Book Buying Tips
Books are a great product to buy online. They'll come shipped wherever you want and are exactly the same online and in a store -- there's no trying on needed.
Book Reviews
If the adage stands, you're going to have to select books based on something other than their covers. How about browsing some reviews? That's always a good way to know what other people think of a book. Here are 20 well-respected sites with copious reviews and suggestions for book purchases.
- All Readers -- Reviews by everyday readers.
- American Book Review -- For the "independent literary community."
- American Library Association -- From the experts themselves.
- Atlantic Monthly -- A bastion of respectable reviews.
- Book Sense -- A connection to your local booksellers and their reviews.
- Book Spot -- Great for kids and young adults.
- Bookwire -- Book industry news and reviews.
- Boston Book Review -- All you'd expect from Boston: scholarship, modernity, and a fine reputation.
- The Complete Review -- A literary saloon and host of several reviewers.
- New York Times -- Reviews in the "Paper of Record" (subscription might be necessary for certain reviews).
- LA Times -- Another great source or quality book reviews.
- London Review of Books -- Semi-monthly reviews started in 1980.
- MetaCritic -- Excerpts of lots of reviews from many sites.
- National Public Radio -- The bastion of responsible, liberal, radio news takes on books online.
- New York Review of Books -- Famous people reading important books.
- Powells -- A veritable city of books housed in Portland, OR.
- Publishers Weekly -- The International Voice for Book Publishing and Bookselling.
- Teen Reads -- Actually designed to appeal to teens.
- Times of London -- Book reviews from across the Pond.
- Washington Post -- In depth book reviews, updated weekly.
- Weekly Standard -- This classic, conservative newsmagazine has book reviews on the left-hand bar, towards the bottom.
Additional Links
- eCampus -- Used textbooks for college.
- Galleycat -- A blog about books and publishing.
- Publishers Marketplace -- A networking site for people in the publishing industry. (Subscription required)
- Strand Books - 18 miles of books in New York City.
- Biblio Used Books - Purchase directly from over 5000 booksellers and bookstores