In the Reader essay directly below, I talk at some length about the trend Mark Sarvas started when he began issuing a report card on the Los Angeles Times Book Review in February. (You might not get the sense of a full-fledged trend from the piece; space constraints meant that references to similar report cards on the San Francisco Chronicle and Boston Globe by Conversational Reading and Bookdwarf, respectively, as well as to Ed’s Tanenhaus Brownie Watch, were left out.) A few days after my essay appeared, it was announced that the editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Steve Wasserman, was resigning. A few days after that, it was announced that the Times would be making the contents of their Sunday book supplement freely available to nonsubscribers–and so they are.
As chagrined as I am to see part of my essay become instantly obsolete, I’m delighted that we can all read the LATBR again. Thanks, Sarvas.
Also, at the end of the Reader essay, I discuss the Lit Blog Co-op. Here my timing proves a little better: the LBC has announced our first Read This! selection this very day. Hie thee thither.