Penguin Press is celebrating 70 years of pocketbooks. I mentioned in an earlier post that while in Winnipeg I stumbled across a brilliant display of new Penguin pocketbooks. These are tiny pocketbooks, 70 in total, promoting the 70th anniversary.
The one that really caught my eye was Nick Hornby’s Otherwise Pandemonium.
First the cover is brilliant. It’s a video tape making a face. Check out the link to see what I mean. I’m not a huge Hornby fan. I loved About a Boy and High Fidelity but How to Be Good wasn’t … good, ok it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great.
This little paperback, which cost me $4, was brilliant. Two short stories. One about a boy who buys a video recorder so that he can tape tv. Turns out it doesn’t just record, it projects into the future and he sees the end of the world. This, of course, lets him convince a girl in his band class to have sex with him. It’s very very funny. The other story is about a guy who’s well hung and gets a couple of roles in adult films. A neighbour kindly mentions this to his mother and provides her with the video tape. Again, madness and hilarity ensue.
I read both stories over the course of an amazing Italian dinner. It was worth the $4 and I can’t recommend the book enough. I’m still laughing at some of the scenes.