Free! Wait, No, Five Bucks
8-2-10
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Check out the stack of You Killed Wesley Payne's being given out at the International Reader's Association conference. Wait a minute, I don't get any royalties off those, do I? Hey! Hey you! Put that back! |
I've developed really strong feelings about book reviews, or the state of what passes for one, over the last few years. I could easily write a ten thousand word polemic, 9,759 words of which would be useless to all three people that read this blog, but it would make me feel better. Anyway, here's a quick list of 10 things, if I were editing book reviews, I would insist upon:
1. Limit, to the absolute astringent minimum, any synopsis of plot.
2. Put the book it its historical, genre, or cultural context as firmly as possible.
3. Have a strong opinion either for, against, or justifiably indifferent, and do whatever it takes to make a convincing case for it.
4. Avoid at all costs the "three quarters positive, but here's my inevitable witty slams" or the "three quarters negative, but here's a few scrap compliments" model.
5. Do not, in any way, waste space talking about yourself and any tenuous connections you may have. Talk about the book. The author deserves that.
6. Be simultaneously cognizant of how hard it is to write any book, as well as how much shelf space shitty books take up.
7. Avoid any and all contemporary lit jargon or easy comparisons: "David Foster Wallace-esque."
8. Don't be afraid to intelligently criticize. Never fear what will be said about your future book in return.
9. A successful review will guide me, even if it's because I totally disagree with it, to a place that makes it easier to decide if I want to buy the thing or not.
10. Don't be clever. Be perceptive.
