How Not to Review A Book

While I'm trying to finish last month's book review, was thinking about this post by reviewer jonathan mccalmont and this reply by SF bastard gabe chouinard (both propagators of the upcoming reviews mag Scalpel, which is set to go live on May 15).

Ironically, my books posts are not how to do a book review, especially the "street-level criticism" being pushed by C&G, given the lack of time I sometimes have in posting on my blog. Hence the book round-up for the month style, which is kinda useless because I usually only have enough space to describe a book in a small paragraph and then say why I like it or not, and some other thought that struck me as I read the book. Nothing more, nothing less.

But I wouldn't mind doing a "real" review of a book, especially since I have a habit of citing this trivia or that fact about another book (see my citation on Brackett/Stover). Yanno, go the whole mile.

Which is why I'm reaaaally trying to finish John Meaney's Bone Song (the UK Gollancz edition) as soon as possible. Given how new it is, I figure I should strike while the iron is hot. (Oh look! Rob has a review on SFFWorld! And so does Nethspace! And there's a piece each at Guardian and Times Online! Dammit, when did I read start to read so slow?)