Culturebox: I Like Dwight

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culturebox I Like Dwight Let us now praise Dwight Garner, New York Times daily book critic. By Timothy Noah Posted Friday, Jan. 7, 2011, at 7:45 PM ET Literary culture is supposed to be in decline, especially inside cash-strapped newsrooms. In recent years newspapers have been eliminating book sections and pink-slipping book critics left and right. But someone forgot to tell Dwight Garner. Two years ago Garner moved from the New York Times Book Review, where he was an editor (he also wrote its sprightly "Inside the [Bestseller] List" and the "Paper Cuts" blog), to the daily Times, where he joined book critics Michiko Kakutani (whom Ben Yagoda, in a 2006 Slate Culturebox, labeled "prim" and "schoolmarmish") and Janet Maslin (who was shifted to the books beat after she burned out on the movies beat). Instantly he breathed life into Times books coverage, stirring half-forgotten memories of the pleasure once derived from reading, in that same space, Anatole Broyard and John Leonard. Garner's last two reviews were especially good. On Jan. 4, he published a deft takedown of Annie Proulx's new memoir, Bird Cloud. "Reading Ms. Proulx's prose," he wrote, "is like bouncing along rutted country roads in a pickup truck with no shock absorbers." He then offered an example that "made me put her book down and pace around for a while, vigorously rubbing my forehead": To continue reading, click here. Timothy Noah is a senior writer at Slate. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Loughner's Former Philosophy Professor: "His Thoughts Were Unrelated to Anything in Our World" Hitchens: The Disgustingly Empty Justification for Pakistan's Latest Jihadist Murder Goldman-Facebook Deal Shows How Wall Street Gives Short Shrift to Average Investors	Advertisement
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