It’s just turned from Christmas Eve eve to actual Christmas Eve, and I’m still up, having just rewatched Casino Royale for no very good reason that I can determine. (Well, okay, Eva Green.) I remembered it as being much more charming than it was.

So, for a palate cleanser, some links to books by and about people who are about as different from James Bond as possible, and also know how to write endings without making them unintentionally hilarious:

• Justine Larbalestier posts about the pleasure of re-reading Persuasion
• Sarah Waters talks about writing in the tradition of haunted house stories in The Little Stranger
• Ron Charles reviews Sheila Kohler’s fictionalized biography of Charlotte Brontë.