“The Enchantress of Florence” by Salman Rushdie
I don’t quite know what to make of this book. There were so many storylines in so many countries at so many different times, all overlapping and sloshing…
New Kerouac novel
I was excited to read recently that Jack Kerouac’s unpublished first novel The Sea is my Brother is to be published next…
“The Unconsoled” by Kazuo Ishiguro
Have you ever had one of those dreams where you are trying to get somewhere but things keep going wrong? You get…
“The Anatomy of Prose” by Marjorie Boulton
This is a rigorous 1950s analysis of prose, seeking to classify different elements of prose as you would classify insects or flowers.…
Still reading…
Despite appearances, I have not been promoting myself 24 hours a day 🙂 I finished The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie…
Radio interview
I was interviewed by Jo Thoenes on BBC Oxford yesterday. I had done radio and TV a few times when I was at the Wall Street Journal, but…
Sheer egoism
Yes, I went around bookshops looking for my book on the shelves. And I started taking photos of it... OK, so it's…
Launch!
I realised I haven’t written anything here for a week. The official reason is that I was busy – the unofficial reason…
On not knowing very much about anything
Even Tolstoy and Goethe and Proust must have had the odd moment when they wondered if they really knew what they were…