Hello and Welcome to BookBrowse!
Our Mission
BookBrowse is your guide to exceptional books, providing you with all you need to know about the books that matter.
For more than two decades, BookBrowse has provided a curated resource of the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction, with an emphasis on books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. We offer free and premium content - with subscription options for individuals and libraries (so that all patrons and staff can access.)
Because there are far too many books published for you to read about all of them, let alone read them all, we seek out and recommend only the best of the best. Then, we give you all the information you need to decide which books are just right for you. Among much else, BookBrowse provides in-depth reviews and "beyond the book" articles; hand-selected read-alike recommendations for thousands of books and authors; the ability to browse by genre, time period, setting and a wide range of themes; previews of notable books publishing soon; and extensive resources for book clubs.
We also publish four free newsletters (BookBrowse Highlights, Publishing This Week, Book Club News and Librarian News) and, for our members, a twice-monthly e-magazine, The BookBrowse Review.
Below you'll find:
A two-minute animated introduction to BookBrowse
A short history of BookBrowse's first quarter century!
A video interview in which Davina talks about BookBrowse and all we offer
The BookBrowse Story
Online Excerpts - a Novel Concept!
In the years before children, one of our greatest pleasures was going together to browse the shelves in the bookstore or library, taking our time to pick out books that looked interesting and browsing a few pages to decide which we wanted to take home. But after the arrival of our two children, lengthy visits to anything other than the kid's section became rare.
Back in 1997, we arrived home from a far from relaxing visit to the bookstore (because the four year old wanted to go off exploring and the two year old decided that an afternoon nap wasn't on the agenda after all). Surely, we thought, there must be another way, and perhaps this newfangled thing called the world wide web was the answer? So, we dialed up our internet connection and started to search for information on books - but it was so limited - even at Amazon, all that was available was the book jacket description.
We asked ourselves, why can't we browse through a few pages of a book online just as we can in the bookstore or library? And, finding we could not, we resolved to create a website that would bring booklovers excerpts of books. But that was just the start...
"Excerpts from the best books for sale now,
giving you a simulation of the old time experience.
And we're not talking teensy fragments."
- Yahoo Incredibly Useful Site of The Day
Multiple Reviews In One Place
Being able to read a few pages of a book is valuable, but it's also helpful to see what others are saying so, from our earliest days, we have always sought out a range of reviews from other sources and abbreviated each to its salient point of view (removing all that irritating plot detail and spoilers) - so that visitors can see what the media are saying about each book at a quick glance. Again, back in the late 1990s, this was information that was not available elsewhere online.
"Offers lengthy excerpts and reviews from select popular and literary titles"
- San Francisco Chronicle Best of the Web
Browse the Best - Ignore the Rest!
Fast forward to the early 2000s. The internet was growing exponentially, as was the number of books published - far more than anyone could read, or even read about! So we became increasingly selective about the books we listed - only featuring books that we could wholeheartedly stand behind.
For a book to capture our interest, then and now, it has to do more than just tell a good story, it also needs to give us a window to explore the lives of others, or a mirror to reflect on our own experiences. In short, it needs to not just entertain and engage, but also inform, leaving us knowing something new. Such books aren't limited to any individual genre, so we feature books from a wide range of genres, both fiction and nonfiction.
"I joined BookBrowse because I wanted to carve out a literary lens
past my comfort zones, digging into stories that would challenge
my mind and endear my heart."
- Marjorie
In-Depth Reviews...
Initially, we did not review books ourselves, but before long we found ourselves frustrated with many of the reviews published elsewhere as oftentimes they were heavy on plot and light on opinion, or the reviewer seemed to be more interested in showing us how clever they were rather than helping us decide which books we wanted to read. So our reviews don't rehash the plot, instead we focus on the characters, themes, writing style and overall experience of reading the book - always with the aim of helping you decide which books are right for you.
and Beyond the Book Articles
Books are not an end destination in themselves but a jumping off point to explore new avenues of interest. So, every time we write a review, we include a "beyond the book" article that explores an historical, cultural or contextual aspect of the book. These are particularly appreciated by book club members and all who read to expand their horizons.
"Hot Website for Book Lovers!"
- Woman's World
An Independent Source of Information
BookBrowse has never sold books because we feel that to do so would skew the titles we choose to feature to those destined to sell the most copies which, to be frank, are often not the books that we think are the best. We have also never accepted payments for our professional reviewers to review books as we never want to feel under pressure to write a more positive review than is warranted. You will see links on BookBrowse to buy books at various booksellers. These are primarily for the convenience of our visitors, and the little commission generated is usually donated to charity.