Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
"Puzzles in Wodehouse, like those in the real world, feature words with conveniently placed vowels - the god RA, the prophet EMU and the prophet ELI - more often than everyday life tends to. The emu pops up time and again"
On the Gatsby renaissance. Why now? "The novel, with its clear sense that money comes and goes, and that detachment from opulence is as empty a gesture as indulgence in it, seems to come to mind whenever we aren't doing so well"
You would be forgiven for thinking that spoilers ruin mysteries. But research suggests this isn't the case, rather that readers prefer spoiled to unspoiled stories. This is the paradox of suspense - that suspense survives certainty
On falling in love with audiobooks. "There are exquisite pleasures to be derived from hearing how a talented actor brings forth characters and stories—often in a way that points up one’s own inner-ear tone deafness to certain books"
Two centuries on, his books are scarcely read—but his influence is immortal. His stories and characters live on in operas, plays, films and children's books. The popular narrative of Scotland is still largely his invention
Superb short essay in favour of boat-rocking. "Originality is dangerous. It challenges, questions, overturns assumptions, unsettles moral codes." This is where great art comes from. If we believe in liberty, we must celebrate it
Captivating review of Laurent Binet's new historical novel "HHhH", about rise and fall of Reinhard Heydrich. SS intelligence chief known as "Himmler's brain". Planned Kristallnacht, convened infamous Wannsee Conference. Assassinated
Will paper books exist in the future? Yes, but they'll look different. This beautifully illustrated essay argues that as their role as vessels for delivering text is lost to digital, their other qualities will grow in importance
"Roundly praised, intermittently censored and occasionally eaten, Mr Sendak’s books were essential ingredients of childhood for the generation born after 1960 or thereabouts, and in turn for their children"
How to write the next "Fifty Shades Of Grey". "Every mega-hit is fast, emotionally charged and written simply, with a maverick hero who is in over his head. Each discusses a thorny issue and includes a pivotal sexual incident".
Review of Susan Sontag's Journals. "Sontag brings her frequently lofty subjects close to the reader, but not too close, so that she satisfies some yearning in the public to know or to understand without ever satisfying it entirely"
"For those of us who email on a regular basis, which is basically everyone, all the time these days, there's a certain pressure to use an '!' in every email, fearing we'd otherwise come off as dour, sarcastic or just plain rude"
