Working: Critic Charles Finch on Reading Hundreds of Books a Year

This week, host Rumaan Alam talks about the aims of literary criticism with novelist and book critic Charles Finch. In the interview, Charles discusses the impact of platforms like Goodreads (where anyone can be a critic) and explains why it’s so hard for people to make a living writing book reviews. He also talks about how a book’s popularity can affect his response to it and how it’s possible to get burned out from writing too many reviews.  After the interview, Rumaan and co-host Isaac Butler discuss their relationships to criticism, as people who both write reviews and produce creative work.  In Slate Plus, Rumaan asks Charles about the critics he admires most and the titles he would assign if he were teaching a course on criticism. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on Working. It’s only $35 for the first year, and you can get a free two-week trial. Sign up now to help support our work. Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com.   Podcast production by Cameron Drews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices