by Sarah Statz Cords
Okay, I know that headline is a bit hysterical, but this week I feel that, with the demise of Kirkus Reviews (and its fellow publication Editor & Publisher), a little bit of light has gone out of my book-reading, or, to be more exact, my book-review-reading, life.
I have a troubled relationship with book reviews. They are connected with books, so of course I love them by association. But they can also be boring to read, completely unhelpful, and, often as not, penned by critics with whom I disagree as consistently and vehemently as I used to disagree with all of Gene Siskel’s movie picks (I’m indifferent about Ebert, but I used to use Siskel as my anti-recommender; whatever he liked I avoided). I have never been in the position to be a book selector or fiction or nonfiction buyer for a library, so I’ll admit my contact with book review sources has largely been for my own entertainment and education.
That said, I always enjoyed Kirkus Reviews. While many critics leveled charges of “snarkiness”* at their reviewers, I often found their reviews to be meaty, opinionated, and entertaining. In fact, you got the feeling that actual book-reading people, with opinions, knowledge, perhaps even a sense of humor, and their own ways with language were writing the reviews. And there was none of this “only positive reviews published” stuff. (Which is fine, as a policy, but always leaves me with this question when I can’t find a title in such a publication: did they see the book, and not like it? Or did they simply miss it? Or what?) So yes, I, along with several readers who commented this past week on Fiction-L, will miss Kirkus.
But the sun keeps coming up, and new books keep being published. So my question for you this week is: Where should I look now for my book reviews? What review source do you trust for all your book reviewing needs?
*Today at noon I will be observing a short moment of silence for Kirkus, and for well-informed and entertainingly presented snark in general. I’d love it if you’d join me in spirit.
Note: Cindy Orr is still recuperating but will return with her fabulous Monday RA Run Downs soon. In the meantime, she is still compiling our New, Noteworthy, and No-Brainer lists (look below) and Most Wanted Mashups (look to the right). Thanks Cindy–and feel better soon!
I’ll admit to it too – I haven’t used Kirkus in years and never really cared for it. Can’t say why in particular, because I do like me some good snark… but I found that they were just a little “too much” for practical collection development usage. I always preferred PW because they review for the booksellers (meaning, they will really tell you what’s what, concisely, because there are sales involved) and of course, LJ (I do review for them, but even if I didn’t I would prefer them for their short and concise library-collection-centered reviews).
Hm, Melanie, this is very interesting. I never really thought about review formats, but I must say I’ve always rather enjoyed Publishers’ Weekly myself, although I sometimes wonder about their honesty, as they are pretty much in the business to sell books.
I must admit I like a good snarky review. Now I mainly head to the blogs Bookslut and BookNinja for my cynical book news and reviews.
I like PW more than LJ, but I read them both. I like the format of the reviews better, and I like to read the publishing news more than the library news. But now that I’m seeing comments about snarky reviews, I’m sorry I missed out on Kirkus.
Melanie,
I’m kidding, of course. Who on earth has time to read ALL the review sources? Sometimes you just have to go with what you have available.
Well, we’ll overlook it, just this once.
Do you prefer PW to Library Journal? Any particular reason why or why not?
Laura,
You and me both. Snark, when combined with knowledge and style, can be a beautiful thing to behold.
I always aspired to be snarky enough to write for Kirkus. So sad.
Maybe I should post this annomously…I may be the only librarian who does not read Kirkus. We are a small/medium library and I use Publishers Weekly and Booklist when I’m selecting. I do hate that we are losing a profession source and he fact that there will be fewer opions out there.