The things you miss when you skip the book review pages on the weekend.

Marc Weisblott at Paved.ca has the basic story of how T.O. writer Ryan Bigge had unkindly reviewed Globe and Mail columnist Leah McLaren's new novel The Continuity Girl in the Toronto Star this past Sunday.

McLaren has taken a shot at Bigge back in 2001, calling him a (gasp!) lurper! ("We know Bigge and this observation was written years ago and we think that this is an unfair description," sayeth The Torontoist). Bigge saved the globeandmail.com page on which it appeared. Apparently it meant something to him.

BTW, novelist Joanna Goodman reviewed McLaren's book in the Globe and quite liked it. She even wrote this:

McLaren has been touted as Canada's Carrie Bradshaw. Those are some big Manolo Blahniks to fill, but The Continuity Girl proves McLaren's got the style, wit and intelligence to do it.

There you have it!

Warren Kinsella apparently opined about this Bigge-vs.-McLaren stuff in today's National Post, but it ain't available online to the general public.

McLaren did talk briefly about the Bigge review during an online chat she did on Valentine's Day:

Greg Valentine from Toronto Canada writes: How do you deal with harsh personal and professional criticism such as the review of Continuity Girl that appeared in a rival paper on Sunday? Do you every confront the reviewers if you feel the criticism is unjustified?

Leah McLaren: Hi Greg, I know the review you're talking about and I didn't read it. I try not to look at that stuff. I have enough negative voices in my head without adding someone else's. At the same time I'm not complaining. When you do a public job there are lots of perks, but there is also a downside, which is public criticism. I just see it as part of the job.

I suspect I won't be buying The Continuity Girl, and I haven't read Kinsella's column, but if Bigge was looking more for an opportunity to give payback from a shot he took almost four years ago than to review a book, then the Star erred by assigned him to review McLaren's work.

PS: Andrew Coyne also has written on this matter.