The Ready Answer to Why Not?

Reflections from the Bell Curve: Close to a Guarantee

Soon after publishing the post above, I was challenged - not for the first time - about my longstanding resolve to avoid bashing any author or book on my blog. The conversation began when a reader casually mentioned the number of authors and books I routinely endorse here, then asked if I'd ever considered having a separate blog exclusively devoted to literature. When I said I had given that idea serious thought early on - and had re-thought and dismissed doing so several times over the ensuing years - the conversation moved to a friendly challenge. 

The first part of that challenge was asking what my rationale is when deciding whether or not to publish a post about a specific book. Answering that was automatic because that rationale is the same as when I select a book for my own club or suggest one to a different club: 1.) The quality of the prose must meet my admittedly subjective standards and ... 2.) The book must have moved me, at minimum, or better, elevated me. All other factors - date of publication, subject matter, politics, narrative approach, profane or chaste, etc. - never enter the picture. If a book does the above, a future blog post is possible.    

Answering the follow-up question was more time-consuming but still manageable. "How often do you read a book that doesn't make your arbitrary cut?" (OK, maybe the "arbitrary" part there is less friendly but it's still a fair question.) Because the practice of keeping a book journal pre-dates my blog by just under one year - April 2010 vs. March 2011 - I then scoured the table of contents for each of my book journals - just started #9 for anyone vaguely interested - and tried to recall which of those books never showed up on my blog. I resisted actually counting - I swear - but was able to later resume the challenging conversation with an estimate. It was a substantial number.  

The final part of this recent challenge returned to solidly friendly territory with another question for which I had a ready answer. "Why not publish posts about some of those books that didn't move you?" (There was no mention in the last question about my snobbish requirement for quality prose.) Until I publish, self or otherwise, my own first long-form book, I have not earned the privilege to publicly bash - no matter how limited the reach of this blog - someone else's.