Research Guides: Research Tools: Book Reviews

Discovery Tools Topics

Use these tools to find reviews, summaries, and critical evaluations of books.

Book Reviews Quick Start Guide
This guide provides search hints and suggestions for finding book reviews in our library.
BookPage
Provides information about books by genre, authors, children's books, book clubs, and more. (BookPage)
Bookwire Reviews
A book industry website that specializes in unique titles with topics ranging from alternative medicine treatments to fictional murder mysteries. Includes over 600 reviews from January 2004 to the present. (Bowker)
Internet Public Library - Literary Criticism
Contains selected critical and biographical websites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, by title, or by nationality and literary period. (Drexel University)

MAS Complete
UHM login required. Designed specifically for high school libraries, includes more than 5,000 full text Magill Book Reviews. (EBSCO Industries, Inc.)
In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for all publications in the collection. Every full text article is assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles). This database also includes more than 3,000 charts, tables and graphs; 5,000 full text Magill Book Reviews; nearly 550 health and science-related full text pamphlets; coverage of more than 250 reference books (including the Columbia Encyclopedia, the CIA World Fact Book and World Almanac & Book of Facts) and an image collection of 91,000 photos, maps & flags. Full text backfiles date as far back as January of 1985, while indexing and abstract backfiles date as far back as January of 1984.

The New York Review of Books
A highly respected source with online reviews dating from 1963 to the present. (NYREV, Inc.)
The New York Times - Books
A highly respected source with online reviews dating from 1981 to the present. Includes lists of recently published "best" and " notable" books. (The New York Times Company)

NoveList Plus
UHM login required. NoveList is a fiction database that provides subject heading access, reviews, annotations, and much more for over 120,000 fiction titles (EBSCO Industries, Inc.)

Publisher's Weekly - Reviews
The book industry's major trade publication with brief reviews of current books. (PWxyz, LLC)
SparkNotes
Includes more than 500 guides containing "thorough summaries and insightful critical analyses" with a focus on English literature and Shakespeare, plus guides for history, math, biology, and other subjects. Shakespeare guides provide side-by-side translations of Shakespeare into plain English. (SparkNotes LLC)
Yahoo! Directory - Book Reviews
Provides links to many sources of book review. (Yahoo! Inc.)