angel clare's carpet. yeah, that is fabulous. are you a hardy person? i am a hardy person.e way that sounds. "are you a hardy person?" yes, lam. who else do you read for pleasure among the great novelists? where does your taste take you? it is an interesting thing. i was a big henryjames person, and somebody who would reread james over and over again. loved dickens, loved austen, but i own a bookshop now, and i have for going on six years, and those days are over for me. now ijust read not only things that are just out, the things i read are the things that will be coming out in six months. this is a confession. henryjames, once you get stuck into henryjames, he is impossible to abandon, isn't he? no, i will never abandon henry james. i will always go back every few years and reread the awkward age. that is the thing. it is not that i want to read more james. i want to just keep rereading the ones that i love. it is interesting to look at that in respect of your own narrative, because as i said, your narrative has the feeling of it has a pulse thatjust seems to keep going.