Yesterday Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning program featured a discussion on  book reviews and the state of literary criticism. The conversation between the host and guests takes a few interesting turns, and is worth a listen. Guest Dwight Garner mentions George Orwell, and if you haven’t read “Confessions of a Book Reviewer” you can find it here.  Although not freely available online,  Elizabeth Hardwick’s still relevant 1959 essay “The Decline of Book Reviewing,” from Harper’s Magazine is worth checking out as well.