Questions: What value lies in book reviews? What are the big differences between reviews and criticisms?
Answers: Book reviews are a good measure of contemporary reaction to a work. Books are generally reviewed near the date of publication or within the first two years after publication. They typically contain information about a book's plot, style, and quality of writing, as well as the author's credentials. They may also give comparisons to other similar titles. Book reviews can be as brief as one paragraph or several thousand words. Book reviews are written for all kinds of publications and appear in numerous places, including newspapers, popular and literary magazines, scholarly journals, book review indexes, and bookseller sites.
Literary criticisms appear years after original book publication and continue to present day. Criticisms generally contain lengthy in-depth analysis and are mostly found in scholarly journals and literary texts.
These are periodicals that historically have provided substantive, compelling reviews written by established book critics.
Within call number areas, books are arranged alphabetically by author.
4th floor:
810-818 American Literature
811 American poetry
812 American drama
813 American fiction
813.54 American fiction from 1945-
813.6 American authors first published since 2000
814 American essays
815 American speeches
816 American letters
817 American humor & satire
