Long before the internet, people have read book reviews. Before spending their time and money on a book, they wanted to find out if a book would be a good investment. Today is no different. People simply have many more choices now that the internet is so commonplace. We have the ability to read numerous reviews about any book that interests us, those written long ago, or bestsellers of today.

A quick search will yield results for numerous online book review websites. A few of the top ones, and most used are Amazon.com, bookstore websites like Barnes and Noble or Borders, and those that have been around long before the widespread use of the internet, like the New York Times book review. Some consumer networking sites like Acobay also has book review category.

Amazon.com is one of the top shopping and review websites. Along with editorial reviews, there are customer reviews. Because of the sheer number of people who use Amazon, there are many customer reviews on most books, especially best sellers, giving the reader a larger number of reviews to base their decision on. This can be good for the reader, giving many different opinions. Once a book has reviews in the thousands though, it can be overwhelming to wade through all of them.

Amazon provides reviews for all types of books, including fiction, non-fiction, bestsellers, and children’s books. Books can be searched by title, author, genre or ISBN. Amazon also gives recommendations of other books the reader might like based on the books they have searched for. It is easy for the reader to find most any book. And Amazon has a useful feature which allows the customer to “look inside” select books, sometimes being able to read a few pages.

Borders.com is another shopping and review website. It, like Amazon, has customer reviews, though not as many. For example, a search on a popular book, “Eat, Pray, Love” turned up 1792 customer reviews on Amazon. The same search on Borders only turned up 21 reviews. The website gives a description of the book, but no editorial review. The customer can use a wide variety of searches including title, author, ISBN or genre. Borders also lists similar books to view based on current searches. If the customer has a Borders store nearby, a quick search can tell if the book is available at their local store. Similar to Amazon, Borders gives the reader the ability to “look inside” select books. Borders also has a large variety and amount of books available, allowing the reader to search for and find most any book they are looking for.

A different, yet well-known book review website is the New York Times book review. It lists the top books, based on sales each week. The New York Times lists the latest books. Not all are reviewed, though they may be in the bestsellers list for the week. The reviews that are listed though, are very detailed and thorough, giving the reader a good idea of what to expect from the book by professional reviewers. Because different works are placed together on the same page, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, it can be difficult to determine what genre each writing is at first glance. Therefore, the website requires more navigation to find books the reader may be interested in. The online database goes back to 1981, giving the reader access only to books reviewed since that time. On some books, the reader can choose to read the first few pages or chapters of a book. This is a nice feature, since sometimes it is in the first few pages that the reader makes the decision whether they would like to continue the book or not.

Overall, each book review website has some unique attributes. If the reader is looking for a place to review and purchase a book in one easy step, a place like Amazon.com is a great place to look. If the reader would rather get an idea of what a book is about before going in to shop at a nearby bookstore, a website like Borders.com might be the top choice, since local availability of the book is also given. For a more thorough and professional look at bestsellers, the New York Times the top place for many to search. Whatever the choice, today’s reader has many options and the ability to find a new book to read in just a few clicks of the mouse.

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Jack Yang -
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Market analyst for Web 2.0 Acobay Networking service. More on Books Reviews, visit Acobay. More on free pictures, visit Acobox.