Report From The Book Reviewing Trenches

Book reviewing is under stress as newspapers cut. “The pressure for book reviews to keep pace is understandable. Newspapers are, after all, in the business of being up-to-date. They are also conscious of the fact that stores don’t keep books on-hand for that long. And, as we have seen, there is no mercy on those who fall behind. The pipeline is always full of more product jockeying for attention. But this is a real problem for book reviewers. Books take time to read.”