Pushed to positivity in book reviews

Book reviewers at major newspapers receive hundreds of books to read and analyze a year, and give positive reviews to more and more of them according to some reviewers. The praise inflation doesn't do the critics any good, but it can be hard to avoid. One critic looks back at his modest, and mischievous, proposal to positively write about only those books that he would recommend to friends or family.

Guests

• Dwight Garner: Nonfiction critic for the New York Times.
• David Ulin: Book critic for the Los Angeles Times. He's also a former board member of the National Book Critics Circle.

Resources

• Dwight Garner's "Crisis in Critville"
• Dwight Garner reviews in the New York Times
• Los Angeles Times Books page