As Zadie Smith admits in the part of this book named That Crafty Feeling where she shares her writing experiences and advice, she was never a macro planner

– meaning her books get written as and when the words are being put on paper and there is no grand plan involved at the start of a new novel. In a way, that is how this book was born. Through the years, replying to requests from editors, she has written articles and ‘occasional essays’ on such broad subjects as literary criticism, film reviewing, memoir, obituaries and some random pieces such as notes on the Oscar Weekend. These have made their way into the book and landed with us as a collection of essays that are mismatched yet share the common ground of Zadie Smith’s brilliance as a critic.

She starts with the book that her mother gave her at the age of fourteen, which she initially had been reluctant to read. Having then ‘inhaled’ it in three hours and unable to physically part with it for some time, she changed her mind about ideas of ‘good writing’ and neutral criticism. Her following essays on literature are nothing but passionate. She shares her fondness for E.M.Forster’s BBC Talks (which he called ‘recommendations’ on reading), describing him as ‘a chatty librarian, leaning over the counter, advising you on whether a book is worth the bother or not’. She brings wonderful insights to George Eliot’s Middlemarch. She shares her recognition of opposing ideas that Barthes and Nabokov had on reading, and advises not to read Kafka too Brodly but to read him Begley.

The part of the book named At the Multiplex covers a single season when she reviewed movies and is just as joyful to read, reminding us that Smith has a talent for comedy too. The unfailing presence of humour in her life shows through her memoir pieces devoted mostly to memories of her father, who left her the inheritance of Fawlty Towers boxed set and the great love of comedy.

Reading this collection of writing, you cannot help but admire Smith’s intellect, her eye for detail and above all her humanity. You leave with a craving for more, meanwhile armed with a list of literature to read and re-read.