Why Read Book Reviews?

Tim Foley for The Chronicle Review

By Jeffrey Wasserstrom

Each year in midsummer, I head to North Carolina to spend time with family and friends in a rented beach house. Many things during this period set life apart from other times. I spend lots more time than usual lolling in the ocean and eating shrimp. And I read more book reviews. In fact, aside from online reports about China and whodunits, reviews are about all I read.

This is because a friend who joins us at the beach subscribes to the Times Literary Supplement