Book Review Questions For the Discerning Reader
All of us have been asked what we thought of a book after someone has learned that we read it.
All of us have been asked to answer some basic book review questions.
What was the book about? Did you like it? What did you learn? Was the reading hard or easy? Do you think I should read it? Do you think you would read other books by this author? These are questions anyone might ask of us and they are questions we should be able to answer easily if we have read the book inquisitively, with detailed book review questions anticipated before we read the book.
Having your questions in mind before you read the book will help you recognize the answer when you come across it in your reading.
These questions help you determine if the book is satisfactory or unsatisfactory while you're reading it.
It tells you what you expect to get out of the book, what values you want to find in the book, and how the book will be meaningful to you.
Before you read the book, think about the subject.
What do you already know about it? What don't you know? What would you like to know? How will the information you get from the book extend your knowledge, your understanding, your perceptions of the subject in the world? Ask yourself what your attitude is towards the subject.
Does it give you pleasure, concern, or pain? Do you expect the book to heighten your feelings about the subject? Does the subject demand objectivity, or should it move your passions? Do you expect the book to be discursive or poetic, argumentative or artistic? The questions asked before the reading will be answered as you read the book.
After the reading, you will ask a more general set of book review questions, and your answers to those questions will be based on the answers to the detailed questions you first posed before you started the reading.
The book's type will prescribe the set of questions that you can expect others to ask.
If the book is a scientific or prose work, questions will focus on the subject, the propositions, the evidence, and the conclusions the author offered.
If the book is a fiction, expect questions to focus on characters, plot, the use of language, situations and conflicts.
If at all possible, when answering book review questions, try to relate the rhetoric the author used to present the story.
If the book was dramatic, tell the story in a dramatic way without being overly so.
Give the listeners of your review a taste of the tensions and resolutions in the work.
Book reviews don't have to be boring, unless you want your listener to believe the work was boring.
Answer questions clearly, yet relate your personal attitude.
While some book review questions have right or wrong answers, such as a question regarding the subject matter, there are no right or wrong answers about your attitude to the book.
After you've answered the questions that we generally expect to be answered by a book review, either you'll have sent the listener or reader to the library or bookstore for a copy, they'll borrow yours, or the listener or reader will be sure to avoid it! Answering questions about books you like honestly, thoroughly and with style can mean you're inspiring others to find what you found in the book or, that you've failed to bring them to the book you might have loved.
All of us have been asked to answer some basic book review questions.
What was the book about? Did you like it? What did you learn? Was the reading hard or easy? Do you think I should read it? Do you think you would read other books by this author? These are questions anyone might ask of us and they are questions we should be able to answer easily if we have read the book inquisitively, with detailed book review questions anticipated before we read the book.
Having your questions in mind before you read the book will help you recognize the answer when you come across it in your reading.
These questions help you determine if the book is satisfactory or unsatisfactory while you're reading it.
It tells you what you expect to get out of the book, what values you want to find in the book, and how the book will be meaningful to you.
Before you read the book, think about the subject.
What do you already know about it? What don't you know? What would you like to know? How will the information you get from the book extend your knowledge, your understanding, your perceptions of the subject in the world? Ask yourself what your attitude is towards the subject.
Does it give you pleasure, concern, or pain? Do you expect the book to heighten your feelings about the subject? Does the subject demand objectivity, or should it move your passions? Do you expect the book to be discursive or poetic, argumentative or artistic? The questions asked before the reading will be answered as you read the book.
After the reading, you will ask a more general set of book review questions, and your answers to those questions will be based on the answers to the detailed questions you first posed before you started the reading.
The book's type will prescribe the set of questions that you can expect others to ask.
If the book is a scientific or prose work, questions will focus on the subject, the propositions, the evidence, and the conclusions the author offered.
If the book is a fiction, expect questions to focus on characters, plot, the use of language, situations and conflicts.
If at all possible, when answering book review questions, try to relate the rhetoric the author used to present the story.
If the book was dramatic, tell the story in a dramatic way without being overly so.
Give the listeners of your review a taste of the tensions and resolutions in the work.
Book reviews don't have to be boring, unless you want your listener to believe the work was boring.
Answer questions clearly, yet relate your personal attitude.
While some book review questions have right or wrong answers, such as a question regarding the subject matter, there are no right or wrong answers about your attitude to the book.
After you've answered the questions that we generally expect to be answered by a book review, either you'll have sent the listener or reader to the library or bookstore for a copy, they'll borrow yours, or the listener or reader will be sure to avoid it! Answering questions about books you like honestly, thoroughly and with style can mean you're inspiring others to find what you found in the book or, that you've failed to bring them to the book you might have loved.
