Summary
Orwell describes the lifestyle of a book reviewer living in a cold stuffy and untidy bedsitter, trying to motivate himself to start reviewing an assorted batch of books, working late into the night, and getting inspiration just in time to meet the copy deadline.
Orwell laments the attitude that every book deserves a review and asserts that in more than nine cases out of ten the book is worthless. The week-in week-out production of snippets reduces the book reviewer to the "crushed figure in a dressing gown". He notes that books on specialist subjects ought to be reviewed by experts, but for practical reasons they end up with the editor's "team of hacks". He would prefer to give very long reviews to the few books of merit and ignore the majority. His consolation is that a book reviewer is better off than a film critic.
Read more about this topic: Confessions Of A Book Reviewer
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