December 10, 2007
If you write book reviews, read this!
Powell's has a review of the book Faint Praise, a book on the demise of book reviewing and what can be done about it. The review is amazing, and points out significant flaws in the book whilst at the same time acknowledging its importance to the book reviewing community. The author of Faint Praise, Gail Pool, is a book reviewing traditionalist, but James Wolcott, the reviewer, eloquently points out the flaws in her argument. He ultimately derides the book, concluding that her traditionalism blinds her to the power of the novice reviewer, and yes, even bloggers.
Posted by John on December 10, 2007 02:58 PM | Posted to Literature and LanguageShare:
Steve Donoghue wrote an insightful and amusing one over at Open Letters for the current issue too.
Posted by: Imani on December 10, 2007 08:37 PMThanks for the link! That was pretty interesting too.
Posted by: John on December 12, 2007 09:45 AMI've always thought most literary book reviewers are like fungus. I can't read the New York Review of Books because the pretentious writing makes it hard for me to make a decision on whether or not the book is something I want to read. There is also a tendency to only pick reviews on books which people want to recommend. This is a real problem for professional reviewers. They rarely can say something is truly awful like they should. I also find many reviewers only review "literature". More reviews on computer books, practical home repair, and how to write might improve the overall state of book reviewing.
Posted by: Nishan Stepak on December 12, 2007 02:42 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
http://covblogs.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/11357
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference If you write book reviews, read this!:
