The long-awaited interview (well, long awaited by Andrew at ThreeMonkeysOnline) with David Mitchell is now available here. The issue has also achieved a bit of a coup in getting an interview with critics’ darlings, Mercury Rev. There’s plenty of more stuff, including an unusually insightful discussion with Nell McCafferty, that shows a different side from […]

Ian McEwan’s latest has been exhaustively reviewed in both Ireland and Britain since its release and it’s now getting fairly respectful notices in the U.S. I don’t have much too add, except two, related things that struck me when I read an interview with McEwan by Adam Begley, which appeared in the insiderish New York […]

For a while I’ve been mystified by the political cartoons of Steve Bell that regularly appear in The Guardian. Because I simply don’t get them, I was inclined to think that they operated on the level of a private joke with the more enlightened readership of that esteemed organ. Recently, however (mainly because I’m reluctant […]

Having spotted some samples on sale in Waterstones today, I recalled that there seems to be quite a cult of the Moleskine notebook on the Web. The company’s site boasts that mere mortals can avail of the same products “used by Van Gogh, Chatwin*, Hemingway, Matisse and C�line” (the writer, not to be confused with […]

It’s not the most original of behaviours for a visitor just returned from Italy to trill arias of enthusiasm for the lifestyle of the peninsula. However, what struck me, despite my friend (who actually lives there) confirming the stories that the economy is in the pits, was the seeming unshakeable prosperity of the place. Of […]

I was hoping to post the following (very) roundabout appreciation of Updike’s latest novel a few days ago, but I’ve been kinda busy the last few days clearing the decks before tomorrow’s trip to Bologna. I’ll be meeting up with some fellow Three Monkeys scribes and college friends. Nothing out of the normal, just your […]

I had the chance to interview David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas, yesterday. Despite the fact by this stage he’s probably sick to the back teeth of talking about his novel (this very entertaining book has just been released in paperback), he was still willing to seriously engage with the questions. Hope to have the […]

It seems President Bush is living up to his promise to spend the “political capital” he believed he earned by winning last November’s election. Today’s New York Times reported that the controversial Republican-championed Bankruptcy Bill is set to pass. In the current situation, if someone declares personal bankruptcy in the United States, banks and credit […]

The following comment was received in response to last week’s post:Knowing that this particular blogger is not preoccupied with political correctness, I’m curious as to why he decided to assign the feminine gender to the “leftish reader”? Is it because this blogger believes that the “leftish reader” is happy to complacently identify with any criticism […]

Did I somehow imply that I would resume my argument contra Todd on Friday? I meant Sunday�Friday was not a convenient day for critiquing the Weltanschauung of a leading French intellectual.To recap: Emmanuel Todd in After the Empire has introduced us to this strange little device for predicting the shape of societies as they enter […]