How much do politics play into book reviewing? What goes into assigning a critic a book review? Why should readers and the publishing industry alike listen to what critics have to say? Phillipa K. Chong takes us behind the scenes in the world of fiction reviewing, exploring the inherent subjectivity involved in the process, especially considering that seemingly anyone can be a reviewer. Deconstructing the complexities, values, cultural and personal anxieties that shape what critics do, Chong gives book-lovers an inside peek at the politics and social implications of daring to review a modern work of fiction. Phillipa K. Chong is a cultural sociologist who specializes in how we define and evaluate worth: this includes the value we assign to social objects (e.g. books, paintings, knowledge, opinions, etc) and social groups (e.g. experts, artists, minority groups, etc). Chong’s first book, Inside the Critics’ Circle: Book Reviewing in Uncertain Times was published in 2020 with Princeton University Press. Chong earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of Toronto, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. She currently works as an Assistant Professor of Sociology at McMaster University. Johanna Schneller is one of North America's leading freelance journalists specializing in entertainment features. She has profiled the most prominent actors of our time - among them, Julia Roberts, Johnny Depp, Diane Keaton, Brad Pitt, Julianne Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jeff Bridges, Liam Neeson, Robert Downey, Jr. and Nicole Kidman. Her cover stories have appeared in a variety of major magazines, including InStyle, Premiere, Vanity Fair, Ladies Home Journal and more. She was a senior writer in the Los Angeles bureau of GQ magazine from 1990 to 1994. Currently, she writes the weekly Fame Game column for The Globe and Mail, and for two seasons, she hosted TVO's renowned film series, Saturday Night at the Movies. She lives in Toronto with her husband, the writer and broadcaster Ian Brown, and their two children.