Best friends again

I had had a little falling out with Nick Hornby after reading How to be Good. I love About a Boy and High Fidelity as much as the next person and have read them countless times, but I felt quite let down by his 2002 effort and had since been sulking. But then Jo intervened and lent me A Long Way Down, and after reading that, all was forgiven and he was back in my best 5 authors list.


It is a hard book to describe. My student asked me what I was reading and the reply "it`s about 4 people who don`t kill themselves and become friends but don`t like each other. It`s very funny!" seemed a fairly accurate outline of the plot to me, but was met with rather blank looks.

As a gesture of reconciliation, I ordered Fever Pitch this morning. JTB is now reading it in Japanese, so I thought I might as well give it a go. Whilst on Amazon I noticed two books; Speaking with the Angel, and The Polysyllabic Spree. I have never heard of these two. Any opinions on them most welcome.