The Reader: A new review source for book lovers

It’s become an all-too-familiar story: Earlier this year, the Washington Post put an end to Book World, its weekly book review supplement.

“Books are expensive,” said bestselling author Jonathan Alter. “Readers need help to know what’s good out there.”

Alter says Book World’s closure created a void: “Thirty years ago, there were 30 American newspapers that, as part of their Sunday newspaper, had a book review section,” he said. Today, only The New York Times still maintains a separate book review section.

“So, we stepped into the breach, and we’re doing something about it,” said Alter, who is co-founder of The Reader, a new, general interest, online book review, to be published every weekday.

Executive editor Haley Sweetland Edwards said, “We will have mostly book reviews, but also essays about books, columns about the literary book world, and top authors like Robert Caro and Margaret Atwood and Ann Patchett will be providing recommendations of books that have slipped below the cultural radar.”

The Reader is part of Washington Monthly, a non-profit magazine. Edwards says authors lined up to be part of it: “We have 31 Pulitzer Prize-winners who have agreed to be contributors over the next year. These are the crème de la crème, and they will be reviewing for us.”

Alter said, “We will review books that are going to become big bestsellers, but we’re also going to review those books that sometimes fly under the radar, that are really good and that just aren’t getting the recognition that they deserve.”

And that’s where “Sunday Morning” comes in. Each weekend, we’ll offer two books for your consideration – one fiction, one non-fiction – courtesy of The Reader. 

November 15

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Story produced by Mary Raffalli. Editor: Jennifer Falk.