the hunt
I get a sick pleasure out of hunting for "reader reviews" on online bookshops. One is either surprised by how lucid the critic is, or awed by the sheer quantity of sanctimonious crap that people can come up with. Either way, you win. For example, I once saw my cousin David Rakoff's book reviewed as having "all the wit and charm of Thomas Mann with a hangover."
Here's how to do it properly: pick an emotive issue (euthenasia, nun abuse, what-have-you) and a range of sites from pointy-headed to popular. Then just sit back and watch 'em bloviate.
As an example, look at this string of
reviews for "In Defense of Hunting: Yesterday and Today" by James Swann:
...the author rambles for pages - chapters!...by the end of the book I kept thinking of that old quote: 'The lady doth protest too much,' or whatever it is. Being out in the woods, on a boat on the lake, on a mountain- its all good for the soul, but you dont necessarily have to be shooting stuff to enjoy it...And he rambles too much - did I mention that?!?
Incidentally, Oscar Wilde described hunting as "the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible."
* joshua, 2/27/2004 08:28:11 PM
