Windy weather for Book Reviews

"In order to feel at home, you have to have a book and a bed, and you don't take any old thing to bed."

Reading in bed

This is what one of the panellists at the London Book Fair in April said in a discussion about book reviews. 

There are twenty-five literary supplements in Spain, the classic Times Literary Supplement in England and the daily French literary TV-show "Un Livre un jour" with Olivier Barrot as TV host help readers make qualified book choices.  

Nonetheless, in Europe many readers of serious literature find that the literary scene is becoming more and more commercialised.  But the panel discussion in London revealed that Americans are envious of the European book review scene. They drew attention to the fact that Europeans have a much more diverse literary scene with more quality reviews than the Americans. 

There are vast differences in literature coverage. For instance in Spain 25 stand-alone literary supplements are published, which is in stark contrast to the situation on the other side of the Atlantic where the number of major newspapers and journals doing serious book reviews is diminishing quickly.

A gap needs filling
One of the Americans crying out, as book reviews are rapidly becoming an endangered species is Dr. Jeffrey Herf. He is a history professor in 20th century European intellectual history at the University of Maryland, who now publicly advocates for an American weekly review of books. Of course he realizes that there are numerous book reviews published by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal, but they only review a fraction of the 10,000 books a year that let alone the University Press publishes each year. In addition to the academic literature there are thousands of other books that are not reviewed. He is well aware of the fact that certain books will never be reviewed due to their poor quality or niche topic. But there are numerous books of high academic and literary qualities that are being published, but only their own narrow circles hear about them. These books are literally not getting the attention they deserve. An entrepreneur is needed to create a new American weekly book review. It should be based on quality, in-depth studies, and a wide range of coverage, because as Herf states: "at the moment there is a hole in our cultural life where a bridge needs to be built."

Steadfast England
But what is the situation in Europe? England's Times Literary Supplement, TLS has since 1902 been reviewing the work of the 20th century's leading writers and thinkers. At the moment they annually review between 1,000 and 1,500 books published in England and elsewhere. This is of course only a small proportion of the books published, but they do ensure that important works in a broad range of disciplines such as philosophy, history, and economics are dealt with. Whether TLS ends up with red or black figures at the end of the year may be important to TLS, but big brother, the Times of London has supported them when needed. With a year's subscription at €169.04 in the UK and €205.79 for the rest of Europe, they are also aware of changing trends. More ads have been added to the supplement printed on inexpensive paper. Just like other newspapers and magazines, they can feel new winds blowing.  

Professionals and amateurs on the book scene
Certainly there is a trend in Britain towards publishing the opinions of the "ordinary reader" to books, particularly novels. As Fiction Editor Lindsay Duguid at Times Literary Supplement points out, the weekly books' pages of the Times and the Guardian are very aware of the influence of Internet book groups and are keen to represent readers' responses. She notes that the Guardian website always has many contributions from readers who take issue with the professional reviewer, and in the Saturday review there is a summary of current debate on literary websites. "The TLS presents a slightly different case," explains editor Duguid. "Our coverage is very wide, it includes academic books and our reviewers are encouraged to write carefully considered literary analyses. We hope there will continue to be room for both the print media and the web-based discussion. "

Reviews or Weblogs
Some see a great potential in the new mass media, because the tools are in the hands of the public. Stout reviewers are no longer the only ones in power. Weblogs may be a counterbalance to the all to well-known media arrogance. Others see bloggers as a swarm of people with no rules and no credentials. But one thing all parties involved, be it bloggers or journalists, agree upon, is that business is not as usual in the media.

Reviews are vital
But booklovers of all kinds will agree that a home needs both a book and a bed, and you don't just take any old thing to bed. That's why we need high quality literary supplements. Whether the media providing reviews is print or on-line isn't as important as long as there are publicly accessible quality reviews on a broad range of books. Readers worldwide are pleading for assistance so that they can bring the best books to bed.