What about the little guys?

I always love finding a good book. I rely, mostly, on word-of-mouth to find worthwhile reading material. If someone whose word I trust recommends a book, of any genre, I will usually try to find a copy to read. Sometimes I'll go out on a limb and pull something off the shelf just on curiousity (judging it by its cover at times! For shame...).

But I love to stumble across obscure books, unknown poets, or eclectic essayists and find gems. Here's where I have a difficult time.

I love book reviews, and I scan them frequently for suggestions for reading material.

So why do all the "respectable" reviews all like to cover the same books? What happened to variety? What happened to the small presses? There must be books out there that aren't found on the front shelves of Borders that I can read about...

This weekend I scanned my usual litany of review sites and found a review of this same book in the LA Times, in the New York Times, and Salon.com. It's not that I don't think it'd be a good book to read, but I get tired of seeing the same titles again and again as I scan pages.

So does anyone have a suggestion for a site with reviews of less mainstream books? I don't want forums of people saying, "Good book! Read it!" or the like. I want insightful, well-thought-out opinions. Let me know...