Brian Southam writes about these reviewers : `` their job was merely to provide brief ( short ) notices , extended with quotations , for the benefit ( good ) of women readers compiling their library lists and interested only in knowing whether they would like a book for its story , its characters and moral '' . Moreover , as Brian Southam , who has edited the definitive volumes on Austen 's reception , writes in his description of these reviewers , `` their job was merely to provide brief notices , extended with quotations , for the benefit of women readers compiling their library lists and interested only in knowing whether they would like a book for its story , its characters and moral '' .