book review, n.Definitions

Book review is the act of reading out of a book the qualities that one has first read into it.

A Book review is a brief but informative essay that spares readers the ordeal of digesting an actual book.

A Book review sometimes takes so long to write that one never gets around to reading the book.

The Book review is an infantile disease which new-born books are subject to.

A Book review is often an exercise in self-aggrandizement — One cannot review a bad book without showing off.

A Book review is rarely easily dismissed by a writer. Writers fall into two groups: 1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and 2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review.

The Book review can always be summed up thusly: People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.

A Book review is, when bad, like baking a cake with all the best ingredients and having someone sit on it.