LibGuides: English Literature: Book Reviews

Types of Book Reviews

Popular/Literary Reviews: Article-length reviews published soon after a book is released. Find in popular (non-scholary) publications like the New York Review of Books or the Times Literary Supplement, which are often included in periodical databases

Academic Reviews: Longer in length and published in scholarly journals, about books released by scholarly/university presses. Often published several months, even years, after a book is released. Find them in scholarly journal databases.

Library Reviews: Short, often only paragraph-length, intended to help librarians choose books for collections. Find them in publications like Choice or Kirkus Review.

Databases with book reviews

Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive This link opens in a new window
Mostly covers popular books with some reviews of scholarly books
The complete online fully-searchable edition of the Times Literary Supplement from the first edition in 1902 to 2014. This is the essential companion for studying and researching literary activity and critical opinion makers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since 1902, the TLS has scrutinized, applauded and dissected the work of leading writers and thinkers, offering comprehensive coverage of the most important publications, in every subject, in several languages, as well as reviewing current theatre, cinema, music, and exhibitions.
Book Review Digest Plus This link opens in a new window
Contains reviews of popular and academic books from all types of publications, including peer-reviewed journals
Brings together book reviews on subjects such as art, biography, business, education, general interest, history, humanities, literature, music science & technology and more with coverage back to 1983. Many of the reviews are serious, academic works.
New York Times (Historical) This link opens in a new window
Find book reviews from the New York Times (only through 2018)
Updated annually. Includes all the articles published since the first issue of the paper in 1851. Provides full text and full image articles with digital reproductions of every page, every article and every issue in PDF format. In addition to news stories, includes editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, photos, and advertisements.
More recent years are also available in other full text resources.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Contains reviews of popular and academic books from all types of publications, including peer-reviewed journals
Updated daily. A comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database, with more than 5,300 full text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. Offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
Features PDF content going back as far as 1865, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 journals.

Older Books Reviews

For book reviews published before 1975, including those from the 19th century, these two indexes are an excellent resource. Find them in print at the PCL.

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974 by Evan Ira Farber
Publication Date: 1979
Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals 1802-1974 by Evan T. Farber
Publication Date: 1983

For Undergrads

Are you an undergrad looking for a quick and easy explanation of book reviews?

Use our Find Book Reviews & Literary Criticism guide.

Search Tips

Gather bibliographic information (title, author’s name, date of original publication) for the book you’re researching.
For reviews, narrow the date range to the years immediately following the book’s publication.
Some databases will allow you to limit your search to reviews or criticism, so always check the advanced search options.