Ink Chorus: Marvin Murdick

Books Are Not Life ... But Then, What Is?

The large body of writing about books, the Ink Chorus I so much love to read, offers many wonderful chastisements, perhaps none better than the wheels-off rush of reading a smart, eloquent critic wading into some of your favorite reading with falchions flailing. This can of course be unsettling; I’d match my reading and my critical acumen against almost any reader currently turning pages in the world today (I defer in that acumen bit to three living readers, and on breadth and volume I no longer need to yield to anybody), but even that kind of foundation doesn’t allow me to read a hatchet-job of a beloved author with breezy aplomb.