Answer: *The Complete Polysyllabic Spree* by Nick Hornby.
Hate the title, love the book.
If you don't know Hornby, he's one of the UK's top novellists, who has three books made into films: Fever Pitch (confessions of a Arsenal addict), High Fidelity (confessions of a music nut), About a boy (immature thirtysomething male reformed through relationship with son of single mother).
*Polysyllabic *is a compilation of his columns for writers mag The Believer, in which he produces a monthly piece about books he has read each month. It's not a book of book reviews though. As he allows himself the freedom to write whatever he wants in a more unstructured way.
It's a freedom that totally works. You get to know more about him and relate the books to his journey as a reader and to the relationship between books.
More than anything its a celebration of reading that makes you want to run off and read hundreds of books, in the same way as a good TV cook makes you want to go off and eat a ten course meal.
It will also make you reconsider what kind of books you read and maybe even consider reading something off your radar.
Despite wall to wall reality TV, books are still special. Hornby, a true craftsman himself, reminds you why.
You really have made me re-examine my whole way of life.
Who would have thought it.
Books can be fun!
Posted by: Ron | March 13, 2009 at 04:42 PM