…as I do: A review in the Guardian of Andrew O’Hagan’s Booker-longlisted novel Be Near Me. The reason I say this is only for those who really care about the Booker Prize is because this book is not for sale in America and won’t be until next year. (I could see them bumping up the pub date here now that the book’s getting attention.) But you can buy it here and have them ship it to you if you’re interested.

Here’s the Guardian’s page of Booker coverage if you’re just joining us…

In other Englishness, Zadie Smith’s On Beauty is just out in paperback and Michael Wells at Bailey/Coy Books tells me it’s red and gorgeous. I just bought this book of two short stories by Smith—yet another book you can’t buy in America (one’s from The New Yorker, one’s from Granta, plus there’s an introduction by the author)—and it arrived in my mail box yesterday…