Presented by,

S.ARUN JOSEPH.M.L.I.Sc 4th semester.No : 1D.L.I.S.University of Kerala.

Seminar on

INTRODUCTION Books, once considered the

pinnacle of human civilization So what’s a book review? And what

makes a book review good or bad? A book review is a form of literary

criticism in which a book is analyzed based on content, style, and originality

A book review can be a primary source opinion piece, summary review or scholarly review

Such a review may evaluate the book on the basis of personal taste

There are many special journals devoted to book reviews and they are indexed in special databases such as Book Review Index, and Kirkus Reviews

DEFINITION

A book review is a description, critical analysis, and an evaluation

on the quality, meaning, and significance of a book, not a

retelling. It should focus on the book's purpose, content, and

authority

How To Write Book Review?

1) Write a statement giving essential information about the book: title, author, first copyright date, type of book, general subject matter, special features (maps, color plates, etc.), price and ISBN.

2) State the author’s purpose in writing the book.

Sometimes authors state their purpose in the preface or the

first chapter

3) State the theme and the thesis of the book.

a. Theme: The theme is the subject or topic. It is not necessarily the title, and it is usually not expressed in a complete sentence. It expresses a specific phase of the general subject matter.

b. Thesis: The thesis is an author’s generalization about the theme, the author’s beliefs about something important, the book’s philosophical conclusion, or the proposition the author means to prove. Express it without metaphor or other figurative language, in one declarative sentence.

4) Explain the method of development-the way the author supports the thesis. Illustrate your remarks with specific references and quotations

In general, authors tend to use the following methods, exclusively or

in combination,

oDescriptionoNarrationoExpositionoArgument

5) Evaluate the book for interest, accuracy, objectivity, importance, thoroughness, and usefulness to its

intended audience. Show whether the author's main arguments are true. Respond to the author's opinions

6) Try to find further information about the author - reputation, qualifications, influences, biographical, etc. - any information that is relevant to the book being reviewed and that would help to establish the author's authority

7) If relevant, make note of the book's format - layout, binding, typography, etc. Are there maps, illustrations? Do they aid understanding?

8) Check the back matter. Is the index accurate? Check any end notes or footnotes as you read from chapter to chapter. Do they provide important additional information? Do they clarify or extend points made in the body of the text?

9) Summarize (briefly), analyze, and comment on the book’s content. State your general conclusions. Pay particular attention to the author's concluding chapter

Book review magazines

American Book Review Black Issues Book Review The Bloomsbury Review Book Review Index Book review Booklist Bookmarks (magazine) Bookseller and Publisher

(Australian magazine) Bukla Magazine Children's literature

periodicals Claremont Review of Books Fore Word Reviews

Jewish Review of Books Kirkus Reviews Library Journal The Lion and the Unicorn

(journal) Literary Review London Review of Books Los Angeles Review of

Books Midwest Book Review The New York Review of

Books

Oliver TwistCharles DickensGet it from Amazon.com: Oliver Twist

I had read several abridged "kiddie" versions of Oliver Twist when I was in middle school, and as a teen I was semi-addicted to the 1960's musical adaptation Oliver! so I thought that I knew all there was to know about this famous British literary urchin. Not so. Actually sitting down to read the full version of Oliver Twist has shown me that the original story is much more clever, and much darker, than I had anticipated.

Young Oliver is born in a workhouse, and although his single mother dies in childbirth and leaves him with no one to give him true care or attention, Oliver thrives, in a certain sense. He grows up in this workhouse, and the horrors of his childhood can seem all the worse because of the light comic tone of the narration. Charles Dickens is always a wonderful author for pointing out hypocrisy, cruelty, and social injustices, but though it's good to be made aware of the evils of the day, it can still be hard to read about children starving and being beaten. 9-year-old Oliver's situation is so dire, it's a relief when he escapes to London and finds himself trapped in a life of crime! At least when he's with the criminal gang of pickpockets, he gets to eat.

Notes on Oliver: I notice that Oliver speaks just a tad on the aristocratic side, when compared with the other boys in the book. He just doesn't have the same penchant for slang and sauciness as his peers. On this read-through, I also perceive for the first time that Oliver himself isn't all that interesting. He's 100% sympathetic--you want to save him and nurture him, but aside from his general goodness, he's a bit of a blank canvas. He's so incorruptibly pure, it's like it doesn't occur to him that anyone could possibly be deceptive or dishonest, which is why he's no good at thievery even after receiving some training.

One thing that hasn't changed for me while reading the book: I'm still ridiculously fond of the Artful Dodger. He wears a jauntily tilted hat and a gigantic tail-coat with rolled up sleeves, and he's altogether grubby, which makes him look like the coolest homeless middle-school-aged kid in literature, aside from Huckleberry Finn. He's got this big store of worldly knowledge and Oliver relates to Dodger like he's a bizarre type of grown-up, but as you're reading, you know that Dodger's really just a kid.

Things that surprised me: There's an entire main character in Oliver Twist that didn't appear in any adaptation I read or saw until now--Monks, Oliver's half-brother! Wow. I scarcely know what to do with the fact that there's this whole important person in the book itself, and yet he's so ultimately inconsequential to the heart of the story. Monks isn't much of a villain when compared to the murderous, abusive awfulness of Bill Sikes, and just adding more family drama to Oliver's origin story isn't all that interesting. I think the adaptations had the right idea when they removed him.

Favorite quotes:

"It's all over, Mrs. Thingummy!' said the surgeon at last." (pg. 3)

'A clean shirt,' thought Oliver, 'is a very comfortable thing; and so are two pairs of darned stockings; and so is a penny; but they are small helps to a sixty-five miles' walk in winter time.' (pg. 63)

REFERENCE A book review .(n.d). Retrieved on April 17, 2013, from,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_review The following are. (April,2009). Retrieved on April 17, 2013,

from, http://www.lavc.edu/library/bookreview.html Book review magazines.(n.d). Retrieved on April 17, 2013,

from, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Book_review_magazines

Book Review: Oliver Twist.(April,2012). Retrieved on April 17, 2013, from, http://tigersallconsumingbooks.blogspot.in/2012/04/book-review-oliver-twist-by-charles.html