The well-heeled book review is disappearing from the newspapers we don't buy. As Book Reviews fold into Calendar sections, the world sighs. Barely.
Just another newspaper editor laid off if you ask me. I'd be concerned about the competition if their computer skills weren't so marginal. While it's true that print will always have the advantage of being contextual and coherent, blogs have the advantage of being read. For example, the Paper Clip has 14 readers. That's 28 eyes.
I was going to weigh the merits and shortcomings of book reviews vs. blogs in an incredibly half-assed fashion, but then I came across this comment in the LA Times book blog. The lament of the forgotten victim:
Am I outdated?My middle grade novel is about an eleven year old girl and her relationship with her local newspaper editor.
You're back! FINALLY.