Get Shorty and the 10 Rules of Writing Elmore Leonard, who died at the age of 87, was one of the most visual writers America has produced. It's no wonder that 26 of his novels and short stories have been adapted for the screen. He had a deceptively simple style that brought his characters [...]
Mother's Milk book review Patrick Melrose is a well-born, forty-something London barrister who, having burned through his inheritance, is now reduced to having to work for a living. Married with two young sons, Melrose is what is commonly called a "survivor", although his actual survival is frequently in doubt. As a young child he [...]
White Teeth book review Back in December 2000, a few months after Zadie Smith's first novel was published, winning the Whitbread award, nominated for the Orange prize, thrusting her into the media spotlight, The Guardian's Simon Hattenstone interviewed her at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) where she was writer-in-residence. Hattenstone began by informing [...]
The Hours book review I'm not sure it's possible to find any kind of weakness in Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. As a work of fiction, it's as perfect in its way as anything I've ever read. And it proves, if it needed proving, that a book does not have to take up a [...]
The God of Small Things book review There is a particular kind of person I cannot stand. It's not the one who shouts into his cell phone on a crowded train - he may be hard of hearing, rather than simply rude. It's not even the one who pushes in front of me in [...]
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man book review Pity the poor reviewers when James Joyce burst onto the scene with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It was 1916, and even his most sympathetic critics, while admitting the book was well-written and the dialogue superb, were confused by the [...]
Of Mice and Men book review "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. . . They ain't got nothing to look ahead to." This is the story that George tells his friend Lennie over and over again. The [...]
Lolita book review In his otherwise self-serving piece in Harper's, the disgraced American broadcaster John Hockenberry says one thing I agree with entirely: "I feel absolutely certain that Lolita would never be published today". No, it probably wouldn't. This is, after all, a book about a middle-aged man raping an adolescent girl. Several times [...]
Franny and Zooey book review In his dedication at the beginning of Franny and Zooey, J. D. Salinger appeals to William Shawn, his "editor, mentor, and (heaven help him) closest friend", to accept this "pretty skimpy-looking book". It is, in fact, rather skimpy, being a short story and novella under one cover. Both appeared [...]
The Line of Beauty book review Not having read anything by Alan Hollingurst until now, it took me a while to get into the rhythm of his 2004 Booker Prize-winner, The Line of Beauty. Quite a while, actually. It wasn't until halfway through that I began to see the point of 438 pages devoted [...]
