I ploughed through your Complete Polysyllabic Spree in record time, with sheer giddy enjoyment. I've always liked your fiction, but the chatty and engaging tone of the spree captured my imagination in a way that non-fiction rarely does. How do you do that? Take seemingly unconnected works and link them in a coherent way? Did you practise that chatty style, or is it as effortless as it seems? How do you balance the gentle art of self-deprecation with incisive commentary on, let's face it, a crap-load of books?
The hardest think I find when I'm writing, for this admittedly small and very biased readership, is achieving any kind of volume. That's why I think not everyone has a book in them, some of us just lack the ability to carry thoughts, ideas, people, plots, jokes and riddles to more than a hundred words. I blame journalism.
yours faithfully
a fan
PS I have a friend who has a huge man crush on you. Football, check, mixed tape enthusiast, check, reader and reviewer, check. He's kicking himself now for not patenting the idea before you cottoned on. Thanks for that.
2 comments:
One member of your small and biased readership encourages you to read "31 Songs" by the fantastic Mr Hornby. It is one of the best books I've read this year (and, as you put it, I've read a "crapload"). It made me want to run to Cavendish Square and buy every CD in Musica.
Pah. I made mixed tapes AND top 5 lists looooooong before High Fidelity. I think Hornby modelled his characters on me.
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