You Must Remember This – Joyce Carol Oates

I think there is an interesting comparison between this and Don DeLillo’s Underworld, which I reviewed a couple of weeks back. Maybe it says something about a male-female difference in approach[…]

The Burglar In The Library by Lawrence Block
I’ve talked about Block here before, in glowing terms. So why do I need to go on about him again, and about a Bernie Rhodenbarr novel, probably his most lightweight series (he has several, in case yo[…]

Underworld by Don DeLillo
You can’t help but be impressed by the scope and ambition of this book: it sets itself up as a (the?) Great American Novel of the second half of the 20th Century, starting with a famous 1951 baseball game* and trying t[…]

Oh no! EVIL Daleks! Oh no!
Following up on Tom’s notes below, he may be right that it’s no bad thing not to have Daleks in the new Dr Who, but I was delighted by the reason. Apparently they are owned by the estate of Terry Nation (and we&[…]

FT Top 100 Films
75: Rushmore
I love Wes Anderson, but his films don’t appeal to everyone. This probably stands or falls for most on whether they find Max, a brilliant but troubled teen played superbly by Jason Schwartzman, tolerable and believ[…]

FT Top 100 Films
76: The Philadelphia Story
I don’t know if we call this romantic or screwball comedy, and it doesn’t much matter, except that it does seem to have the best qualities of both, and more. It has the sophistication and shine […]

Wrestling: language falling short
Sometimes your words just don’t work. The second tier wrestler Raven, no longer in the WWE, is now one of the stars of a smaller federation. He has taken to saying “Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore’&#8221[…]

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
I wasn’t at all sure whether I’d like Palahniuk. He wrote Fight Club, a clever film I liked, so he seemed worth a try, but I wondered if he might be just a smart cult author with nothing much to offer. But I enjoy[…]

Everything You Need by A.L. Kennedy
I read her Looking For The Possible Dance several months ago, and liked it enough that I bought some more by her, but I wasn’t expecting to be anything like as impressed by this tremendous novel.
It’s a[…]

Secondary support
I was interested to find that I had preferences in all the League playoff finals this year, for various reasons. Beyond my beloved Bristol Rovers, I don’t care much about what any other teams do, but I found I had a desire for[…]