Bookworm, no. 130

Richard Joseph reviews Jason Guriel’s “Fan Mail.” Susan E. Walker on Giles Blunt’s “Bad Juliet.” A page from “Six for Saint-Pierre.” Inside the January/February issue.

Let’s Get Critical

Fan Mail: A Guide to What We Love, Loathe, and Mourn
Jason Guriel
Véhicule Press
200 pages, softcover and ebook

For much of the twentieth century, “critic” was a title granted to some sort of authority figure who would teach the reading public—sternly, uncompromisingly—to discern good art from bad. These days, such didacticism has largely …