Books are written for a variety of reasons and should not all be judged by a single set of standards. For example, while an almanac is packed with a wide array of disparate facts and figures, a romance novel is filled with sighs of passion and reverie. Each type of book is intended to reach a particular audience, and accordingly, should be judged on the basis of its own merits.
As you read a book, you are likely to develop certain ideas or opinions regarding the its content. Write them down on a sticky note or in a notebook. If you are reading a text in a digital format, you may be able to overlay notations upon the text containing hyperlinks to relevant material hosted online. Refer to these notes when writing your essay. While you need not craft your essay in close agreement with these notes, they are likely to serve as a springboard for subsequent ideas.
When writing an essay on a book, a common temptation is to simply summarize the book's content. However, unlike a book summary, an essay advances a central argument. This argument, or thesis, should be contained within the first paragraph of the essay. If the book under consideration is a fictional narrative, a thesis may be developed around a conflict that exists in the story, such as mankind vs. nature or mankind vs. technology. By contrast, if the book is a work of nonfiction, you may wish to develop a topic around a central issue that occurs in the work or a aims to uncover the implicit intentions of the book's author. In either case, create a thesis conveying a specific idea in clear, unambiguous terms that will be easily understood by your readers.
An effective way to reinforce the substance of your thesis is to draw upon wisdom supplied by credible sources. The rules associated with an essay assignment may stipulate that a particular citation style be observed in order to give credit to these sources. Popular styles include APA style, Turabian style and the MLA format. Familiarize yourself with the style specified for your essay and collect required information when referring to any sources. However, do not worry about bogging yourself down with the rules of the style as you write. Once your paper is completed, you will be able insert all appropriate references.