William Boyd on his friend Martin Amis: ‘He was ferociously intelligent – and very funny’

He saw the world’s cruel absurdities through a comic lens, writes Boyd, who recalls his very first meeting with Amis – and explains why his unmistakable voice will never be forgotten• John Self on Amis: ‘He stamped his style over a generation’• Geoff Dyer on Amis: ‘Mick Jagger in literary form’The awful news of Martin Amis’s death prompts a rush of memories. I first met him in 1969, in Paris, when we both found ourselves staying in the same apartment on the Île Saint-Louis for a few days. I was 17, Martin was 20. I only realised who this Martin guy was four years later when his first novel, The Rachel Papers, appeared. In a strange but real sense, he was the first writer I had ever met. And thus began an acquaintance as an avid reader and later as a friend.The remarkable thing about that first novel was the utter confidence and distinctiveness of the narrative voice. Martin found his style at the very beginning of his career as a writer and it never changed. That voice he had defined and charged everything else he wrote – fiction, essays, journalism, memoirs. Very few writers can be instantly identified by a sentence or two of their prose – Laurence Sterne, Charles Dickens, James Joyce, DH Lawrence, Vladimir Nabokov – and Martin precociously joined that elite group and stayed there. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-22 07:00:49 UTC ]

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Werner Herzog’s first novel revisits fanaticism and human folly

Herzog's novel follows Hiroo Onoda, a real Japanese lieutenant who terrorized the Philippine villagers of Lubang Island with guerrilla tactics for 29 years after World War II’s conclusion. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-06-16 12:36:39 UTC ]
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James Joyce is on my summer reread list. Also, Colette.

I’ll revisit "Ulysses" on its 100th anniversary and delve into "Cheri" as well as works by wonderful modern writers like Guy Gavriel Kay. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-06-15 16:48:29 UTC ]
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In London, Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell Win the 2022 International Booker Prize

'Tomb of Sand' is the first novel translated from an Indian language to win the award. Shree and Rockwell split the International Booker's £50,000 purse. The post In London, Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell Win the 2022 International Booker Prize appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-05-26 21:30:55 UTC ]
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Review: With 'Yerba Buena,' a top L.A. author of queer YA romance is all grown up

Nina LaCour's first novel for adults, "Yerba Buena," follows a promising and complicated lesbian love story in the mold of Sarah Waters. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-05-26 13:00:31 UTC ]
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Conversations with Friends: the frustrating awkwardness of a much-hyped series

The adaptation of Sally Rooney’s first novel can’t quite bring tricky source material – repressed characters, digital communication – to lifeIt was always unlikely that Conversations with Friends, the new Hulu and BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney’s first novel, would be able to repeat the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-05-24 06:05:00 UTC ]
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Ali Smith’s ‘Companion Piece’ is a novel for people who love language

Ali Smith's first novel since her seasonal quartet takes place in our pandemic-inflected world. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-05-04 11:00:00 UTC ]
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John Waters’s First Novel Is Manic, Hyperbolic and Deviant. Surprised?

“Liarmouth” is about three generations of women in one family who plan to confront or kill one another. It also has a trampoline fun park. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-05-03 09:00:08 UTC ]
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The Story Behind Jonathan Franzen’s New Backlist Book Cover Redesigns

Last year not only marked the twentieth publication anniversary of Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, it also saw the release of his first novel in seven years, Crossroads. So it was only fitting that Picador would embark on a redesign of the author’s backlist. We spoke with Alex Merto, the art... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-03-17 08:54:52 UTC ]
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Lee Cole’s ‘Groundskeeping’ is an empathetic portrait of people across the political spectrum

Lee Cole’s first novel is not only the story of a young man finding his vocation as a writer but also a wrenching examination of class differences Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-03-14 11:00:51 UTC ]
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Dolly Parton partners with James Patterson for first novel

Dolly Parton has written her first novel with the help of best-selling author James Patterson. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2022-03-10 00:01:14 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of February 21, 2021

Marysue Rucci buys Vanessa Chan’s debut novel, Christie Tate sells a memoir about female friendship to Avid Reader, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-02-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of February 21, 2022

Marysue Rucci buys Vanessa Chan’s debut novel, Christie Tate sells a memoir about female friendship to Avid Reader, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-02-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
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British Council Literature Seminar Berlin - Now Neu NI: Contemporary Writing from Northern Ireland

After previous seminars showcased work from Scotland and Wales, this year the focus is on writing from Northern Ireland. Chaired by novelist and non-fiction writer Glenn Patterson, director at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast – a familiar and popular name for British... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2022-02-16 12:14:57 UTC ]
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Review: Marlon James' African fantasy saga continues, and the witch has her say

'Moon Witch, Spider King,' the second in Marlon James' incantatory Dark Star trilogy, flips the script on his first novel to tell a woman's side. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-02-15 14:00:10 UTC ]
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‘Very Cold People’ Makes Something Beautiful Out of a Painful Childhood

The memoirist Sarah Manguso’s first novel is about a young girl’s life in a small, snowy New England town. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-02-06 10:00:06 UTC ]
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Take an early peek at Hulu’s adaptation of Conversations With Friends.

At the risk of reigniting the Sally Rooney Discourse—today, Hulu and BBC Three released a few early images from their upcoming adaptation of Sally Rooney’s bestselling first novel Conversations With Friends, which will premiere sometime this spring. (If you somehow don’t know what this novel is... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-04 13:53:52 UTC ]
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59 Years of Book Covers for The Bell Jar from All Over the World

On January 14, 1963, poet Sylvia Plath published her first novel in England under the pseudonym “Victoria Lucas.” The book had a positive but relatively quiet reception; only a few weeks after its publication, on February 11, Plath would die by suicide. It wasn’t published in the US until 1971,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-14 09:50:32 UTC ]
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A Personal Catalogue of the World’s Most Storied Bookstores

Two decades ago, I wrote my very first novel while working at The Community Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. That job enabled me to complete my book, not just because of the flexible hours, but because the other staffers were all aspiring writers, and many of our... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-12 09:50:45 UTC ]
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Beyond Ekphrasis: Rereading Jean Giono’s Ennemonde, by Alice-Catherine Carls

Book Reviews Jean Giono at his home, Le Paraïs, in Manosque, France, 1942 / Photo by André Zucca / Courtesy Les Amis de Jean Giono Written late in life, “Le Haut Pays” and “Camargue”—once again paired in the Archipelago Books edition of... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2022-01-11 21:02:53 UTC ]
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