I always dreamed that I’d like to read a book in bed and cause it to become gradually lighter by tearing
out a page as soon as I read it. It’s supposed to be sinful to destroy a book that way, but I’ve long wanted
to do it to one I didn’t like.

Well, the other night I found a dilapidated paperback of A Flash of Green by John MacDonald. It’s a good
story and I liked it, but the book had been wet and was falling apart already, so I lay in bed and ripped
out every page as I read it and tossed it onto the scattered heap on the floor.

That was curious, reading the final paragraph of an entire book with nothing in my hand but one page.

So that’s been done, and nobody else needs to do it, ever. –Leon Hale, columnist for the Houston Chronicle

(I liked that story, but I haven’t tried the exercise in lightening because Mr. Hale already did it.)

Welcome to this week’s Saturday Review of Books. Here’s how it works. Find a review on your blog posted sometime this week of a book you’re reading or a book you’ve read. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can just write your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Now post a link here to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.

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Thanks to everyone for reviewing, blogging, and linking.

Peruse past Saturday Reviews.