Vi lever våra spel: Författaren Andrew O’Hagan äter lunch med Harold Pinter på Cafe Anglais. Pinter fattar ovilja mot kyparens sätt att tala.

Pinter: I’ll have the fish toast with the parmesan custard.
Waiter: No problem.
Pinter: I wasn’t anticipating one.

Att läsa om sina egna texter: Thomas Powers skriver gripande och insiktsfullt om Mark Twains förhållande till hustrun Olivia (“Livy”). Twain berättar om ett gräl Livy haft med en betjänt, vilket Twain inte lagt sig i. Men, skriver Powers:

Twain is listening to it all. He is not working, as he should be, Livy is sure, but sitting on the balcony, smoking and reading. ‘Reading his own books,’ she adds: ‘He is always doing it.’

This aside, in Twain’s view, is not for the servant, but for Livy herself, uttered in a low tone, ‘with shame’. Here Twain’s remarkable breadth of observation stands revealed. He has a sure grasp of everything jostling for precedence in Livy’s mind, her fury and her restraint. She knows Twain reads his own books compulsively, Twain knows she knows, and he knows that knowing it does not really shame Livy: it is one of the things she understands about the writer, she gently disapproves, she worries that it is simply vanity, but it puzzles and touches her as well.