“A work of art has never, to my knowledge, displaced another work of art. The living are no more in competition with the dead than that are with the living.” – Joyce Carol Oates
You Only Read Twice
In this week’s podcast, I interviewed Charlie Higson, the author of the latest “Bond continuation” novel “On His Majesty’s Secret Service”. James Bond novels have long been my guilty pleasure and regular re-reads. When I’m reading them, even if it’s the third time, my logic goes something like this: “It’s a bit trashy, but it’s fun, and most importantly it’s old so it’s basically the same as reading a classic like Balzac.” It’s a tenuous argument for sure, but it works for me. I’m glad to say that the youth of this latest Bond novel doesn’t detract from the fun, or add to the guilt, and I was all in all pretty impressed with how Bond was portrayed here and what stakes he’s playing for.
In the episode, Charlie and I talk about the four books that have shaped his work and led him to write a Bond novel for the first time. It’s an eclectic list from which I’ve drawn a good bit of inspiration for my ever-growing reading list…
A brief cricket addendum
Two weeks I talked about JM Barrie and his (in)famous cricket team. Well, it turns out I missed a key figure from the discussion. I don’t want to bore you with too much cricket-talk, because that’s as exciting as tax returns but here is a good little factoid… Even though she was not an Allahakbarries alumna, Virginia Woolf was also a keen cricketer – and definitely a more talented player than the oafs in JM Barrie’s team.
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