The Old Book Reviews and the New Book Reviews

"Tom Lutz, who recently launched Los Angeles Review of Books (ambitiously described as “the first major, full-service book review to launch in the 21^st century”) has written a small manifesto on the occasion of adopting Susan Salter Reynolds and Richard Rayner, two orphan book reviewers from the Los Angeles Times. "
...
"Anyway, leaving Mr. Lutz to his manifesting, the LARB will not be the only “full-service” book review to launch in the 21st century. The BookBeast Section of The Daily Beast, The Daily’s book section and HuffPo Books might not be exactly the same as the old model, but they still cover books. Web sites like The Millions and BookSlut augment traditional books coverage with interviews and essays. More readers than ever can access books coverage from the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books and Bookforum (as well as The New Republic and The Nation), and make friends on GoodReads or write Harry Potter fan fiction or whatever it is that people like to read about books."

"There’s also a book site due to launch in October that is backed by Simon & Schuster, Penguin and the Hachette Book Group (which owns Little, Brown and others). It’s called Bookish and it has been described variously as the Pandora, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Pitchfork and Netflix of books. Despite being backed by three of the big six publishers, the site is claiming editorial independence, though to what extent that will be true remains to be seen, as it seems one will be able to buy books on it as well."

MORE: http://www.observer.com/2011/08/the-old-book-reviews-and-the-new-book-reviews/

http://www.observer.com/2011/08/the-old-book-reviews-and-the-new-book-reviews/

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