The New York Times - Book Review - USA (2022-03-13)

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 5

raise an objection about the

criticism of the book’s copy edi-

tor. Per your critic, Margalit Fox,

the copy editor “should have”

caught various third-person

plural pronoun nonagreements

with singular subjects. That

grammatical nonagreement may

be a bugaboo of Fox, but surely

she, or an editor of the Book

Review, should have realized that

this was likely a deliberate deci-

sion on the part of the author

(and the book’s editors) to use

the third-person plural pronouns

in lieu of gendered pronouns. I

can’t imagine how difficult it was

to copy-edit that book, and for

your critic to single out the poor

copy editor for the one (per-

ceived) flaw in it seems most

unfair and, if I might add, more

than a little tone-deaf.

THERESE MAGEAU

MONTPELIER, VT.

♦

TO THE EDITOR:

This note is a result of enjoying

Margalit Fox’s review of Dennis

Duncan’s “Index, A History of

the.” It reminded me of an index

story contained in The Times’s

March 9, 1997, obituary of Waldo

Nelson, the author of an influen-

tial pediatric textbook:

“The book was a family affair.

Dr. Nelson would call out items

from each page as his wife and

three children wrote them down

on index cards. The children

were not eager to help, but Dr.

Nelson insisted that it was a

contribution to their education.

“In humorous retribution, his

daughter Ann introduced a line

in the index. Under ‘birds, for

the,’ she listed the entire book,

pages 1-1413.”

DANIEL H. BORINSKY

ALEXANDRIA, VA.

A Review Rave

TO THE EDITOR:

What a great review of Jennifer

Haigh’s “Mercy Street,” by Rich-

ard Russo (Feb. 20). He explores

the book’s themes and characters

instead of listing plot events, as

too many reviewers do. And in

his last paragraph he offers a

surprising personal glimpse into

the reviewer’s fear of being “gob-

smacked” by a superior book,

even when he is. This is the kind

of review that sends me straight

to my bookstore.

MARYLEE MCNEAL

SAN FRANCISCO

Airborne Memories

TO THE EDITOR:

I would like to thank the Book

Review for giving us the oppor-

tunity to enjoy “Stories That

Soar,” by Liniers (Feb. 20). It was

a profound journey for me. Lin-

iers invites us on a beautifully

created journey that begins with

his own childhood; goes through

a reflection about two books:

“The Year We Learned to Fly,”

by Jacqueline Woodson, and

“Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers,”

by Lina al-Hathloul and Uma

Mishra-Newbery; and ends with

his own fatherhood of a “flying”

toddler. His poetic invitation to

solve a mystery by going

through his life and using the

books he reflects upon as tools

was a precious experience to me.

MELANIA TORRES WILLIAMS

CORAL GABLES, FLA.

CORRECTION

A review on Feb. 13 about Harley

Rustad’s “Lost in the Valley of

Death” misidentified the city

where the subject of the book,

the adventurer and trekker Jus-

tin Alexander Shetler, had once

led a punk band. It was San

Francisco, not Seattle.

[email protected]

Letters

STEPHEN DOYLE

Category Error

TO THE EDITOR:
In her Feb. 27 review of “Index,
A History of the,” by Dennis
Duncan, a lecturer in English at
University College London, Mar-
galit Fox laments the appearance
in this book of such phrases as
“no such character presented
themselves” and “which anyone
in their right mind would want to
avoid.” Those of us laboring in
academia are not surprised that
such un-English phrases show
up in a book, even one printed by
the prominent publisher W.W.
Norton & Company.
As a frequent peer reviewer of
scientific manuscripts, I have
noted that over the last 40 years
the quality of writing has gone
steadily downhill. This is not the
result of more and more scholars
from non-English-speaking coun-
tries publishing their research in
the de facto medium of scientific
exchange: English. What au-
thors from countries like the
United Kingdom, Australia and
the United States produce can be
deplorable as well.

MARCEL DIJKERS
BERKLEY, MICH.

♦

TO THE EDITOR:
To the otherwise delightful re-
view of what seems to be an
even more delightful book, “In-
dex, A History of the,” I must

POTTER

THE WORLD

OF BILL

CUNNINGHAM:

The King of Street Style

AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD

Including a whimsical

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