To me, a book report is the kind of thing one was required to write in school after reading an assigned book. It summed up the intention behind the book and put it into a historical or social context — as perceived by the student, of course. Whether one enjoyed the book or not was considered irrelevant or incidental. (Things are probably different now, of course). Reviews, on the other hand, are all about judgments of quality, either simplistic (“Terrific read!” or “Terrible! Threw it at the wall!”) or sophisticated, depending on the writer of the review. The increasingly rare critical review published in magazines and newspapers has some qualities in common with the book report (context, for one), but its purpose is to render judgment on whether the book is worth reading.
I suspect our views on this are similar — but different. 🙂
Might be a cultural thing: putting a book in context and explaining how/why the author did things was called literary criticism when I met it rather than book reporting.
To me, a book report is the kind of thing one was required to write in school after reading an assigned book. It summed up the intention behind the book and put it into a historical or social context — as perceived by the student, of course. Whether one enjoyed the book or not was considered irrelevant or incidental. (Things are probably different now, of course). Reviews, on the other hand, are all about judgments of quality, either simplistic (“Terrific read!” or “Terrible! Threw it at the wall!”) or sophisticated, depending on the writer of the review. The increasingly rare critical review published in magazines and newspapers has some qualities in common with the book report (context, for one), but its purpose is to render judgment on whether the book is worth reading.
I suspect our views on this are similar — but different. 🙂
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Might be a cultural thing: putting a book in context and explaining how/why the author did things was called literary criticism when I met it rather than book reporting.
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I associate “book report” with school days. In university and after, definitely literary criticism. There probably is a cultural element, though.
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