Eschew these overused book review words

A reality check for all those many book reviewers and magazine editors out there:

poignant
compelling
intriguing
eschew
craft (used as a verb)
muse (used as a verb)
lyrical

This is a list of what Paper Cuts, the New York Times book blog, says are the seven deadly words of book reviewing – words that aren’t bad in themselves, but which crop up with “wearying regularity” in book reviews.

Commenters added some of their own picks:

nuanced
subtle
searing
readable
masterful
magisterial
engaging
luminous
taut
epic
mordant
trenchant
chthonic

[thanks to Quillblog for alerting us to this]