Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Gone to the Litblogs: Scott Esposito's Conversational Reading

As I noted in my 4/5/06 post, "Blogs have changed the way books make their way into our culture (is there anyone under the age of 30 who still plows through The New York Review of Books?) And, as many long-time authors are finding out when they launch their latest books, fewer are being reviewed in print venues these days--- it's going to the litblogs." In my surfaris, I have come across a few -- alas, very few --- excellent litblogs, among them, Oakland, California-based writer Scott Esposito's Conversational Reading. So I zapped him an e-mail: which are the litblogs he regularly reads? He answered:
I'd say the best guide to the litblogs I regularly read is to have a look over at my blogroll. Out of those, favorites would include the Complete Review, and The Reading Experience, although there are certainly others.
I also asked him when, how, and why he started Conversational Reading.
I started the blog in August 2004, basically because earlier that summer I had discovered the world of litblogs and was excited to enter into the discussion. Nowadays, I try to provide a good mix of information that people will find useful (book recommendations, links to interesting reviews and pieces of news) and pieces of my own commentary, when I feel I have something worthwhile to say. I try to do a little literary criticism on the blog as well, but that's usually only when I'm reading a book that's really moving me.