The Second Pass Reviews Little-Known Gems
Posted by Erin Brown in books publishing on March 12, 2010
The Second Pass, an online journal devoted to reviews, essays, and blog posts about books, is celebrating its first birthday. Founded by Brooklynite writer/editor John Williams, the site is building a reputation for its thoughtful and unpretentious coverage of all kinds of titles, from underpublicized debut novels (see Carrie Tiffany’s Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living) to obscure works by best-selling giants (see Stephen King’s nonfiction treatise on the horror genre, Danse Macabre).
On the occasion of the anniversary, in the spirit of The Second Pass’s commitment to championing little-known titles, Williams asked contributors to write about their favorite out-of-print books. The founder reflected, “one of my main goals [in launching the site] was to approach reading the way that readers do, not necessarily the way that publishers and even many other reviews do. Publishers naturally want to tell you about what’s new or what’s evergreen. But most readers know the pleasure of somehow discovering and falling in love with a book that has fallen from view. And no status is farther from view than the dreaded ‘out of print.’”
The resulting list is wonderfully eclectic and edifying. Standout titles for me are Julian Cope’s “LOUD and FAST” Krautrocksampler (1995) and Wilfrid Sheed’s “deeply smart, hysterically funny, and impossible to resist quoting” Essays in Disguise (1990).
The Second Pass has compiled some other interesting/provocative lists, too, including The 2110 Club (books from the last 10-15 years that are likely to be read a century from now) and Fired from the Canon (a list of hallowed tomes for which life is too short).
The site has already expanded my reading horizons.
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