Today I got  reviews in the Observer and the Boston Globe.  The exciting thing was that the Globe review was by George Scialabba. For people who care about the craft of book reviewing, Scialabba is the gold standard.  He has been honoured by the National Book Critics Circle, praised by people such as Russell Jacoby and Richard Rorty, written up in Inside Higher Ed.  Seeing his Harvard e-mail address, you might think him another Harvard professor, free with his opinions, but in fact Scialabba works as a building manager at Harvard –  that “endangered species” says Jacoby, “the independent writer and reviewer.”  I am not sure if the independent writer and reviewer is an endangered species — the blogosphere seems to have that task under control.  But Scialabba is someone who has — simply on the force of his voice, his insights — been turned to as a reviewer by most of the US’s most prestigious literary publications.  I admit it.  I am a fan.  You can download his last book here and buy his new book here.