Oh no...half an hour to kill before dinner, which means (gasp) the dreaded return of the merciless, axe-wielding, take-no-prisoners two-sentence review! Christ on a bike, let me out of here...

Freakonomics *** by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner
Hey, guess what, instead of just having an opinion you can collect and analyse a bunch of data to get closer to the truth! It seems that economists are surprised by this 'exciting new approach'.

The Remains of the Day ***** by Kazuo Ishiguro
Mad, passionless butler realises he's blighted his life with an obsessive professional pursuit of a 'dignity' he now sees as 'pehaps a litttle stifling, l think you'd probably agree, Sir'. Booker-winner says: 'whatever you do in life, make sure you don't end up like this', and we cannot but concur, it all being 'rather a pointless waste, wouldn't you agree, Sir'.

Independence Day ***1/2 by Richard Ford
Long, wandering gaze into the navel of tidily well-off east-coast America in the 1990s, whose main protaganists's most exciting moments are well behind him, now he's in his 'existence period'. Putlitzer prize-winner says: 'we all end up like this, but have little choice'; while two-sentence review says 'fuck off, you boring bastard, and give us something more like the brilliant "Women with Men" again, or at least try to get out more'.