What are you reading now?

[Liz Rosenthal]

It's strange, Eva. The back jacket has comments from authors and Lincoln experts - phrases such as "elegantly wrought masterpiece," "meticulous scholarship," and "impeccably researched." I just didn't find it met those glowing praises. Have the folks who write the comments on the back of books always read the book cover to cover?

Actually, no, blurbs may or may not be based on the blurb-writer having read a book all the way through. It's all on the honor system and may be more of a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" sort of activity. I actually had the opportunity to write back-cover blurbs for two books in the last couple of years (one on Rachel Carson, the other on Robert Porter Allen's quest to save the Whooping Crane), and can proudly say that I did read both books cover-to-cover. But, again, whether all blurb-writers do that is another question entirely.