The Times Comes to Radcliffe New York Times Book Review editor Barry Gewen spoke at Radcliffe yesterday after being introduced by Drew Faust. He talked about how there's not much diversity on staff (shocker there) and how they like the mystery about how books get reviewed and why.

Pity he didn't talk about how incredibly boring the NYTBR is, and what a terrific job they do of making an exciting subject seem bloodless and irrelevant.....

Here's a little secret of mine that I think many people share: When you see that Sunday Times lying on your doorstep, don't you die a little bit inside, overwhelmed at the thought of plowing through the dreariest collection of sections that ever consumed hours and hours of your life? And yet, we feel guilty if we just admit that the whole thing bores us to tears and go out and do something useful with out Sundays.

What fun it would be to make the NYTBR lively and compelling and relevant....to make the book review into something that actually generated conversation, maybe even argument.  ¶ 6:20 AM