I had a vague memory of a literary quote to the effect that when a man changes his newspaper after many years it is a seismic event. Since I am now in the process of changing my newspaper, this seemed a good quote to put at the top of this blog, so I Googled it. There was only one result. The quote came from my first novel. Not only do I find it hard to remember what other people write, it seems I can no longer remember what I write myself. Continue reading
The Breaking of Eggs
You can’t judge a book
Reluctantly, I am interrupting my Indian notebook (which will resume next week) because something else is about to happen. Now, what is it? Oh yes. This Thursday, the paperback edition of my novel Trading Futures is published – a year to the day after its hardback parent. [read more]
David Aaronovitch meets Feliks Zhukovski
The Breaking of Eggs was a complicated attempt to answer a simple question: why do we believe what we believe? When, at a February meeting of the Prospect Book Club, I heard David Aaronovitch use exactly the same phrase to describe the issue he was addressing in his new book Party Animals, I was intrigued. In fact, I was already intrigued, which is why I was there. [read more]
Background to The Breaking of Eggs
The novel began with the abstract question “What is home?” and with the belief that home is an emotional concept that means very different things to different people. This led me to consider what it might be like to be aged about 60 and to have no concept of home. I tried to visualise such a character. [read more]
