Armavirumque, Jul 12, 2006 04:12 PM

Books in brief

by Stefan Beck

In the latest issue of the London Spectator, Paul Johnson, while meditating on the scarcity of good new novels, delivers the following concise and delightful assessment of a celebrated literary figure and her oeuvre:

The other week I found myself sitting at supper next to someone called Zadie Smith. I thought her rather snooty, to be honest, but gave a novel of hers a try. Alas! I do not want to dwell in the world of multicultural, multisexual squatters, speaking a difficult argot, thinking alien and (to me) nasty thoughts.