January 11, 2009

Globe and Mail Book Section Goes Online

The Toronto Globe and Mail, which fondly declares itself "Canada's National Newspaper," has, like many other newspapers, recently eliminated their stand-alone books section. I haven't found the Globe's book section very stimulating for some time, so to me the loss is more symbolic than intellectual. (One of my theories about why the section is so often disappointing is that they ask too many authors--as opposed to, say, critics--to write their reviews.) Literary coverage will continue, but as part of the Focus section (odd, maybe, that it's not the Review section?). At the same time, however, the paper has dramatically expanded its online books coverage. I haven't had time to explore the site very thoroughly, but it seems to include many of the same features that the print version had as well as a range of interactive pieces, including a couple of blogs and an "Ask the Author" feature that looks like fun--P. D. James is scheduled for later this month, and she's an author I'd like to ask a few questions myself. I see that their Blogroll so far is exclusively other Globe and Mail blogs. I wonder if they will get outside that box a bit and link to some of the wide range of other book blogs (affiliated with newspapers and not) in and out of Canada.

2 comments:

JaneGS said...

You’ve been blogging for awhile, so I’m sure I’m not the first to pass along the Premio Dardos Award to Novel Readings. Regardless, I love Novel Readings and wanted to recognize and thank you for your valuable contribution to the blogging community. Thanks for putting in the time to make this such a great site.

Rohan Maitzen said...

Thank you! I'm glad you find the site worthwhile.