Taking stock …

… Martin Amis Gets Matter of Fact. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

 Inside Story begins with an invitation to join Amis in his home, and one of the best qualities of the book is its regard for the reader. Amis acknowledges this during a call from his home in Brooklyn. “You have to love the reader,” he says. “It’s not about toadying to the reader but loving and respecting them. A book is nothing without a reader. The relationship between writer and reader is very mysterious and fascinating and not terribly well explained. There is an intimacy to reading a novel because you feel you know the writer embarrassingly well. The great excuse for a public event is that it’s great to meet a reader.”

I wonder how many people remember Martin Amis in the film version of  A High Wind in Jamaica. He was quite good.