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My favourite period is double physics. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) I don't really read a lot of historical fiction, thinking about it. One of the things that puts me off, particularly in Victoriana, is the way writers feel the need to adopt the language and style of the era. That's just...

Well done, Graeco Roman. Some members wait for months after joining before calling others elitists. Glad to see you're making better progress. Ah, the old elitist tag. My dictionary defines elitism as "the belief that some people are superior to others and deserve special treatment." I...

Thanks Graeco Roman. Hm, themed detective fiction (or 'fetish detectives' as I think of them) is an area I haven't really explored. Still, who could resist the lure of the cookery detective series which included such classics as Between a Wok and a Hard Place, and Thou Shalt Not Grill? Or the...

Well, by both your measures, Graeco Roman, the anonymous functionaries behind The Highway Code must be pushing Rowling for the title. The other usual response here is that if sales are a measure of quality, then the News of the World is the world's finest newspaper. (Well, who can resist...

:D

Writers write either for children or adults (or occasionally both): which of these is a 'small segment of people'? Children and adults both number in their billions worldwide. I suppose it depends on what you mean by 'more important.' What would be the point in influencing children to read...

Nothing, but a book written specifically to be satisfying to children is unlikely to appeal to adults with developed tastes as much as a 'grown-up' novel is.

Yes, perhaps it would be more accurate to say the film 'filleted' the book. As with most Kubrick films, there are so many great moments in The Shining it's hard to know where to begin. One of my favourite things about it is the fact that it's a horror film shot almost entirely in daylight...

In response to SFG's request for thoughts on his books, I read Ragtime earlier this year, and here is what I posted on it elsewhere. Doctorow is a writer I've been meaning to get into for ages. Because of the subject matter of his most famous novel, Ragtime - the early twentieth century in all...

That makes no sense. So if there is also concern for others' interests and welfare, then it is improper to call it egoism. If there is any concern for the interests of others, then it cannot be selfish. My definitions are from Collins Concise.

No. Activism, which by definition must have an aim, seeks to effect change. If someone thinks the administration is doing a mighty fine job, they're unlikely to take to the streets to protest to ensure nothing changes. Read novella's post again. Her example was of people who disagreed with...

I'm grateful to pwilson for recommending this big book, which I ploughed through over the last few days. I say ploughed but that's not to imply any element of forced slog; for the most part I enjoyed the journey. And when I say big I mean BIG: Youngblood Hawke is 783 pages long and has very...

Ronny and mehastings, I am one of the people who started talking about Lolita (and other Nabokov) in this thread (it all began here) and you're right to pull me up on that. I'm sorry. I'm keen to stay on topic here.

I don't really have anything to add to this. My main point is simply saying 'avid environmentalists do XXX' is worthless unless you can be certain that literally all 'avid environmentalists' do it, and is only going to make people go against you if you can't back it up. Yes. No.

Agreed, novella. Libre, I hardly know where to begin in explaining why the following is so wildly wrong-headed. But I will give it a go. What, the ideas that they would like to prevent further damage to the environment? Anyway, you then go on to say that their ideas "are worth fighting...

I think you're absolutely right, kristocat, about Humber hiding (his vices and deceptions) behind art. You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.

Well I've never read any JK Rowling which is why I haven't commented on her, and have left her out! But she does write for children so I wouldn't really expect to get that much out of her. I should have said that pleasure, for me, means excellent prose: including of the Amis style. Frankly...

There may well be a case for Ballard but I'm not in a strong position to judge. I've only read a few of his books (Concrete Island, The Unlimited Dream Company, Super-Cannes) and I enjoy him to an extent but he's not 100% my cup of tea. On the one hand his stuff seems eccentric enough to mark...

Delighted to see Patrick McGrath is (almost) sparking bidding wars... Maybe next time, eh Stew?

Yes, he is. I haven't formulated an answer to my own question back there but I wouldn't demur from Ishiguro if he were pressed upon me, so to speak. And if Updike or Roth or (formerly) Bellow was the living embodiment of the 'traditional' American writer - voluble, noisy, direct, messy, long -...