Books I've actually finished lately: 50

I am keen to know why Macfarlane-Deakin took 'two hipflasks (one of whisky, one of arak)' - and where they got their 'arak' from, in Dorset.

On the two types of story (superb!)

the hectic experimentalism of the so-called McSweeney's short story (reflexive, impertinent, typographically playful, slightly annoying)... emerged around the turn of the millennium to challenge the dominance of the so-called New Yorker short story (calm, humane, sparse, slightly dull).

- Robert Macfarlane, Sunday Times