There are all sorts of book review blogs on the internet, but some are better than others.
Dovegreyreader was one of the first and is still very well-regarded; I like her blog but it takes an age to load for me (yes, I’m still on dial-up…) so I don’t read it as often as I would like to; and I am constantly amazed by the number of books that she works her way through.
My friend Sally Zigmond has her own book review blog which I do always read. Our tastes are so similar that I know that if she likes a book then I probably will too: in fact, her opinion is so reliable that I might just as well send her the keys to my Amazon account, and ask her to sort out my reading list in the future.
Tania Hershman, who has featured in my Trios series, runs The Short Review which showcases short story collections.
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is huge fun, and the reviews are rock-solid; Random Jottings is always worth a look; I know a lot of people who like The Bookbag (but it’s not a site I’ve spent much time on, I’ll admit); and Juxtabook is just great.
There are a few book reviews on this blog, too: most are writing-related.
And here, thanks to Editor Unleashed, is a wonderful post which lists all sorts of wonderful book review blogs, as well as some great tips on how to best behave if you want to get your book reviewed. Brilliant.
There are plenty more book review sites: but which are your favourites? Post links, and your reason for liking them, and with any luck we’ll end up with a useful list.
Hi,Because I really enjoy reading historical homosexual fiction, I find Speak Its Name ( http://speakitsname.wordpress.com/) one of the most useful resources on my permanent tabs list. I have yet to find another review site that deals primarily with this genre. The reviews are well thought out, and if books are lauded or panned concrete reasons are given. A brilliant resource if you are interested in this topic and want to find books that suit.
http://www.theshortreview.com/is great and deals only with short story collections.And I also likehttp://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/Great idea!Nik
if i want to know more about a book i use http://goodreads.com/ because it has all the information i need – the publisher’s information and readers’ reviews as well i like it because you can find all sorts of opinions there
I enjoy a number of them, including Things Mean a Lot (speculative fiction), The Bluestocking Society and In Search of Giants (YA and literary books, among other things), and Detectives Beyond Borders (international crime fiction).
Thanks for all these great leads. Very helpful …
Thanks for the links everyone – lot to check out there!
Great post, thanks Jane. I would of course recommend The Short Review if Nik hadn’t already beaten me to it. We have more links to other review sites on the Links page.
Purrr…more places to find books? Someone will have to buy me a winning lottery ticket before I will be able to afford to buy books I want to read rather than books I actually need for my work. The local library has a most peculiar selection policy. I might suggest they start looking at some of these. Now which would you suggest for that purpose?
Eurocrime is a fantastic resource. It is run by a librarian. It is a comprehensive database of European (UK and mainland) crime fiction authors/titles – with links to author websites – and publishes lots of reviews, new ones every Sunday. There is an associated blog which posts daily news about books and publishing. See http://www.eurocrime.co.uk.
Yeah, Vulpes Libris is great – although i would say that because i guest review there sometimes:)
Is it really terrible taste to plug one’s own site? Let’s assume that’s rhetorical. At the reading room I do book reviews, and occasionally other bookish stuff, but mostly reviews. I would also recommend A Work In Progress (http://danitorres.typepad.com), the lovely Cornflower (www.cornflowerbooks.co.uk) and Of Books and Bicycles (http://ofbooksandbikes.wordpress.com)
I only read book reviews occasionally. Recently I’ve started dabbling with Bookersatz.
Anyone who’s interested in fiction from Finland and other Nordic countries should visit http://www.finnishreview.blogspot.com . It features books only published in their original languages as well as newly translated works. This is my passion, hope you’ll love Nordic literature too.
Thank you for the link and my apologies for the slow-loading. I’ve talked to Typepad about it and have chopped down the first screen to a maximum of seven posts which has helped a bit. You can always get it via Google Reader or feedblitz email, about 1000 people a day read it that way.
Thank you very much for the mention.
If you’re looking for something different, try the e-Fiction Book Club. We focus entirely on digital fiction, in all genres.
My favourite book site is http://www.chicklish.co.uk
They seem to review some really good books on there 