A serendipitous pick from a charity shop. I've always rated Graham Swift as an author, from his initial Sweet Shop Owner through to his more famous Waterland and Last Orders, as well as his more recent fiction. This is his assembled collection of non-fiction writings, published midway through his career (three more fiction works have followed since). Throughout it is abundantly apparent what a humane and thoughtful person Swift is; yet also very driven. He had always "known" he wanted to be a writer, worked hard at becoming one and is very open about his process. He is dismissive of the idea of autobiography as a source for his novels and discusses at length his preoccupation with death (since it is natural and inevitable). I also took delight in his vignettes, the time Swift has enjoyably passed with other authors whom I have always respected, such as Ishiguro and Rushdie. For all of them, writing is just a job (albeit a pleasurable and unconventional one) that exists alongside other aspects of life. Not rated.
By Graham Swift