“In other words I not only have to read that book, I have to read everything that author wrote and I have to read things that are similar to it. And people always say, “I love your book reviews, you should write more of them,” and people have asked me if I want to collect my book reviews, and that’s a book I might do 10 years down the road, when I feel I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve written my last book review. I’d like to write an essay about why I’ve written my last book review and publish my reviews as a way of saying, “If you’re going to write a book review, get it right. Do your fucking homework and get it right.” So, you see, it’s a real chore for me to write a book review because it’s like a contest. It’s like I’m writing that book review for every bad book reviewer I’ve ever known and it’s a way of saying (thrusts a middle finger into the air) this is how you ought to do it.”…more

- John Irving

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