To the Editors:

The New York Review is one of the most pleasant surprises in a long time. It is most enjoyable to read through a long series of book reviews without being besieged by ads, and distracted by half-witted, sugary columns of the book world, or best-selling lists. The reviewers are an extremely impressive lot and do not mince words in their refreshingly iconoclastic blasts. Salinger and Albee criticized at last!

The informality of the review is a relief from the intellectual acrobatics of the Times Literary Supplement. Inclusion of contemporary art works in the manner of the N. Y. Times Book Review Section, would make for a more effective format.

JAMES E. SHAPIRO

Milton Academy

Milton, Mass.

This Issue

June 1, 1963