The lives of two of Britain's most revered writers, father and son Kingsley and Martin Amis, are due to cross paths in May with the release of the father's collected letters and the son's long-awaited autobiography. To have Kingsley's chronic hatred of phonies, philistines, tight-fisted drinking companions, bullying officials, mouthy women, pompous barmen, and pretentious artists and have all his opinions raw, unconstrained by any shreds of tact, and his pungent stories about his peers unmediated by the filter of fiction, is a treat. To have the inside story on Martin Amis, the writer who has influenced more prose styles than any other in the last two decades, runs it a close second. The news that Chris Columbus has been chosen to direct the Harry Potter movies has some fans lamenting.
Conventional wisdom has it that publishers are the ones most at risk in the e-book revolution.
But the Endangered Species List is longer than you think. Such people were foot soldiers in a cultural cold war. Salon and Slate, two of best political and cultural affairs sites on the Web, have had a healthy, erudite rivalry going for some time. But arguments turned personal in a recent volley of remarks between Salon editor, David Talbot, and Slate editor, Michael Kinsley. Now de Botton is back as host of a TV show in which guests are invited to share their personal problems - from broken hearts to road rage.