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September 5, 2007, 10:48 am
Tossing It Out
By Dwight Garner
Commenting on the video clip, in the post below this one, of a woman tearing up a pile of books and manuscripts, a reader writes:
On his monthly book program “Druckfrisch,” translation, “Hot off the Press,” on Germany’s ARD Channel, critic Denis Scheck takes on the current bestseller list, by standing in a book warehouse, poised between a table and a roller belt that leads to a trash bin. If he likes a book, he places it gently on the table. If he doesn’t, he throws it down the roller belt, but not before skewering the offending material with rapier wit.
Thanks to the impossible magic of YouTube, it isn’t hard to find a clip (above) of the jolly, avuncular Mr. Scheck, working his way through a pile of the books on a Der Spiegel bestseller list. It’s a pleasure to watch even if you don’t know German.
Scheck seems tough but fair. Out of the 10 books he discusses, four are saved from the rubbish bin.
It occurs to me that America could use a pop-intellectual television book critic like Scheck – someone who’s smart, truth-telling, unpretentious and unafraid to talk about (and take on) the books most people are actually reading.
I suspect Scheck makes a lot of enemies every month. But I also suspect his viewers go looking to adopt a few of the orphan books he saves from the bottom of the trash can.