The Complete Polysyllabic Spree

Synopsis: In his monthly accounts of what he's read - along with what he may one day read - Nick Hornby brilliantly explores everything from the classic to the graphic novel, as well as poems, plays, sports books and other kinds of non-fiction. If he occasionally implores a biographer for brevity, or abandons a literary work in favour of an Arsenal match, then all is not lost. His writing, full of all the joy and surprise and despair that books bring him, reveals why we still read, even when there's football on TV, a pram in the hall or a good band playing at our local pub.

Review: Oh I do love reading these sorts of books, it's wonderful to be able to have a nose around an author's bookshelves. This is the complete collection of monthly columns (which were entitled 'Stuff I've Been Reading') that Nick wrote for 'The Believer' magazine spanning from September 2003 to June 2006. Each month starts with two columns ... a list of books he's bought and a list of books he's read and just like the rest of us it seems he can't resist buying books even when there are hundreds waiting to be read on his shelves. He's also a serial abandoner and unfinisher, not seeing the point of plodding on with a novel he's not enjoying ... his view is that reading will never survive as a leisure activity if we all think we have to continue reading books which are a trial for us. I loved the description of his struggle with Iain M.Banks's 'Excession' ... 'the urge to weep tears of frustration was already upon me even before I read the short prologue, which seemed to describe some kind of androgynous avatar visiting a woman who has been pregnant for forty years and who lives on her own in the tower of a giant spaceship. By the time I got to the first chapter which is entitled 'Outside Context Problem' and begins '(CGU Grey Area signal sequence file #n428857/119)' I was crying so hard that I could no longer see the page in front of my face, at which point I abandoned the entire ill-conceived experiment altogether. I haven't felt so stupid since I stopped attending physics lessons aged fourteen' ... although I did get further than the first chapter this is exactly how I felt when I tried reading Steven Erikson's 'Gardens of the Moon' .. it may as well have been written in Greek for all I understood it.

Because of the books chatty style and magazine column format, it's a book you can dip in and out of easily (though you'll probably prefer to hoover it up all at once like I did.) It's quite informal and you just feel like you're chatting with a friend over coffee, albeit a friend with an incredible knowledge of books and writing. He's not smug or pretentious at all, he's got a great sense of humour and that comes over in abundance ... saying stuff like (about 'Motherless Brooklyn') ... 'it wasn't just up my street, it was actually knocking on my door and peering through the letterbox to see if I was in' ... I was constantly laughing. He makes some great points too about the need not to be sniffy about other people's book choices which I know I can sometimes be guilty of, it's the same with music .. if it's making someone happy and entertaining them then that's all that matters.

The books that he read and discussed for the most part were new to me but his enthusiasm for those he enjoyed is simply infectious, you will find yourself jotting down book titles and authors constantly and I have a feeling that I'll be trying books that I never would have thought of otherwise (and that's one of the themes of this book .. Nicks belief that reading one book often leads you to another.)

I'll try and gloss over the fact that he's an Arsenal supporter and therefore my sworn enemy. It's a great book and I just wish the column had run and run.