Most of the movie isn't as explicitly referential.

Actually, this movie does have an "I'll have what she's having", but it's said a) at a time that makes no sense, and b) at a dinner party where everything is eating the same thing.

I like this movie a lot, although it's not without its flaws - most of the nods to the Clinton era are a little too winking, although the scene where he buys Rachel Weisz a bunch of CDs is kind of a cute throwback. But the cast is very good and the structure makes it interesting.

I have actually seen this movie, and I respectfully disagree that anybody should watch this. Although McConaughey and Stone produce perfectly fine performances, the script is terrible and Douglas and Garner are both kind of useless in it.

It's hard to argue with any of those songs, but I also really love "Sometime in the Morning" which I think was on their second album. And "Porpoise Song" is monumental.

While I take your point, I also think that books like Moby Dick can be daunting for people who aren't big readers or tend to prefer so-called light reads, and so they might be more likely to pick it up based on a "Hey, this books is fun to read!" description rather than a "Here's why this is one of the greatest…

Yeah, this and "Cleo de 5 a 7" are both terrific. (I haven't gotten around to Vagabond yet.)

One that comes to mind is Serge Gainsbourg writing "Les Sucettes" ("Lollipops") for an 18-year-old France Gall who had no idea it was about oral sex.

I want to find out who the hell thought this was a good idea for a movie.

That's definitely fair - I just think it's misleading to act like the company hasn't already made quite a lot of money. Obviously it doesn't do new investors any good except as cash on the balance sheet.

The venture backers get to sell shares (both on the offering itself and in the future) - that's probably the main motivation here. It can also help the company with hiring and making acquisitions.

Except the company had net income of more than $500 million last year.

True, but the official dictionary (at least the printed one I have) contains no words over eight letters - I believe you are referred to the source dictionaries for them.

Lucky Jim is excellent.

I see your point about there being a lot of "telling and not showing" in 2666, but I think the book is as much about what's not told as what is. And some events that are narrated fairly matter-of-factly and not mentioned again are nevertheless supposed to remain in the back of your mind - e.g. the taxicab incident in…

For quintessentially, almost stereotypically English books, I'd say EM Forster's Howards End (also one of my favorite books ever) and Ishiguro's Remains of the day. Jocelyn Brooke's The Military Orchid is a wonderfully written memoir/novel that spends a lot of time in the English countryside.

I'm reading Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana, which I'm not particularly enjoying - it's a little more comic than the other Greenes I've read, and I don't think he does comedy especially well, although I suspect it will get bleaker as I go.

Ferdydurke and Charterhouse are both relatively high on my list of things to read. The Red And The Black was pretty great.

Without being too spoilery, the main plot thrusts of Smiley's People and The Honourable Schoolboy are pretty different, but the latter serves as important backstory to the former. So I could imagine them doing a very quick gloss/simplification of the events of Schoolboy, just to set up the situation, then spend most…

For what it's worth, much of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold does not take place in the UK, great book though it is. You could read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, if you haven't already, for a more British LeCarre.