Bookmarks

Bookmarks (A Reader's Guide to the Best in Books) is the newest magazine for bibliophiles in the market. Since its preview/debut issue in Summer 2002, Bookmarks has released 10 issues featuring a mixed bag of classics and contemporary authors like Steinbeck, Dickens, Garcia Marquez, Virginia Woolf, Waugh, Austen, Morrison, Naipaul, Potok, Faulkner, Potok, Vonnegut, and Philip Roth.

The bi-monthly publication has book reviews and selections for readers of all ages. The "Book by Book" section will features a detailed coverage on works of a specific author, suggestions on introductory books to the author, a specific genre of literature, or a particular time period. The currents issue (May/June 2004) features Leo Tolstoy and Literary Voices of the Pre-Civil Rights Era, with a look at classic works by Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and James Baldwin.

More than half the pages of the magazine focus on navigating the ever-expanding sea of reading: new books, now-in-paperback books, and reader-favorite recommendations. This is by far the most useful and timesaving resource for me to search for my next reading selection. The "Selections" allows me to preview staff favorites from among the most highly rated books in an issue (usually 4 stars and above).

The "New Book Guide" features book reviews separated into genres like spot, literary fiction, crime, sci-fi, general non-fiction, biography, history, science, and arts. It is therefore structured to find easily the information about a particular book most appealing and relevant to me. Each book featured in this section has a critical summary. The books covered fall into three basic categories: highly rated books that received many reviews, highly rated books that received less comprehensive coverage, and lower rated books that were widely reviewed and well-publicized. That way general popularity of the books, as well as the collective but disparaging critics may be accommodated. Highly rated books maybe balanced with the less publicized or lower-rated books. After all, it is frustrating to apply ratings to any works of literary arts in the absence of myriad choices. To accommodate such need, supplemental reading is provided.

Bookmarks strives to accommodate palates readers of all ages and genres. In any given issue readers will find, in addition to the new releases and talk-of-the-town books that perch on bestseller list, works of classics. I find the inclusion on works of classics and their authors very appealing to me. Bookmarks has simply topped my favorite periodical list for the year and become my reading companion