The Book Review

I just read the book, Solar, by Ian McEwan. I put it on reserve as soon as I heard about it, not waiting for a review. Enduring Love, Atonement, On Chesil Beach, a few of his other titles, were each creatively written, clever stories. I was game for this one.

Solar was enjoyable but it included a few slapstick scenes and a predictable main character. Elements I find distracting.

Walter Kirn (the author of Up in the Air) reviewed it in 1400 words for the New York Times this week. He said..."a book so good — so ingeniously designed, irreproachably high-minded and skillfully brought off — that it’s actually quite bad." With a sentence like that, what is a reader supposed to do?

Maybe just enjoy and appreciate the well crafted review.

I recently learned that there is an award for excellence in book reviewing - The Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Book Reviewing. In 1974, the community of reviewers and critics realized that respect for the profession was slight, and thus the National Book Critics Circle was organized as a professional support group. The award was later created after the death of Nona Balakian, one of the founding members of the NBCC.

Donna Seaman, a Chicagoan, and a finalist for the award this past year hopes the award "conveys to the public that book reviewing is a demanding, creative and significant endeavor, an art held to high standards..."

We read a lot of reviews here at the library, and write a few too. I'll be looking out for Donna's reviews. (and, of course, Des Plaines staff reviews in the TribLocal.)