My Life as a Dog

For Dan Rhodes, the chief appeal of writing for a living was not having to get up in the morning. In spite of that slacker attitude, Rhodes, 31, this month finds himself on Granta magazine's prestigious decennial list of the 20 Best of Young British Novelists, standing on the shoulders of giants like Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie, and rubbing his own with publishing hotshots Zadie Smith and Toby Litt. Rhodes' presence there is all the more remarkable since his first novel, Timoleon Vieta Come Home (Canongate; 214 pages), is only now arriving in bookstores and is likely, he...