Diane Evans: Book reviews continue inevitable migration to Web
By Dave
February 3rd, 2009 | Leave a comment
By Diane Evans
For all the book-review lovers mourning the loss of Book World in The Washington Post, have a good cry and get on with it. The day of standalone book sections in daily newspapers is all but gone, and it’s not coming back. The Washington Post cited a protracted downturn in advertising, as felt by newspapers across the country.
For readers, getting on with it means finding good reviews and commentary on books in other places. Plenty exists – often on blogs – and some of it is more meaningful to average readers than the often heady, elitist reviews that daily newspapers served up over the years.
Here are a few examples of literary blogs that are gaining attention from the print media, as they little by little replace book reviews in print publications.
Bookslut at http://www.bookslut.com/blog/
Here’s an excerpt from a recent post: John Updike’s forthcoming collection of poems, Endpoint, features a poem about his “overdue demise”: It came to me the other day: / Were I to die, no one would say, / ‘Oh, what a shame! So young, so full / Of promise – depths unplumbable!
So Many Books at http://somanybooksblog.com/
One new post on this blog deals with Seamus Heaney’s translation of Sophocles’ Antigone for the Abbey Theatre in Ireland. It includes an easy-to-understand summary, along with opinion.
The Elegant Variation at http://marksarvas.blogs.com/elegvar/
This blog focuses on literary life in Los Angeles, but includes other things, too. After Updike’s death, the blog pointed readers to a tribute by Irish-born author Joseph O’Neill – published, as you might guess, on another literary blog. A line from O’Neill’s essay: “The example of Updike is intimidating to the writer in the matter of sentences, in the matter of output, in the matter of aptitude – until, that is, one remembers that Updike himself was a stranger to intimidation, and that the Updike precedent ultimately authorizes, indeed obligates, the writer to give the task at hand his or her best shot.”
Paper Cuts on the site of the New York Times at http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com
Written by editors of The Book Review, it includes book news, commentary and interviews with authors.
Critical Mass at http://bookcritics.org/blog
This is blog written by members of the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC), representing more than 900 professional book reviewers. It includes commentary on literary criticism, publishing and writing. Many NBCC members were among the 122 contributors to Book World who petitioned the Washington Post to keep the section alive. Marcus Brauchli, editor of the Washington Post, amplified the paper’s decision in a response published on the NBCC’s blog.
“Some bloggers have pointed out that book reviews inevitably will migrate to the Web,’’ Brauchli said. “Reviews online are no doubt easier to find. Putting them online also shortens the distance between reading a review and buying a book, which surely is a good thing for authors and the book trade.”
While continuing to publish book reviews in other sections of the print edition, he told the critics the Washington Post would also develop a well-indexed Book World site online.
The message: The Post is moving on.
