Rachel Cusk's books are like pop-up volumes for grown-ups, the prose springing out of the page to bop you neatly between the eyes with its insights.

I'll declare my own interest right here at the start and admit that, like the vast majority of people, I find youthful looks appealing.

I won't be going to any New Year's Eve parties because I think they're naff. No one over the age of 15 should bother going to parties.

A woman who looks like a girl and thinks like a man is the best sort, the most enjoyable to be and the most pleasurable to have and to hold.

Lots of women love to accuse men of being immature when the fellow in question displays a reluctance to "commit"...

But just think what a boring, bread-and-milk world this would be without the boastful.

My favourite spectator sport is watching people who should know better searching for something, and often claiming to find it, where it never could be. Women claiming to find feminism in Islam is a good one.