Figure It Out‘s Wayne Koestenbaum had a typically elegant and esoteric By the Book printed in the New York Times Book Review.

He describes the Bosworth biography of Montgomery Clift as, “terse yet juicy,” describes desire for more carnal truths in writing, and his disappointment to discover that Spenser’s The Faerie Queene is not about fairies or queens.

Read the full By the Book here.