Speaking with the Angel
by Nick Hornby, Irvine Welsh, Melissa Bank, Colin Firth, Giles Smith, Helen Fielding, Dave Eggers, Zadie Smith, Robert Harris, Roddy Doyle, John O'Farrell, Patrick MarberSign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
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avg 3.50
I usually don't buy Anthologies as at best they're like Mix Tapes with a few bum tracks, this one went for a good cause though and was put together by Nick Hornby so I figured hey why not it's got a few bum tracks but it's still pretty strong. A Bit of a Breakdown.
-PMQ, Robert Harris: Very funny very British FPS Account of a Prime Minister having a nervous breakdown, a bit dry but I dug it.
-The Wonder Spot: Mellisa Banks- Look I know Chick Lit is an unseemly putdown that dismisses the w...more
-PMQ, Robert Harris: Very funny very British FPS Account of a Prime Minister having a nervous breakdown, a bit dry but I dug it.
-The Wonder Spot: Mellisa Banks- Look I know Chick Lit is an unseemly putdown that dismisses the w...more
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Read in May, 2008
A collection of short stories by various writers, edited by Nick Hornby. The proceeds from this book go to schools that specialize in educating students with autism, a good cause important to Hornby, whose son is severely autistic. I liked most of the stories, especially the following.
The best of the lot was Nick Hornby's 'Nipple Jesus'. The title refers to an art exhibit featuring a collage of pictures of breasts cut from magazines that form a picture of Jesus. It is narrated by a club boun...more
The best of the lot was Nick Hornby's 'Nipple Jesus'. The title refers to an art exhibit featuring a collage of pictures of breasts cut from magazines that form a picture of Jesus. It is narrated by a club boun...more
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recommends it for:
anyone who likes anything
Without question, this is my favorite collection of contemporary short stories. The cast of writers is drool-worthy:
Roddy Doyle, who makes gold from paper and ink; "Closer" playwright Patrick Marber; Mr. Darcy himself, Colin Firth; Nick Hornby, who edited; Zadie Smith; Helen Fielding; Irvine Welsh; Zadie Smith; Dave Eggers; Melissa Bank, who wrote the terrific "The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing" (which is also a great great great GREAT book); Giles Smith; John O'Farre...more
Roddy Doyle, who makes gold from paper and ink; "Closer" playwright Patrick Marber; Mr. Darcy himself, Colin Firth; Nick Hornby, who edited; Zadie Smith; Helen Fielding; Irvine Welsh; Zadie Smith; Dave Eggers; Melissa Bank, who wrote the terrific "The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing" (which is also a great great great GREAT book); Giles Smith; John O'Farre...more
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Read in March, 2002
i honestly picked up this book because i was fascinated by the cover. Those little plastic doll heads really spoke to me. But enough about my particular psychosis.
i found this collection of contemporary short stories surprisingly enjoyable. The voices all seemed fresh and original and some of the stories have really stuck with me. That's the way it goes with short fiction collections i think. For example, i find most of Bradbury's sci/fi short stories forgettable but each of his well known c...more
i found this collection of contemporary short stories surprisingly enjoyable. The voices all seemed fresh and original and some of the stories have really stuck with me. That's the way it goes with short fiction collections i think. For example, i find most of Bradbury's sci/fi short stories forgettable but each of his well known c...more
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I love this book, perhaps a little too much. I bought it on a whim and it turned out to be wonderful so maybe that's what I'm so immensely proud of it. It introduced me to Helen Fielding (I am Olivia Joules biatches!) and Zadie Smith, gave me more to sink my teeth into from Hornby and Welsh and instructed me to steer clear of Eggers in the future (I know you all love him. I don't .) But I became smitten w/it when I read "Peter Shelley" by Patrick Marber, so much so that I at...more
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Read in March, 2008
I'm always a little wary of collections of short stories - particularly those that include contributions from multiple authors, because you're never really sure what you're going to get. However, when I started this book it was the end of March and with only four books down for the year, I needed something I could digest pretty quickly. I actually enjoyed most of the stories found in Speaking With the Angel - particularly Nick Hornby's own contribution, "NippleJesus," along with Zadi...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Anglophiles in summer 2001
Nick Hornby brings together a bunch of his friends to do short stories in a book intended to raise money and awareness for a school in the UK (and a counterpart in NY) for autistic children (like his son). I feel like an anti-autistic jerk for only giving this two stars, but there were definitely some low points here -- Melissa Bank's contribution was right awful, and for some reason Colin Firth writes a long piece which was kind of weird and bumpy, albeit touching in its own way. Nick Hornby'...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
short story fans
Loved the stories that I actually read: Eggers, Smith, Bank, Marber, Fielding, and, yes, Hornby himself. Maybe I'm too picky with short story collections (perhaps I'm too picky, period), but that's a debate best saved for another day.
The Eggers story I'd read (and loved utterly) before. The Smith one I loved, especially since I hadn't read any of her short stories before.
The Bank number reminded me of "The Girl's Guide", and was quite lovely. The Fielding story was quite un-Br...more
The Eggers story I'd read (and loved utterly) before. The Smith one I loved, especially since I hadn't read any of her short stories before.
The Bank number reminded me of "The Girl's Guide", and was quite lovely. The Fielding story was quite un-Br...more
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Read in June, 2006
recommends it for:
fans of general fiction, short and original stories, contemporary authors
Speaking with the Angel is an anthology, edited by Nick Hornby, which contains a collection of witty, original and clever short stories, written by several contemporary authors. The stories are all written in the first narrative but are all also different - here you get to read from the point of view of a prime minister, a prison cook, a teenage boy, a dog, a homophobic man and many more. Each short story captures a story on its own. Each style and register is different and suitable for i...more
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Read in August, 2006
recommends it for:
anyone with a soul and a sense of humor
I'd admit right off the bat - I bought this book because it was edited by Nick Hornsby. My second motivator was that the profits benefited a UK charity which provides support for families dealing with Autism.*
The series of short stories is a grand collection - some very famous names! - and it's a great grab-read. I've oddly had several cocktail hour conversations on the piece from this collection, which makes it a networking expense, right there! [sarcastic grin:]
All cynicism aside, I e...more
The series of short stories is a grand collection - some very famous names! - and it's a great grab-read. I've oddly had several cocktail hour conversations on the piece from this collection, which makes it a networking expense, right there! [sarcastic grin:]
All cynicism aside, I e...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
fans of contemporary British fiction
Unlike most short-story collections I've read, this one, edited by Nick Hornby and featuring original work by Helen Fielding, Colin Firth, and Irvine Welsh, among others, is almost all gems. The only story I didn't like, unsurprisingly, is the one by Dave Eggers. My favorite is "The Slave" by Irish novelist Roddy Doyle. It's essentially a soliloquy by a man accustomed to order and routine, whose life is disproportionately changed when he finds a dead rat in his kitchen. The discove...more
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Read in September, 2008
This was a great collection of short stories. My favorites were the ones by Nick Hornby, Roddy Doyle, Giles Smith and John O'Farrell (which were a little deeper); The stories by Patrick Marber and Irvine Welsh were fast and dirty, but very, very funny. The one by Melissa Bank was so sweet. But, my favorite of them all was the one by Helen Fielding, which surprised me as much as I hated those Bridget Jones books, but I literally laughed out LOUD while I was reading about the old woman stuck on...more
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Read in March, 2001
A really disappointing and uneven collection of short fiction, the unifying theme of which is "Written By Nick Hornby's Friends". There were only a handful of stories that had any resonance at all and only one that I still remember - "Last Requests" by Giles Smith, about the woman who cooks the last meals for Death Row prisoners. This lead to my short-lived obsession with the Texas Death Row website. I'd read the last meal requests and feel, achingly, the realness and huma...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in February, 2007
A collection of short stories from 12 British authors, collected by Nick Hornby with a portion of the proceeds going towards a school for autistic kids in London (Hornby’s son is a student there). Some of the stories were way too explicit (sexually, language), but some were just fun. Colin Firth wrote one (his wasn’t the best, but it was cute), and Helen Fielding - some of the others I’d not heard of, so it was an interesting way to be exposed to their work quickly. I might check out a few...more
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