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Friends, Writers, and Other Countrymen by Sidney Offit

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Inside Inside by James Lipton

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Bambi vs. Godzilla by David Mamet

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0100

It would be easy to be mean about this book -- so here goes. It purports to be David Mamet's practical guide to moviemaking and one of the points he makes -- repeatedly -- is that films shouldn't have any fat on them. "The film may, perhaps, be likened to a boxer," he writes on page 71. "He is going to have to deal with all the bulk his opponent brings into the ring. Common sense should indicate he had better not bring one extra ounce of flab on him -- that all the weight he brings into the ring had better be muscle."

The Angry Years: A Literary Chronicle by Colin Wilson

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Robson Books, pp.216, £16.99

Poor Colin Wilson. Has there ever been such a spectacular decline in an author's fortunes? His first book -- The Outsider (1956) -- was an overnight sensation. Hailed as a literary breakthrough by Philip Toynbee and Cyril Connolly, it earned him £20,000 in its first year of publication -- the equivalent of £1 million in today's money. "I have just met my first genius," declared Daniel Farson in the Daily Mail. "His name is Colin Wilson."

The Royal Nonesuch by Glasgow Phillips

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Blackcat, New York, pp.374, $14.00

About a quarter of the way through this book I was surprised to discover that, back in 1996, Glasgow Phillips co-founded a naming firm called Quiddity. The idea was to profit from the dot com boom by persuading Internet entrepreneurs to hire him and his partner to name their new ventures. "We at Quiddity think of ourselves as genetic engineers of language," went the sales pitch, "and a soundly engineered name is the foundation of effective marketing."

The Devils Guide to Hollywood by Joe Eszterhas

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Duckworth, £12.99, pp.397

What a minute? Do we really need another volume of autobiographical musings from Joe Eszterhas? The former Hollywood scriptwriter always promises to scandalise us with plenty of juicy gossip, but the main revelation in his two previous volumes was that he'd slept with Sharon Stone.

Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by David Goodwillie

Tue, 30 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Pete Doherty: Last of the Rock Romantics by Alex Hannaford

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Ebury, £16.99, pp.344

Does the world really need another book about Pete Doherty? "Junkie Pete" has already been the subject of two biographies and his multi-volume diaries--Books of Albion--are available for free on the Internet. That seems more than enough attention for a modestly talented singer-songwriter whose principal claim to fame is that he may or may not be going out with Kate Moss.

The Dream of Rome by Boris Johnson

Sat, 18 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000

HarperPress, £18.99, 210

How on earth does Boris Johnson manage it? Like George Bernard Shaw, he seems to be capable of excelling in half-a-dozen fields simultaneously. Lloyd Evans and I made a joke about this In Who's The Daddy?, our play about the various scandals that beset The Spectator in 2004. In Act One, Scene IV, Boris explains why it is that he's so anxious not to lose his Parliamentary salary. "I'll have to scrape by on...l

Dog Days by Ana Marie Cox

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Date Expectations by Paul Reizin

Sun, 27 Feb 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Vermillion, £10.99, pp.282

Date Expectations: One Man's Voyage Through the Lonely Hearts is a good illustration of why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. It pictures a man standing in a rowboat in a shark-infested sea, while two women, also standing in rowboats, wave at him across the water. Look closer and you notice that the sea is made up of newsprint--lonely hearts columns, to be precise. In the trade, this is what's known as a little too "on the nose".

Fatherhood by Marcus Berkmann

Sat, 08 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Vermillion, £10.99, pp.282

Once upon a time, long, long ago, people used to argue about politics. Now they argue about parenting. Thirty five years ago, the issue that defined a generation was whether American troops should be in Vietnam. Today, it's whether to follow the advice set out in The Contended Little Baby Book.

Blockbuster by Tom Shone

Sat, 09 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0100

Simon & Schuster, £18.99, pp.392

Tom Shone, the ex-film critic of The Sunday Times, is out to pick a fight. The clue is in the subtitle of this book, a surprisingly sympathetic history of Hollywood's most despised school of moviemaking.

Boris: The Rise of Boris Johnson by Andrew Gimson

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Simon & Schuster, pp.277, £17.99

When Boris Johnson was selected as the Conservative candidate for Henley in 2000, a year after being made editor of The Spectator, he called up Charles Moore and asked for his advise on how to handle Conrad Black, the magazine's proprietor. The problem was that Boris had given him his word that he would not try and become an MP.
After listening to Boris ramble on for a bit, Moore grew impatient and asked him what it was that he wanted.

Imperial America by Gore Vidal

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Nation Books, $18.00, pp.181

As a longstanding fan of Gore Vidal's, I opened this book with some excitement. What better match could there be between author and subject than the waspish, leftwing critic of American imperialism and the crisis in Iraq? The dust jacket promised a merciless dissection of the "ever reckless Cheney-Bush junta" in which the "Olympian" author delivers "his most devastating exploration of contemporary America yet."

The Innocent by Ian McEwan

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

Jonathan Cape, £12.95

Ian McEwan is one of a number of contemporary British writers who believe they have a responsibility to draw attention to the moral shortcomings of domestic and international politics, particularly the social policies of Margaret Thatcher and the foreign policy of the United States.

What We've Lost by Graydon Carter

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

As a Vanity Fair contributor, I had the perfect rebuttal whenever Graydon Carter hassled me about a deadline: What about the book he was supposed to be writing for Chatto & Windus? By the time I started working for the magazine full time in 1995 it was at least eight years overdue.