This collection of essays were originally columns written for The Observer and Tattler and the short, quick observant pieces have survived the last 20 years quite well. Time passing is seen in the number of interviewees who have died since this was published:  Vera Nabokov, Updike, Larkin, Bellow, Pritchett, Greene, Burgess, and Asimov.  Others carry on including some of my favorites—-Julian Barnes, Nicholson Baker.  Amis’ style is like a ‘good friend chatting in a pub’ and it works.