Free like beer and blogs

Alex Good has written a response to that "book blogs r killing criticism" thing in the Boston Globe. (I can't even work up enough interest to link to it.) Good, like me, was ready to ignore the whole thing – really, it's like arguing that trawling free amateur online porn cannot compare with the exquisite thrill of watching a pro like Ron Jeremy stick his shmekl in someone else's moyl – but takes exception to one of the editorial's assertions: that book blogs are full of book reviews, and thus crowding out traditional print reviews.

Anyone who reads the odd book blog knows that's not true by a mile. Most of it, as Good says, is link-with-a-comment. (And if the link has anything to do with Harry Potter or some other mega-bestseller, the comment must be of the eye-rolling variety.)

Personally, I have occasionally considered writing the odd review for this site, but on the rare occasion that I do have a few consecutive minutes of free, non-kid-corrupted time, the list of things I'd rather do than write a book review for myself and for free unscrolls across the floor. In the end, I'm a little like Ron Jeremy: I'd rather get paid for it.