The Polysyllabic Spree

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The Polysyllabic Spree (2004, ISBN 1-932416-24-2) is a collection of Nick Hornby's "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns in The Believer. The book collates his columns from September 2003 to November 2004, inclusive. It also includes excerpts from such authors as Anton Chekhov and Charles Dickens.

In it, Hornby lists the books he bought each month, and the books he actually read. For instance, he might buy Dickens, but read J.D. Salinger. He then writes a column revolving around what he read, bought, and what he intends/intended to read.

The title is a reference to the choral symphonic-rock group The Polyphonic Spree. In the book, Hornby describes the people who run The Believer as being "all dressed in white robes and smiling maniacally, sort of like a literary equivalent of the Polyphonic Spree." (pg. 30)

There is a follow-up book entitled Housekeeping vs. The Dirt.

Contents

[edit] List of books

[edit] September 2003

Books bought:

  • Robert Lowell: A Biography - Ian Hamilton
  • Collected Poems - Robert Lowell
  • Against Oblivion: Some of the Lives of the 20th-Century Poets - Ian Hamilton
  • In Search of J.D. Salinger - Ian Hamilton
  • Nine Stories - J. D. Salinger
  • Franny and Zooey - J. D. Salinger
  • Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters/Seymour: An Introduction - J. D. Salinger
  • The Ern Malley Affair - Michael Heyward
  • Something Happened - Joseph Heller
  • Penguin Modern Poets 5 - Corso/Ferlinghetti/Ginsberg

Books read:

  • All the Salingers
  • In Search of Salinger and Lowell
  • Some of Against Oblivion
  • Pompeii by Robert Harris (not bought)

[edit] October 2003

Books bought:

  • A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates - Blake Bailey
  • Notes on a Scandal - Zoë Heller (released in the U.S. as "What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal")

Books read:

[edit] November 2003

Books bought:

Books read:

  • A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates - Blake Bailey (completed)
  • Wenger: The Making of a Legend - Jasper Rees
  • How to Breathe Underwater - Julie Orringer
  • Bush at War - Bob Woodward (unfinished)
  • Unnamed Literary Novel (abandoned)
  • Unnamed Work of Nonfiction (abandoned)
  • No Name - Wilkie Collins (unfinished)

[edit] December 2003/January 2004

Books bought:

Books read:

  • No Name - Wilkie Collins
  • Moneyball - Michael Lewis
  • George and Sam: Autism in the Family - Charlotte Moore
  • The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut

[edit] February 2004

Books bought:

Books read:

  • Enemies of Promise - Cyril Connolly
  • What Just Happened? - Art Linson
  • Clockers - Richard Price
  • Eats, Shoots and Leaves - Lynn Truss
  • Meat Is Murder - Joe Pernice
  • Dusty in Memphis - Warren Zanes
  • Old School - Tobias Wolff
  • Introducing Time - Craig Callender and Ralph Edney
  • PLUS: a couple of stories in You Are Not a Stranger Here; a couple of stories in Sixty Stories by Donald Barthelme; a couple of stories in Here’s Your Hat What’s Your Hurry? by Elizabeth McCracken.

[edit] March 2004

Books bought:

Books read:

  • Some of Flaubert’s letters
  • Not Even Wrong - Paul Collins
  • How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World - Francis Wheen
  • Liar’s Poker - Michael Lewis
  • Some of Greenmantle - John Buchan
  • How to Give Up Smoking and Stay Stopped for Good - Gillian Riley

[edit] April 2004

Books bought:

Books read:

  • Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton
  • The Long Firm - Jake Arnott
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
  • True Notebooks - Mark Salzman

[edit] May 2004

Books bought:

  • Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx - Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
  • What Narcissism Means to Me - Tony Hoagland
  • David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (twice)

Books read:

  • David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

[edit] June 2004

Books bought:

Books read:

  • Random Family - Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
  • What Narcissism Means to Me - Tony Hoagland
  • Bobby Fischer Goes to War - David Edmonds and John Eidinow

[edit] July 2004

Books bought[¹]:

[¹] The author here inserts a footnote: "I bought so many books this month it’s obscene, and I’m not owning up to them all: this is a selection. And to be honest, I’ve been economical with the truth for months now. I keep finding books that I bought, didn’t read, and didn’t list."

Books read:

  • Train - Pete Dexter
  • This Is Serbia Calling - Matthew Collin
  • The Invisible Woman - Claire Tomalin
  • Y: The Last Man Vols 1–3 - Vaughan, Guerra, Marzan Jr., Chadwick
  • I Never Liked You - Chester Brown
  • David Boring - Daniel Clowes

[edit] August 2004

Books bought:

Books read:

  • Prayers for Rain - Dennis Lehane
  • Mystic River - Dennis Lehane
  • Like a Fiery Elephant - Jonathan Coe

[edit] External links