Where to start with Martin Amis: The style, satire and the savage beauty of language

With writers you grew up reading, their departure leaves a space in your life that is as close to an ache as books and literature can get. That’s how I feel about Martin Amis.

Amis, who died in 2023 at the age of 73 from cancer, was one of Britain’s most distinctive and dazzling literary voices. The son of Kingsley Amis, author of Lucky Jim, he forged his own reputation as a bold stylist and razor-sharp satirist, chronicling the absurdities and moral disintegration of late 20th-century life with wit, intellect and a signature swagger.

Dialogue that does double duty: How to advance plot and reveal character

Dialogue isn’t just there to make characters sound like they’re speaking. It’s one of the most powerful

tools in a novelist’s kit. The right line of dialogue can move the story forward, deepen a character’s personality, and sometimes even hint at future conflicts. 

When your dialogue serves multiple purposes, it pulls more weight, making your prose more efficient and engaging. Here are four well-known literary examples of how you can achieve this.

The new bookshelves are finished

It’s taken a long time, but finally, books are out of the loft and up on the new bookshelves. Reading chair also very comfy.

It makes me very happy to have these bookshelves. I now need to start organising my bookshelves into an actual system.