Bok Review Bingo

I hardly think there is anything that drives a stake into the heart of a book review faster and with more determined force than a cliché. Book reviews that use clichés mean nothing, say nothing, and tell the reader nothing. They're like eating a cream puff when what you really want is prime rib -- they're unsatisfying and, ultimately, useless. ... And, at a time when book reviewers are busy whining about how nobody cares about books and nobody reads reviews and everyone is just a dope, you'd think the FIRST thing to go would be the meaningless clichés. But they're still there, draining the meaning out of anything the writer might have to say. Making what they write a bunch of useless exercises in syllabic combinations.

Michelle Kerns at The Examiner [via] has decided to launch a one-woman war against cliched book reviews and has invented a fun game complete with Bingo cards ready to print out! Reading the reviews in the major newspapers on Sundays has never seemed so much fun.  :  

Must say though, it's going to be harder than  ever to write reviews without recourse to these rather convenient terms ...

More on cliches in reviews here.