An obituary for newspaper book reviews?

There's considerable hand-wringing about the shrinking book-review sections in newspapers. Several large papers have recently scaled back or eliminated their book coverage, prompting the National Book Critics Circle to launch a Campaign to Save Book Reviewing.

The NBCC is even circulating a petition protesting the Atlanta Journal Constitution's elimination of its book editor position.

Oh, puleeze.

I think Motoko Rich nailed this topic today in today's New York Times:

... [N]ewspapers can pique the interest of a general reader, said Oscar Villalon, books editor at The San Francisco Chronicle. Blogs, he said, are “not mass media.” The Chronicle, for example, he said, has a circulation of nearly 500,000, a number not many blogs can achieve.

On the other hand, committed readers who take the time to find a literary blog may be more likely than a casual reader of the Sunday newspaper to buy a book. “I know that everyone who comes to my site is interested in books,” said Mark Sarvas, editor of The Elegant Variation, a literary blog that publishes lengthy reviews.

And newspaper book reviews, which are often accused of hewing too closely to “safe choices,” could learn something from the more freewheeling approach of some of the book blogs, said David L. Ulin, who edits the book review at The Los Angeles Times.

“One of the troubles with mainstream print criticism is that people can be too polite,” Mr. Ulin said. “I feel like an aspect of the gloves-off nature of blogs is something that we could all learn from, not in an irresponsible way, but in a wear-your-likes-and-dislikes-on-your-sleeves kind of way.”

Amazon customer reviews are another nail in the coffin of print book reviews. Sure, there are millions of clueless book reviews on Amazon. But a quick scan of the top few Amazon reviews helps readers make buying decisions, something that print reviews seldom do. All too often, newspaper reviews are merely recycled publisher-generated publicity, which doesn't help anyone.

"Somehow the passion and excitement of books and opinion is cropping up not on traditional book review pages but in the dreaded lowbrow customer comments sections of retail websites," admits Pat Holt, former San Francisco Chronicle book editor.

I detest the homogenization and dumbing-down of traditional media as much as anyone. But in the case of book reviews, it seems that the market is saying something important: Online communities do a better job with book criticism.

Pining for the days of voluminous, serious book coverage in newspapers makes about as much sense as wishing we could return to the days of reading books by candlelight. It's a new day.

What do you think?