Critic's Remorse

I spent most of the day reviewing income tax law. Not a terrible start, if dull as hell...

I ended up spending the night reviewing the first couple chapters of a novel written by an old dear friend of mine. "Review", "novel", "old", "dear", and "friend" should never reside in the same sentence. He was abundantly grateful that I was candid and sensitive about his work, but I can't help but think that the rush of new thoughts will be quelled by some overly interpretive view of my words...