Gregory Cowles

@alexnazaryan It’s a worthwhile book in its own right (as is TIME’S ARROW), smart and stylish and often seething with disdain, but it’s not the equal of his London books to my mind — more careful, less gleefully mischievous except in the undertaking itself.

@GregoryCowles is ZONE as good as his London novels in your view? I have to admit, I've been a little wary of Amis doing Auschwitz, but maybe I shouldn't be...?

In 2018 I interviewed Martin Amis at the Texas Book Festival about his Holocaust novel “The Zone of Interest” (narrated, like “Time’s Arrow,” from the German POV), and he turned the talk memorably to Hitler’s sex life. statesman.com/story/news/201…

It’s been seven hours and fifteen days.

@pmacenulty Thank you!

This line by @GregoryCowles in the NYT Book Review made me burst out laughing. “The cumulative effect of all these bromides — emphasis on ‘bro’ — is to give the book a feeling at times of cheap talk-show philosophy: Tuesdays With Maury Povich.”

@salvetti_matt Thank you!

@GregoryCowles Kudos on this line from your book review today: “. . . cheap talk-show philosophy: Tuesdays With Maury Povich.” Inspired

SUNFLOWER MYSTERY: My daughter went to bed with five flowers on her shelf, and woke up with four flowers and a stem. Did she eat it in her sleep? Did a deer sneak into her room? Did it spontaneously combust??

Happy Bloomsday to those who celebrate it. nytimes.com/interactive/20…

@motokorich My CM story: years ago, when I worked for Bauman Rare Books, he called the gallery. I picked up and he told me that the first edition of Blood Meridian in BRB's NYT Book Review ad was underpriced. I said: "no one has ever called here with that complaint."

An impeccable stylist, an irascible wit, a stubborn and sometimes maddening provocateur, a great novelist gone. RIP.

The night before, seemingly very drunk, he had stumbled through his keynote speech at the festival’s gala dinner, mocking Princess Di’s death and defending elitism on the grounds that some people are inherently better than others.

When we got to the main legislative chamber for the interview, there was Amis: showered, sharp, gracious, utterly charming. Besides Hitler’s sex life he talked a lot that day about the soul and how important it is to honor it.

Maybe predictably, he wasn’t in the greenroom at the appointed time, and the festival staffer who was dispatched to his hotel room said he was nowhere to be found. The volunteers were panicked. “I guess we’ll walk you over and hope for the best,” one told me.

“Can you imagine believing a taxi driver is the equal of Christopher Hitchens?” he asked as the crowd looked silently on and I grew increasingly worried about how our interview might go the next day.

Has there ever been a hornier serious poet than the Sharon Olds of “The Wellspring”?

@YCabreraOC @columbiajourn @jsmithhopkins So well deserved! Congratulations, @YCabreraOC

I’m so honored to receive this recognition from @columbiajourn for a story that has meant so much to me. With much gratitude to my wonderful editor @jsmithhopkins, who guided this piece from start to finish with her expert touch. 🧡🙏

Overheard on the train just now: “The thing about the King James version is the prose is so bad.” Shots fired!

Are You There, God? It's Me, Adolf nytimes.com/2023/03/07/boo…

Speaking as an editor, sometimes there’s a very fine line between “cajole” and “cudgel”

@antoinewilson And Station to Station his most underrated album.

@jamiattenberg Breasts and Eggs, Mieko Kawakami