Friday, June 17, 2005
Just one more.. Q & A from Nick Hornby’s Philly Free Library appearance. This inquiry came back to me after Whisky Prajer had noted his take on reviews of books.
Q: How do you deal with this talk (that you’re giving here) and all the other interviews and book reviews that you have to cope with whenever you have a new book come out?
A: No offense to this distinguished group (Loud self-referential applause and hoots by the audience at this remark), but the book reviews, the radio and telephone interviews, and the appearances like this one (at the Free Library of Philadelphia) are all of the same grouping. I think of the whole novel (as in book) event as a swim in the Mediterranean. You look out from the beach and the water looks spectacular. You wade in and find yourself pushing and swimming through rubbish, condoms, hypodermics, and even body waste. If you persist, you swim past these impasses and you’re in clear blue waters and all you see is your feet, maybe some fish, and the sea bottom. You float and you sigh, your face looking up into the cloudless blue sky. The condoms and hypodermics? That’s the book reviews and interviews. The clear sea. That’s the readers of my books. They’ve made it past the condoms and hypodermics as well.
For a ”Fresh Air” interview with Terry Gross with Mr. Hornby, go to Fresh Air.
Q: How do you deal with this talk (that you’re giving here) and all the other interviews and book reviews that you have to cope with whenever you have a new book come out?
A: No offense to this distinguished group (Loud self-referential applause and hoots by the audience at this remark), but the book reviews, the radio and telephone interviews, and the appearances like this one (at the Free Library of Philadelphia) are all of the same grouping. I think of the whole novel (as in book) event as a swim in the Mediterranean. You look out from the beach and the water looks spectacular. You wade in and find yourself pushing and swimming through rubbish, condoms, hypodermics, and even body waste. If you persist, you swim past these impasses and you’re in clear blue waters and all you see is your feet, maybe some fish, and the sea bottom. You float and you sigh, your face looking up into the cloudless blue sky. The condoms and hypodermics? That’s the book reviews and interviews. The clear sea. That’s the readers of my books. They’ve made it past the condoms and hypodermics as well.
For a ”Fresh Air” interview with Terry Gross with Mr. Hornby, go to Fresh Air.
Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home Verging on Pertinence Just some more disposable thoughts clogging up the hinterlands
<< Home Verging on Pertinence Just some more disposable thoughts clogging up the hinterlands
