Sydney Morning Herald reviews When Books Go Bad

A nice review of When Books Go Bad in the Sydney Morning Herald. Here's what they say: 

In 1949, not long before he died, George Orwell submitted a list of 140 names (all fellow writers) to the British Foreign Office, warning that these people (including EH Carr and JB Priestley) were, basically, suspicious. It’s just one of the many examples found in this catalogue of literary betrayals, insults and fights. Most of the time the feuds were verbal – as in Gore Vidal’s comment on the death of Truman Capote – “A brilliant career move”. Other times they came to fisticuffs, usually involving Hemingway and anybody who crossed him. And death! William Burroughs shot his wife dead in a William Tell prank gone wrong. Then there are the nasty reviews, like the US critic who said of Xavier Herbert’s Capricornia, “Don’t read it, and don’t drop it on your foot”. Or Virginia Woolf’s reaction to James Joyce’s Ulysses: “Under-bred … the book of a self-taught, working-class man and we all know how distressing they are …” Duels, the CIA, family break-ups and more. A timely reminder that controversy has never been far from the literary world.