Biographies
I just finished reading a biography of Kingsley Amis, the English writer, principally known as a novelist but also an anthologist, minor poet and prolific reviewer and writer in newspapers and magazines. It was published in 2006 from London and is written by Zachary Leader, who is Professor of English in Roehampton University. He was a friend of Kingsley’s son, Martin, also a novelist and has earlier edited Kingsley’s letters as well. I picked up the book at the local Carrefour Supermarket where they were selling large quantities of books at throwaway prices. This 1000 page tome cost me RM 5 (Approx Rs 65). I don’t really know why I picked it up; I have never read any of his books. I once made a brave attempt to read Lucky Jim, after having borrowed it from the British Council Library in Calcutta, but never got past the first few chapters. I don’t know why, but modern British novelists leave me cold. The only novelists writing in English I like seem to be non British, at least by birth...