey. This letter will test your humility because truth has been a relative “concept” ever since Pontius Pilate asked Jesus Christ, “What is truth?” And I will tell you another truth: you could do better.

Enjoy your writing.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur Zulu.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Arthur Zulu is an editor, book reviewer, and author of Chasing Shadows!, How to Write a Best-seller, A Letter to Noah, and many others. For his works and free help for writers, goto:
http://controversialwriter.tripod.com
mailto: controversialwriter@yahoo.com

Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind – Book Review

Wizard’s First Rule is the first Terry Goodkind book in the Sword of Truth series which is also the basis for the ABC television series Legend of the Seeker. This is a review of this remarkable book.

This isn’t your typical epic fantasy book. Yes, it has all of the normal trappings you would expect such as an epic sized quest, plenty of conflict, and of course a dragon or two. This book has all those things but it has significantly more. In Wizard’s First Rule Goodkind shows us more than just an epic adventure story where our hero attempts to save the world from ruin.

Our hero is named Richard Cipher and we adventure with him on a journey to becoming a seeker. A seeker’s role is to find the truth in things and a seeker’s sword has the word “Truth” engraved on it. And it is in this journey to find truth that Goodkind takes this story from just a story to a real exploration of truth and the nature of good and evil. There are many conversations and situations that explore the bipolarity of good versus evil and the grey area that lies between the two. Doesn’t it make sense that even the evilest of men believes that what he is doing is righteous? Yes it does and Goodkind takes a good hard look at this. He raises questions in your mind about the whole nature of truth and the real commitment it takes to find the real truth. This is an intelligently written book that gives you more than just a story. It gives you lots of food for thought.

Unique Twist on the story

A typical and effective tool that a writer will use is to put our hero on a time limit -as time counts down the tension builds. It is very effective writer’s tool and in this novel Goodkind puts a nice spin on this. He puts the evil bad guy on a timer. Our protagonist (Darken Rahl) has a very specific time limit if he is to achieve his personal goals that will bring ruin down on the world. And our hero, along with a small group of companions can foil it all if they can just hold things off long enough for time to run out. It’s a wonderful reversal of the usual time limit based story.

The Story and Writing

The story and writing are superb. There are some interesting and surprising plot twists and things that happen. In other words you go along for quite a wild and exciting ride. And there are some unique fantasy themes and ideas like the Boxes of Orden and the Book of Counted Shadows which are both central to the story and quite unique.

Avoiding some of the Pitfalls of typical epic fantasy

One of the biggest problems I run across with epic fantasy series is the complexity they often contain. Many series of books have enormously complex worlds with a cast of characters that numbers in the scores if not hundreds. This complexity can get very confusing as various factions, lordships, families, and bloodlines partake in the story. In Wizards First Rule there is none of this. We are introduced to the central characters early in the book and as the story progresses we meet a small number of new characters that are central to the story. It all flows very smoothly and it all stays on target. You won’t have to take any notes to keep track of all the characters.

Theme and Reading level

This book is not for children or for the faint of heart. There is some graphic violence and an extended torture scene that you will find unsettling. I found it uncomfortable to read and this is exactly the point that Goodkind was trying to make. If you want to carefully study the ethics and morals of the battle between good and evil you have to fully show both sides of this coin – both the good in all its goodness and the evil in all its dark and unsettling reality. The only real way to defeat evil is to first see it and acknowledge it.

Wizard’s First Rule is an intelligently written and exciting epic fantasy story that goes beyond just a story. It is also an examination of ethics, values, morals, and the perpetual battle between good and evil. It will make you think about the nature of the struggle and the real purpose of the hero.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

For a guide to lots of great information about fantasy on the web visit his site at: The Fantasy Guide – Your guide to Fantasy Books

If you want to learn more about the television series Legend of the Seeker which is based on The Sword of Truth: Legend of the Seeker

How to Get Her Back for Good - Review

How to Get Her Back for Good - Review

Nearly everyone has an ex-lover’s story to tell. Right at this moment, you may be going through a painful break up. You have dreamt of spending of spending your entire life with your girlfriend and suddenly you see that dream fading away. The reason for the break up may be that your girlfriend just needs some space. Perhaps, she wants to move on in her life. You may agree with her decision at the time and try to get on with your life too. But some way or another, you are unable to forget her and want her to be back in your life.

You may find many people coming up to you and advising you to get over her. However, you still cannot forget about the relationship that you shared with your ex-girlfriend and are not ready to give up on the bond you’ve shared. For people like you, there is a solution to get your ex-girlfriend back and the solution is in the form of an e-book titled How To Get Her Back For Good.

The author of the book is Dr. George Karanastasis, a physician by profession. He wrote his book based on his own broken relationships. He wanted to teach other people the correct ways to get back their ex-girlfriends back in their lives. How to Get Her Back for Good helps people realize why all the methods that they had used to get back their ex-girlfriends failed. The author also explains that promising to change will not help you bring your partner back.

Dr. Karanastasis also covers the pain that people suffer after losing their lovers for the second time after starting the past relationship afresh. In the e-book How To Get Her Back For Good, Dr Karanastasis shares the secrets of using women psychology along with five different positive ways to get your ex-girlfriend back in your life.

The e-book is based on the author’s personal experiences and knowledge along with some well-researched techniques. Dr. George Karanastasis has made an in-depth study of thousands broken relationships and studied the methods that people used to get their ex-lovers back. By doing so, the author came to know about several common mistakes that men do while trying to get their ex-girlfriends back. How To Get Her Back For Good may help you to get your lover back in your life and put your relationship back on track.

Erin Segarra, an independent reviewer of downloadable products, has reviewed the e-book How to Get Her Back for Good. For more reviews, go to how-to-get-her-back-for-good

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"The Memory Keeper's Daughter", by Kim Edwards, a Book Review

Sometimes you find a book that fits everything you've ever thought a book should be.

No one told me about "The Memory Keeper's Daughter," by Kim Edwards. But I knew I was about to undertake a grueling several days and I wanted a good book to escape to. So I walked into Borders, and strolled right to the book in question and bought it.

My days would be taken up with an Advanced Cardiac Life Support course coupled with oral and written tests, plus having to know things I already knew but needed to feel more confident about knowing, such as the recogniton of cardiac rhythms, knowledge of cardiac drugs in the event of sudden cardiac arrest, stroke or collapse.

The book immediately reveals the story line, most all of the characters, and pulls you in by the end of the very first chapter with poetically beautiful narrative.

Throughout the book, the author brings all five senses and mixes them with nature images and mind dreams to illustrate points, develop the character and story line.

The book begins with a young married couple deeply in love and nine months pregnant, going into labor in the middle of an unexpected and rare snowstorm in Kentucky.

The husband is an Orthopedic doctor. When his wife goes into labor, they arrange to meet the Obstetrician at the husband's Orthopedic clinic. The Ob doctor crashes in the snow storm and the husband must deliver the baby.

His nurse is also present to assist in this momentous occasion.

The first chapter ends dramatically when the mother delivers not one but two babies. One is a healthy baby boy, the other is a girl with Down's, or Trisomy 21.

The year is 1964.

This is a moment that changes the course of everyone's lives; the doctor, his wife and nurse for the doctor decides the baby girl must go and live in an institution and he gives the baby to his nurse to take the baby there.

He tells his wife that the baby is dead.

The nurse cannot follow through with leaving the baby at the institution, so she leaves town with the baby and raises her.

All this in a few short pages.

Much has changed since 1964. Now we perform a marker test for Downs between 16 and 19 weeks. If the baby does have the marker, an amniocentesis is offered. If this is definitive for Downs, the parents have the choice to terminate the pregnancy.

Markers in early pregnancy have also been developed but most health insurance carriers will not pay for this expensive test.

If parents decide to keep the baby, they have time to prepare mentally, spiritually and psychologically for what is sure to be a challenge.

This book is about a secret that hangs like a thunder cloud, following these pivotal characters throughout the book.

Mom knows subliminally but does not know consciously.

Her husband becomes distant and unreachable from the time he tells his wife this lie throughout their entire marriage.

Demons, shadows, nightmares.

I spoke to a former head of Pediatrics who is now retired. He said years ago, when a Downs baby was born, the Pediatrician routinely counseled the family to give the child immediately over to an institution.

Usually the husband made this decision often over the wishes of the mother. My friend said this caused huge conflict in families, and many of these couples eventually divorced, at a time when divorce was not popular.

Conflict, angst, total sadness and great loss.

So our character in The Memory Keeper's Daughter acted as others acted at the time and made a decision that was commonly made.

At this point, we could discuss such ethical issues as eugenics, abortion, and infanticide, but these are beyond the scope of this article.

As a Labor and Delivery nurse, I also serve on what is called the Bereavement Committee, serving those parents whose babies have died.

We have more than our share of pregnancy losses, premature babies who teeter on the edge between life and death, and yes, several Down's babies are born every year, as well.

The main concern is whether a family has the resources to care for these beautiful and loving children.

Do they have the family support, dedication and committment?

Waldorf educational methods are tailor made to help special needs children.

Walforf education was developed by Rudolf Steiner in Europe in the 1920's. There are currently more than 500 Waldorf schools worldwide, and Waldorf has been in North America for 75 years.

Waldorf is based on the view that the human being is a being of body, soul and spirit. The Waldorf approach to education attempts to bring together all elements of a child's development: intellectual, artistic, and spiritual.

Its goal is to produce individuals who are able to function independently and create the meaning for their own lives themselves, and not have to rely on others to do this for them.

Waldorf educational methods are diametrically opposed to those that forms the basis for most public school systems.

Waldorf education is intended to preserve the integrity of the individual student; not to turn them into conformists. Waldorf educational methods are effective for all students but are particularly helpful in the case of special needs children.

Special needs children will have strengths in areas not developed in the standard public educational systems. Waldorf methods will address these strengths, and child will experience significant increases in self-esteem as a result of their success. Special needs children often have very limited experience in being successful in a school environment and respond rapidly and positively when they are given a chance to demonstrate their competence.

But the most profound benefit of using Waldorf educational methods to help special needs children is that they encourage the children to develop as independent, self-reliant individuals, able to function and meet life on their own terms, rather than passively looking to others for guidance.

This paves the way for a lifetime of successful self determination for the special needs child taught by Waldorf educational methods.

On the East Coast, Beaver Run and Spring Valley Waldorf Communities serve Special Needs People from youth to old age and death. What a wonderful alternative to an "Institution."

This is an enlightened alternative to an otherwise bleak life of dependence.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter was alive and wonderful. Read it if you haven't already.

And In-Joy!!


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Kate Loving Shenk is a writer, healer, musician and the creator of the e-book called "Transform Your Nursing Career and Discover Your Calling and Destiny." Click here to find out how to order the e-book:
http://www.nursingcareertransformation.com Check Out Kate's Blog:
http://www.nursehealers.typepad.com
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