Over on Blogcritics I’ve just got up a review of Joanna Frueh’s Swooning Beauty. I conclude:
One of the fascinating aspects of book reviewing is encountering books far outside your normal frame of references, taking approaches that are new, but sometimes shine light and new thoughts on your existing work. I’ve written a thesis arguing for the corporeality of the online world, but Swooning Beauty presents a view of a very different form of corporeality – one that, it has to be said, given the dominance of porn in the online world, has something new and relevant to say. I can’t see myself ever writing anything like Swooning Beauty, or indeed regularly reading such writing, but it has given me a lot to think about.
It is definitely different, and I might not have stuck with it had I not had an obligation to review it, but I’m glad that I did.
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