DIY - Tips From the Greats

Ever wondered how Hemingway would hang wallpaper or Anaïs Nin paint a panelled door or Dostoevsky tile a bathroom?

In Sartre's Sink, Mark Crick lets us into their secrets. His previous book, Kafka's Soup, parodied how the great authors would cook.

Colfer Does Adams

I must confess that I'm a huge Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fan. I don't think I've ever mentioned to you that I remember the days when it was a radio programme, well before the book came out. Tuning in to the BBC after lunch was a Sunday ritual, and I remember holding my breath (at least metaphorically) when we were promised the answer "to life, the universe, and everything" which turned out in the next episode, of course, to be ... 42.

The TV series, the films, in my opinion never really cut it. The real delight of the book and its sequels is in

... Adams's mordant voice, and in his torrential flow of comic and science-fictional ideas

as Peter Robins says in the Telegraph's Paper Tiger blog.

One wonders therefore how Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer will fare, comissioned to write a sixth book in the series. Robins reckons :

He's a pro of the sort Adams delightfully wasn't, an extremely skilled constructor of thrilling plots. He's quite capable of turning the universe
inside out, but he wouldn't generally do it for the sake of a one-liner. ... Still, elderly science fiction fans should be careful about heaping scorn on him. His Artemis Fowl children's books - Artemis is an underage master-criminal - are a hoot, and they mix fantasy, SF and humour in a way recognisably descended from Adams's work (they also appear to have outsold him). It's encouraging that he isn't aiming to write "as" Adams, in a Sebastian-Faulks-as-Ian-Fleming sort of way. In fact, I find it very difficult to tell from the publicity so far what I should expect. Perhaps this is a good sign.

Colfer posts a video response on his blog.

Blake Wilson on the NYtimes Paper Tiger blog alerts us to the online adventure game based on the series which you might enjoy playing!

(Sorry, my dears, that I didn't post yesterday. Am having big connection problems at the moment which I hope to get sorted out in the next day or two. Patience!)

Funniest Ever?

What's the funniest novel ever? David Kelly on the New York Times' Paper Cuts blog is asking for readers' opinions and starts us off by contributing a few titles from the editors at the Book Review :

“Lucky Jim” (which got the most votes), David Lodge’s “Small World,” “The Code of the Woosters,” “Leave It to Psmith,” “Bech: A Book,” “Sabbath’s Theater,” Carl Hiaasen’s novels, Jim Harrison’s early novels (“Warlock,” “A Good Day to Die”), Richard Russo’s “Straight Man,” Michael Chabon’s “Wonder Boys,” “Catch-22″ and “Candy.” Waugh, Gogol and John Mortimer received votes, too, and one colleague who is usually not given to laughing out loud while reading said, “‘Portnoy’s Complaint’ and ‘The Anatomy Lesson’ both made my stomach hurt.”

The book that made me laugh aloud the most is Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat which I read more decades ago than I care to remember(!) and still remember clearly. (ebook fans can download it here.)

What would you add to the list?