Bloggasm

Scott Esposito began blogging in August 2004. He is also a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Chattahoochee Review, the San Francisco Chronicle, Boldtype, and the Rain Taxi Review of Books, among others. As if that wasn’t enough, he edits an online quarterly of essays, book reviews, interviews, and other items. It is called The Quarterly Conversation.

Simon Owens: Since you first started writing reviews for places like Rain Taxi all the way back in 2003, has your reviewing style changed at all? What are the main components of a good book review?

Scott Esposito: Certainly. One of the most important things is that I’ve increasingly tried to keep plot summary to the barest minimum and talk about more interesting things–a writer’s style, if the characters are interesting, how the book feels. I’ve also read an awful lot since 2003, and just by reading more extensively I’ve been able to make more connections between books I’ve read and books I’m reviewing. I think having that context is an essential part of writing a good review. I’d also say a good review should always avoid cliche–nothing’s less helpful than a reviewer who tells you that such-and-such book is “a feast for the senses” or something vague like that. A review should also include at least one lengthy quote from the book, to give a sense of the prose. And I think a good review will discuss elements of the book, as opposed to simply declaring that something is good or bad.

Simon Owens: Why did you decide not to use your two degrees you originally got from college?

Scott Esposito: Who says I’m not using them!? Well, literature was something I got into after I had already more or less solidified my college path, so that explains why I wasn’t a lit major. Aside from that, I went where the job market and my interests dictated, and that happened to not be in the political science or economics direction. But even though I don’t use the degrees professionally, I have a pretty healthy interest in politics, and I do think certain ideas from the realm of economics provide interesting frameworks for understanding the world. So I use them, sort of.

Simon Owens: Has the Lit-blog Co-op been as successful as you’d hoped?

Scott Esposito: Hard to say, since I’ve never really thought about what I hoped for it to achieve. From time to time I hear about authors and editors who are completely thrilled to have been a nominee, and I hear from lots of people who read the books that we nominate, so I guess we’re doing some good. I think for what we are–a bunch of people using the Internet to spread their passion for books–we’ve done pretty well. And it seems like each quarter we get more and more people involved, so we’re far from peaking.

Simon Owens: How did you become part of the Lit-blog Co-op?

Scott Esposito: Very simple. Mark Sarvas asked me to join and I didn’t waste any time in accepting.

Simon Owens: What upcoming book publications are you looking forward to the most?

Scott Esposito: That’s hard to say. Most of the books I’m looking forward to are currently sitting in a stack next to my bookshelf. I have so many books in my TBR pile, so it seems like anticipating books that aren’t even published yet isn’t necessary. I guess I’ll want to read more Bolano when it finally gets translated, and I’d be happy if DFW published another novel. As for books currently on the horizon, Zak Smith’s illustrations for Gravity’s Rainbow (due out in November) looks pretty cool.

Simon Owens: What are the five blogs you’d recommend to supplement the reading of your own?

Scott Esposito: My best answer to this is always “see my blogroll.” Five from there that I’ve been checking a lot recently: 3 Quarks Daily, CultureSpace, the Literary Saloon, Michael Berube, and The Reading Experience.