The Purpose of Book Reviews

Hi, John:

Thanks for your puzzled letter.

What are we promoting? Damn if we can figure it out.

Many years ago, we read book reviews in magazines and newspapers that seemed to have no little pith and vitality.

They didn't come with the Sunday papers, certainly not with the Times or the Post or the Chronicle.

Mostly they appeared in the more lively magazines and newspapers of the day, from England, France and Canada: The New Statesman, The Guardian, the old Herald-Tribune of Paris, and Saturday Night magazine.

I'm guessing we are trying to promote an ancient idea: that book reviews (a more universal art form than most) should be funny and alert, remorseless to the very bad (no matter how famous), forgiving to the very new (no matter how experimental), more caring for the reader (no matter how blasé).