misc.
I’ll be there for you…
I got a call from one of my favourite writer friends this morning. He sounded morose. “I can’t write anymore,” he said. ”I’ve lost it. The knack. It’s gone.” I’d just that morning finished rereading Mal Peet’s most recent book, Life: An Exploded Diagram. Which is why he phoned. Because I’d phoned him a few [...]
Jealousy
Over the past month I’ve read two astonishing new books — one by Mal Peet (Life: An Exploded Diagram) and one by Patrick Ness (A Monster Calls). Neither is out till spring, but both are unmissable. I’ve also read the first few chapters of about twelve other books. It’s tough. Not very good books still [...]
My 2010 roundup of Best Things. Slightly late.
1. True Stories Told Live. Thank you Kerry, Kate and David. This event is becoming so cool, I’m not even going to tell you to come. The waiting list stretches for miles already. 2. Humboldt’s Gift, Saul Bellow. OK, I’m 54 and I’d never read Saul Bellow. Now I understand why Philip Roth is so [...]
Writer Bores Fan to Death.
The writer Mal Peet is one of the least boring people I know. I have, in fact, laughed harder in his company than just about any I can think of. So when he phoned sounding somewhat mournful, I knew things were bad. How bad? “Darling,” he began. “By a series of strange accidents, I ended [...]
What Should We Read After Twilight?
It’s the question on thousands of teenage lips, one I tried to bribe my daughter to ask her school librarian — as a test, and also because I was curious. A good librarian (ie, one who loves and reads books) should be able to answer even a really difficult question like ‘what should I read [...]
Oxford redux
So I dusted myself down from the hunt (hosed, more like — I was soaked to the skin and covered in mud), staggered home from West Sussex and fell into bed. The damned clocks would choose last weekend to go forward, so up at 6am to get dressed and organized for the Oxford Literary Festival. [...]
most popular