The Polysyllabic Spree

I just finished reading Nick Hornby's (About a Boy, High Fidelity, Fever Pitch) series of columns just published under the name The Polysyllabic Spree. I absolutely love this book.

It's nice to know I am not the only one mad enough to hold conversations with authors about their choices. Of course the authors can't hear me because I am in the privacy of my home and they are either dead or hanging about wherever authors hang about but I still talk to them, as I mentioned in my last post.

Nick also talks about how when you read a really terrific piece of fiction you can't just jump into the next piece because it will disappoint. I think this is particularly true when you have read a very long book. You linger in the last book and are not quite ready to come all the way back to the "real" world.

Which is actually why I was reading The Polysyllabic Spree in the first place. After finishing Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell I needed a little buffer before the next fiction.

The columns are about what books the author has bought, which ones he read, why he didn't read more of the 0nes he bought and then reviews of the ones he likes. There are no snarky comments, apparently on pain of death by his editors. This worked perfectly for me. I was especially interested to see the process of reading from the point of view of another author who just might be jealous of certain works.

Nick is extremely funny and his work is so easy to read and relate to. I could have read the entire book in twenty minutes. I highly recommend it.