Sources for Book Reviews

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Like many others, I am considering dropping my subscription to the New York Times Book Review because of their growing de-emphasis of fiction - particularly on unknown author fiction. The problem is that I want a source that recommends books by new/little known authors so I can make an informed decision at the book store.

I'm considering the Times Literary Supplement and the New York Review of Books, but they focus a lot on non-fiction as well and it doesn't seem I would gain much from dropping NYTBR for these.

Do I have to make a trip to the library to read Kirkus Reviews or Publishers Weekly or is there another way to get info on non-blockbuster books?

― ShemShaun, Wednesday, 18 August 2004 20:35 (twenty-one years ago)

You should read newspapers on-line (like the New York Times) for free, and go to a bookstore and read the magazines for free. Check out the Believer, their recent issues have featured 5 0r 6 page-length reviews of fiction that is definitely non-blockbuster. (how good it actually is, i wouldn't know.)

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 18 August 2004 22:42 (twenty-one years ago)

You can read the Guardian online, which is always worth reading. Also, Washington Post's Book World is free online. If you're going to subscribe to something, consider Bookforum. Their emphasis is on fiction. They only come out four times a year, but it's pretty dense.

― Jessa (Jessa), Thursday, 19 August 2004 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Thanks for the suggestions! I do read the Believer and didn't fancy any of the books in their first review bunch - I've yet to read their latest issue. But I love what they are doing, I wouldn't have even known those books/authors existed!

I'll bookmark Guardian (I loved that paper when I was in London and James Wood was the book guy) and Washington Post. The last time I looked at Bookforum, albeit in a cursory fashion, I got the impression that the books reviewed were more mainstream/known authorish. But I'll look at it again.

― ShemShaun, Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

About Literature: Contemporary
London Review of Books
Telegraph Arts | Books
the Literary Saloon
Yahoo! News - Entertainment - Books

― Fred (Fred), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

All of the above have RSS feeds.

― Fred (Fred), Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Check out Rain Taxi Review of Books. It is a quarterly and reviews tons of books that go beneath the radar (it has separate online and print versions).

Complete Review is good for aggregating lots of reviews in one place. It also features lesser-known authors.

Whatever you do, don't turn to Kirkus or PW for reviews...

― Scott, Thursday, 19 August 2004 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

And jeez, check out bookslut.com too while yer at it! There is great stuff on there. Sorry, Jessa:)

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 19 August 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Ya, I'm a regular reader of Blog of a Bookslut, thankfully it has an RSS feed too.

― Fred (Fred), Thursday, 19 August 2004 22:48 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

In addition to those above, try www.BookPage.com...you may also be able to get the free print edition at your local bookstore or library.

― T. Allison, Wednesday, 15 September 2004 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

powells.com has a feature where you can sign up for a "review a day". they email you one review from either the atlantic, esquire, salon, the christian science monitor, the new republic, etc. every morning. i really enjoy it. you can go to their front page and enter your email address to sign up.

― a spectator bird (a spectator bird), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Mondays: The Christian Science Monitor
Tuesdays: The Atlantic
Wednesdays: The New Republic
Thursdays: Esquire
Fridays: Salon.com
Saturdays: Powell's staff members
Sundays: The Times Literary Supplement (London)

Cool! Thanks ASB!

― Fred (Fred), Wednesday, 15 September 2004 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

spam

― spam, Sunday, 4 June 2006 22:31 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

As of right now I only regularly read the books section of the New York Times and some of the stuff in the New Yorker. What are other really high-quality sources (blogs, newspaper sections, whatever) that ilbers follow for news, reviews, and other articles related to books?

― kshighway (ksh), Monday, 11 January 2010 14:38 (fifteen years ago)

There's so much bad shit out there. I'm basically just looking for whatever's considered the best of the best.

― kshighway (ksh), Monday, 11 January 2010 14:39 (fifteen years ago)

london review of books

― the charmless but occasionally brilliant Dom Passantino (history mayne), Monday, 11 January 2010 14:42 (fifteen years ago)

doesn't anyone read booklist?

― figgy pudding (La Lechera), Monday, 11 January 2010 14:43 (fifteen years ago)

I basically read the TLS and the Guardian Saturday Review. Also follow various literary bloggers on Twitter who link to book stories.

― Zelda Zonk, Monday, 11 January 2010 14:54 (fifteen years ago)

I mainly follow blogs that don't focus on new books.
No one's given me as many good recommendations over the last four years as Patrick Kurp at his blog Anecdotal Evidence: http://evidenceanecdotal.blogspot.com/
My favorite discovery of last year was Wuthering Expectations: http://wutheringexpectations.blogspot.com/
Miriam Burstein's The Little Professor is an old favorite, though many of her finest posts are about books no one else on the planet would ever want to read. http://littleprofessor.typepad.com/

Some good online journals (or whatever the devil the format is called)
The Critical Flame: http://www.criticalflame.org/
The Quarterly Conversation: http://quarterlyconversation.com/
The Second Pass: http://thesecondpass.com/

― Øystein, Monday, 11 January 2010 15:20 (fifteen years ago)

LRB seconded, especially as a proper read in itself. I like the TLS for brief rundowns of academic stuff, ie casual voyeur way of finding out what's going with things I know 0 about, but it's no great shakes for essays or fiction reviews.

Thepage.name isn't a rapid updater, but usually links to good poetry articles.

That's usually enough to keep me going, but NYRB (obvs) & Bookforum have good reps.

― Parenthetic hound (woofwoofwoof), Monday, 11 January 2010 15:42 (fifteen years ago)

(xpost)
Wow, that first one you mentioned is great, for one thing love that Tom Disch birdsong poem, but the rest is cool is well. Mange takk, Øystein.

― lex submerge (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 11 January 2010 15:43 (fifteen years ago)

yeah those look good øystein. i'll read new books after i read all the old ones :(

― harbl, Monday, 11 January 2010 15:45 (fifteen years ago)

yeah to clarify LRB is not so much about reading reviews of books you might read, just general goodtimes reading shit.

― the charmless but occasionally brilliant Dom Passantino (history mayne), Monday, 11 January 2010 15:57 (fifteen years ago)

I think I might get a subscription to the LRB.

― rennavate, Wednesday, 13 January 2010 23:00 (fifteen years ago)

I'm thinking of that too, so I can read the web archives.

― Disco Stfu (Raw Patrick), Wednesday, 13 January 2010 23:19 (fifteen years ago)

The archives are great -- it has taken over my solid web-reading ever since I got my one year subscription.

― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 16 January 2010 11:22 (fifteen years ago)

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! I'm checking them up right now. I really hope I'll end up keeping up with the book world more this year.

― kshighway (ksh), Sunday, 17 January 2010 18:35 (fifteen years ago)

Don't forget Bookforum.

― alimosina, Sunday, 17 January 2010 21:38 (fifteen years ago)

^^great links/updated frequently

― the eagle laughs at you (m coleman), Sunday, 17 January 2010 21:48 (fifteen years ago)

Is Slate or Salon worth reading . . .?

― kshighway (ksh), Sunday, 17 January 2010 21:52 (fifteen years ago)

ehhhhh.

id say not usually.

― free the charmless but occasionally brilliant Dom Passantino (history mayne), Sunday, 17 January 2010 21:53 (fifteen years ago)

Don't forget Bookforum.
― alimosina, Sunday, January 17, 2010 4:38 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
^^great links/updated frequently
― the eagle laughs at you (m coleman)

Gone downhill since Eric Banks went into horse racing.

― the clones of tldr funkenstein (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 17 January 2010 21:54 (fifteen years ago)

j/k

― the clones of tldr funkenstein (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 17 January 2010 21:55 (fifteen years ago)

Cause for concern.

― alimosina, Sunday, 17 January 2010 22:30 (fifteen years ago)

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