FD loves book reviews — and is sorry that so many newspapers and magazines are reducing the number of reviews they publish. Reviews can talk one into and out of a book purchase, and are much better than trying to judge a book by its cover or by its jacket blurbs. FD keeps a small notebook filled with books that sounded interesting based on a reading of a review, and has seldom been disappointed when using those notes to choose a volume. But even when a review turns one off a book, it may be, in itself, a delightful bit of reading. Good reviews come in many forms. Some hew closely to the book, others use the book as a jumping off place, what they have in common is good writing and ideas that are of interest in themselves. Sometimes, of course, FD reads a book before seeing any reviews of it, and then wonders how others felt about it. The Complete Review is a great source of reviews (its blog, the Literary Saloon, is great too, and is linked over there on the blogroll)
Just yesterday, FD had a shortish wait at a medical office, and whiled away the time reading the NY Times Book Review of November 8. The cover review, of the new Stephen King novel, was somewhat ho-hum — FD isn’t sure what made a new SKing novel front page material. Much more interesting to FD was David Kirby’s review of a new book of poetry by Amy Gestler, Dearest Creature. The review was so compelling that FD is even considering buying the book, even though $18.00 for 84 pages seems a bit much for a paperback that may not, in fact, be filled with poems that one will want to memorize. But, really, it was the review itself that put a smile on FD’s face, there was so much energy in that review, so much generosity, so much good writing in a small space.
Not that positive reviews are always the most fun. Just the opposite, a great hatchet job can be even more enjoyable. Francine Prose knows how to do those, so does Joe Queenan, and of course, Christopher Hitchens.