Saturday, May 06, 2006

 

Book Reviewing Explained For You

At the Times of London, Ben Macintyre explains the language of book reviewing, including:

Wears its scholarship lightly -- Author is not a real scholar. But I am.

Triumphant return to form -- I was expecting this to be as abysmal as the last one, but it was only mildly disappointing.

Gnomic -- Baffling.

Imaginative Fiction -- reviewers use this to describe a book that they wish they had written; nonfiction reviewers use it to describe a book they do not believe.

Compelling -- I managed to finish it.

There is, sadly, no literary equivalent to Roger Ebert's Little Movie Glossary -- no way that you can yell "Fruit cart!" at a book review -- but there really should be.



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