I’ve been reading Phillipa K. Chong’s “Inside the Critics’ Circle”, in which she attempts to discover the process by which books get reviewed. It’s a very interesting read. I haven’t finished it yet, so am not in a position to review it as such, but I was struck by the extract cited here.

Although I’ve been writing for donkeys’ years, I’ve never written anything for radio.

Every time I teach my Writing for Blogs course, it transpires that some most of the people on the course do not read any blogs.

The structure of this book is very interesting.

The style is plain and simple, and all the more powerful for that.

Quite by chance I’ve been reading about bureaucracy recently — such as in customer (dis)service — and it reminded me of North Thames Gas’s attempts to drive me mad. That was many years ago and North Thames Gas doesn’t even exist any more, but even now the mere mention of a gas company starts my nervous twitch going.

This is a transcript of a conversation between Fred Terryman and myself. It’s been lightly edited, with the pauses taken out for ease of reading.

Most of my reviews are very positive, and I frequently conclude by recommending the book in question despite my criticisms. However, I do think it’s important to be honest about a book’s or an exhibition’s downsides. I also like to open a review, where possible, with  a personal, perhaps humorous, observation.

The book includes the obituary writer who can hardly wait for his subjects to drop dead so that he can at last see his work in print.

Once again I am presenting you with two very slightly different reviews of the same book.

Once again I am presenting you with two different reviews of the same book.