Letter from a Reader 8.20.26
Why it’s pretentious to call a first novel a ‘debut novel’ (and too many authors act as though it isn’t), Goodreads adds a shelf, and Chris Bohjalian’s new thriller
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Letter from a Reader 8.17.26
Don't blame critics and journalists for giving Jason Arday's book bad reviews. Blame the publisher who bought it and made it available to all of them
New York Times to pay $200,000-$225,000 to Gilbert Cruz's successor at the book review
Read annotated excepts from the Times' new ad for his replacement to see if you qualify for a quarter million in salary and benefits
Letter from a Reader 8.14.26
Friday Flashbacks on a football classic, an award-winning true-crime tale, the delightful novel in letters 'Daddy-Long-Legs,' and palindromes for all ages in 'So Many Dynamos!'
Letters from a Reader 8.13.26
Why I'm not rushing out to buy the hot new bestseller, 'The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery'
Yet another conflict of interest erodes the credibility of New York Times book coverage
Why did the Times let a Penguin Random House author defend book awards, which PRH tends to dominate? Horror stories from a Pulitzer judge help to show what was wrong with a guest essay
Letter from a Reader 8.10.26
The 'dishonesty' of true crime, Penelope Fitzgerald's elegant Cambridge novel, and coming tomorrow: Horror stories I've heard firsthand about judging the Pulitzers and other awards
Is Jason Arday's new book another 'fake memoir'?
Whatever you call it, the disgraced Cambridge professor's book could hurt people with autism and face the class-action lawsuits that James Frey's 'A Million Little Pieces' did
Letter from a Reader 8.6.26
Friday Flashbacks on Henry James' 'The Portrait of a Lady,' 'Ebert's Little Movie Glossary,' and an entertaining book of poems for children
I was sucker-punched by Kathryn Stockett's 'The Calamity Club'
Southern women deserve better than being stereotyped as 'plucky' or 'feisty' when they do things that are silly, dangerous, or even criminal
Letter from a Reader 8.1.26
What journalists should ask 'Calamity Club' author Kathryn Stockett, Joan Didion on California, and the world's best gift for a reader