Review: The Bonfire of the Vanities
I asked in a blog some years ago if satire worked. If it does, why is the world in such a shitty place? But then, perhaps we’re misunderstanding. Perhaps satire was never intended to improve…
I’ve done a very silly Green thing
A very silly green thing. I’ve just done a very silly thing. A few years ago, BBC radio presenter John Humphries said in an interview that he’d “done a silly thing – voted Green!” Well,…
Kosher Porridge – review of Jonathan Stone’s Prison Minyan
Otisville – a New York state prison for Jews with its own kosher cuisine! What a ridiculous idea. And yet the setting for thriller-writer Jonathan Stone’s satirical novel turns out to be real. The Jewish…
Reading and writing satire: Mightier than the sword?
Satire is having a big moment. We have satirical novels winning the Mann Booker Prize, satirical TV shows hoovering up the ratings along with satirical movies. Some politicians are deemed to be too far gone…
Read Catch-22 for free
We know that the Internet thrives on free information. As the saying goes, “Information wants to be free.” But I was still surprised by what I found when I began writing my book on free…
Putting on the squeeze. Review: Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen
What’s a poor author to do? You write a comic novel that satirises the orange blob in the White House and no sooner is it in print than he’s gone. Carl Hiaasen is one of…
Is the rise of the topical novel killing literature?
In 2010, I took my then agent for a Chinese lunch. I pitched an idea for a novel about fake news, close elections and knife crime. He said that it was a mistake to write…
Everything is copy – review of Nora Ephron Collected
I don’t know about you but I am a sucker for Nora Ephron’s screenplay for When Harry Met Sally. The movie’s pretty good too, but the script is outstanding. On the other hand, I’d never…
Does satire work?
I’m just finishing a book about satire. Satire is flourishing. We satirists like to think that we change things – ideally for the better. But for all the fuss, does satire work? Can 3,000 years…
Ukraine elected a comedian president – so what do politicians think of voters?
Last Sunday, the voters of Ukraine elected a comedian president. Volodymyr Zelenskiy won the election despite having zero experience of politics, aside from taking the role of president in a TV series. We voters are…
Who’s afraid of the Maybot? John Crace’s I, Maybot, reviewed for the Library Corner
Most of us remember our first encounter with a mechanical life-form. Depending on when we were born, some of us had nightmares about Daleks. Others have had their dreams haunted by Transformers. Or Alexa. In…
Should we legalise drugs? The Library Corner review: High Society by Ben Elton
Should we legalise drugs? Peter Paget MP thinks so. But he’s only a lowly backbencher in a government whose ministers hardly notice him as they rush past on their important business. But one day Paget…
Review: Straight White Male
Straight White Male by John Niven My rating: 4 of 5 stars How do you succeed in creating a difficult central character, indeed a quite obnoxious one, and yet persuade your readers to fall in…