“Perhaps he’s only a writer’s writer. And a certain kind of (self-regarding?) writer at that. Martin Amis: ‘I bow to no one in my love for this great and greatly inspiring genius.’ Rushdie again: ‘The most important writer ever to cross the boundary between one language and another.’ Others bowing in worship include John Updike, Don DeLillo, Jeffrey Eugenides and Zadie Smith. But these maybe aren’t people you look to for book recommendations.”