Cliche of the Week 16 – Unputdownable

One way to cut through the hype of book descriptions is to look at the use by reviewers of the non-word unputdownable.

While the marketing departments at publishers love to see unputdownable in a review, it doesn't feel right to the editors who worry over words as a calling. Unputdownable, while conveying instant meaning, isn't considered a word by purists.

So far reviewers have been using this sparingly, mostly about thrillers, about once every second day by mainstream media somewhere in the w...