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Book critic Jerome Weeks is leaving The Dallas Morning News. Weeks accepted a buyout (offered to 111 employees) rather than work on what is to be a greatly reduced Arts section. Editorial employees were given the chance to write a farewell column, but it had to be approved by the powers that be... Weeks's wasn't. But thank goodness here it is, posted in 'Critical Mass: The Blog of the National Book Critics Circle.'

He says many wonderful things about reading and books in this column, so I urge you to take a look, but I just had to pull this out:

"A book columnist must read in gross tonnage, read hastily in trains, planes and lunch lines and read books no one should bother with. One can endure a film or a concert for two hours; reading a pointless book can take days. Recall those dreaded high school assignments: A bad book can seem like a prison sentence."

I try pretty hard to avoid books I know I'll hate; there are so many out there, and I'd rather spend my time reading ones I care about and can then recommend with enthusiasm. But being a critic means reading pointless books, overwrought books, well-meant narratives that went astray and nasty screeds, sometimes, too.

Fortunately, being exposed to poor writing makes the great writing even more of a treat -- and it comes along much more frequently than newspaper and magazine publishers who are reducing arts coverage seem to understand. There are still plenty of wonderful and valuable books out there. While I'm sad that Jerome Weeks will no longer be reading them for professional purposes, I hope that his reading for pleasure stack is piled high with great books.

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