Using Quotes in Book Reviews

I know I said I was going back to an every other week posting schedule, but it turns out I have a lot of motivation and free time this summer, so I’m posting a little more frequently than that. I am purposely not switching to a weekly posting schedule, because I start medical school on MONDAY and am not going to have as much time. (I keep telling my mom I will make time for my numerous hobbies.)

Anyway, I got ambitious this month and decided I will have time to join Let’s Talk Bookish once a month!

This month, I wanted to discuss using quotes in book reviews. I love when I use quotes in my reviews, but in practice, I rarely include quotes. There are a lot of reviews where I feel a quote doesn’t add enough to the review for them to be worth including. At the same time, quotes and excerpts can provide a lot of value for readers who want to get a taste of the writing style before buying a book, so maybe they’re worth including in every review? Let’s discuss!

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly discussion meme originally created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits and Dini @ DiniPandaReads.

Want to join? Check out this month’s prompts!

Prompts: Do you like to use quotes from books in your book reviews? If so, do you prefer to keep them at a minimum or do you include as many as you can? Do you like to make posts with excerpts or extracts from novels? Do you think that quotes and excerpts/extracts make readers more or less interested in reading the book? Why or why not?

1. My Use of Quotes in Book Reviews

If you read my reviews frequently (you’re my favorite person), you’ll know I include little to no quotes in my book reviews. I’ve never included a full excerpt. Part of the reason is I am not the type of reader that highlights and takes notes as I read. I like to comment on my overall feelings after reading a book and rarely remember a specific passage I want to quote. The only exceptions are…

A) I am reading on my kindle and happen to highlight something I want to quote in my review.

B) I am intentionally doing a close read of the text (rare at this time in my life).

C) I have more free time than usual and have more mental energy to focus on specific passages.

E) Something from the text really jumps out at me (for good or bad reasons) and I want to comment on the specific wording (rare).

When I do include quotes, I try to keep the length to 1-2 sentences (or, less than 4 lines. Whichever is shorter). I remember learning in some literature class that you need to keep quotes to less than 4 lines of writing or you have to format them differently. I don’t remember the specific formatting or if that rule extends outside of that class, but I still use this rule as a general guide for how short to keep my quotes. I suppose that’s the difference between a quote and an excerpt, and I’ve never used excerpts in my reviews. My goal is to use the minimum amount of text needed for readers to understand the quote and how it relates to my review.

Another thing I like to consider when selecting quotes is if it really adds anything to my review. I like to select quotes that are relevant to things I comment on in my review, otherwise, what is the quote there for? If I just include a quote that I enjoy, wouldn’t it be better to read in the context of the book?

The last question is very hard for me to answer. Sometimes when I’m reading quotes of books I haven’t read, they just feel awkward out of context. There’s nothing from the quote that makes me want to read the book more or less. After I’ve read a book, it’s easy for me to find quotes that I like, but hard for me to tell if someone reading my review will appreciate the same quote taken out of context. This is why I try to pick quotes that support things I’m already talking about in my review.

In short, I am a lazy reviewer and finding quotes is low on my priority list when writing reviews. If they jump out at me and are easy to find when writing my review, sure! Otherwise, I just focus on my review.

2. Do you think that quotes and excerpts/extracts make readers more or less interested in reading the book?

Hm. I do think readers that are more picky about prose would find quotes and excerpts helpful, because it would give them a sample of the author’s style. I rarely pay attention to wording and focus more on characters and the overall story, which is probably why I care less about quotes. To me, quotes and excerpts are only helpful if the reviewer is using them to tell me something about their experience with the book. Otherwise, they are just words taken out of context that might spoil an important moment in the story.

I think a lot of impactful quotes are best experienced within the context of the book they’re written in, so I try to avoid using quotes in my reviews that are going to spoil that experience if someone chooses to read the book.

Closing Thoughts…

I enjoy using quotes in my review, but not enough that I want to include a quote in all of my reviews. It’s rare than a specific passage stands out to me enough that I think, “Wow! That needs to go in my review!” Most of the time, I am satisfied just to have my own thoughts in the review.

Do you like quotes in book reviews?

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