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Books

There’s nothing wrong with plugging a friend’s book

Alexander Masters argues that knowing an author is a positive advantage when it comes to book reviewing

14 November 2015

9:00 AM

14 November 2015

9:00 AM

The advantage of reviewing books by a friend is that you can invite him out for a walk across the South Downs and menace him with blunt questions. Books pages editors call this sort of thing ‘backscratching’ and ‘logrolling’, as if, instead of engaging in proper criticism, you and your mate had spent the time on a sauna holiday in Sweden.

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Alexander Masters is the author of Stuart: A Life Backwards and The Genius in My Basement.

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As the US decides, so can you

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