By Peter BishopThe reviewer’s task is to place a book in a reader’s thinking about books. The bookseller’s task is to place a book where the kind of reader most likely to be interested in the book is most likely to chance upon it.
Sometimes it’s easy for a reviewer to place a book for a reader –another triumphant run of the plough down a well-worn furrow –but hey, look at that earth move! But it shouldn’t be easy: a book –this is a passionate reader speaking– is the very reverse of a homogenised product. If the furrow runs east to west, take the plough to the north! A book can be a whole new world of language and story and connection… (more…)
