LoveReading Says
One of Patrick Gale's favourite books.
A wonderful, humorous and bizarre collection of tales looking at how the world might have been.
June 2010 Guest Editor Patrick Gale on Patrick Ness...
Before he took the world’s young adults (and their parents) by storm with his Chaos Walking trilogy, Ness published one adult novel and this criminally under-noticed story collection. As strange and funny as anything from the pen of David Sedaris, it leaves one hoping Ness won’t turn his back on grown-ups for ever.
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Topics About Which I Know Nothing Synopsis
Scintillating, surprising, inventive fiction from one of the most talented young writers in Britain -- this is a superb collection of new short stories from the acclaimed author of The Crash of Hennington. Have you heard the urban myth about Jesus's double-jointed elbows yet? 100% true. Or seen the latest reports on the 'groomgrabbing' trend -- the benevolent kidnapping of badly-dressed children by their well-meaning (and more dapper) elders? Heard the one about the Amazon from the Isle of Man? Or perhaps you'd like a job in telesales, offering self-defence classes over the phone? Don't worry, as long as you meet the weekly quota, you won't be sent to the end of the hall! Wonderfully original, fresh and funny, Topics About Which I Know Nothing is stuffed to the gills with dizzyingly inventive writing and warming, puzzling emotions -- a fictional guide to how the world might have turned out.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780007139446 |
| Publication date: |
21st March 2005 |
| Author: |
Patrick Ness |
| Publisher: |
HarperPerennial an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
261 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Modern and Contemporary Fiction
|
| Recommendations: |
|
Patrick Ness Press Reviews
'This collection of short stories goes off in myriad directions, each wild conceit different, each one executed with the deceptive ease of a catchy song. All of them are sprinkled with humour and zest but none are inconsequential.'
Arena
'Ness's first collection brims with inventiveness and creative audacity.'
Daily Telegraph
'Ness's take on the absurd and offbeat is sharp, intelligent and funny.'
Time Out
'An utterly compelling account of a young man out in the world ! A truly remarkable fictional character'
The Times
'Remarkable, an extraordinary, yet utterly convincing creation'
The Scotsman
'Sparkling humour ! Ness has a wonderful imagination: creative, unpretentious and pleasingly bonkers.'
Metro (London)
About Patrick Ness
Patrick Ness was born on an army base called Fort Belvoir, near Alexandria, Virginia, in the United States. His father was a drill sergeant in the US Army. He lived in Hawaii until he was almost six, spent the ten years after that in suburban Washington state, and then on to Los Angeles, where he studied English Literature at the University of Southern California.
His main job after graduating was as corporate writer at a cable company, writing manuals, form letters and speeches and once even an advertisement for the Gilroy, California Garlic Festival (this is true). If you're American and hated your cable company, he probably wrote you a letter of apology.
He got his first story published in Genre magazine in 1997 and was working on his first novel when he moved to London in 1999. He's lived here ever since. Sometimes he teaches creative writing but mostly he tries to write 1,000 words a day, 'come hell or high water'.
In May 2008, he published The Knife of Never Letting Go, his first book for young adults. It won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Booktrust Teenage Prize and he hasn't looked back since. Click here to read a Q&A with Patrick.
10 Things You Didn't Know About Patrick Ness
1. He has a tattoo of a rhinoceros.
2. He has run two marathons.
3. He is a certified scuba diver.
4. He wrote a radio comedy about vampires.
5. He has never been to New York City but...
6. He has been to Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo.
7. He got accepted into film school but turned it down to study writing.
8. He was a goth as a teenager (well, as much of a goth as you could be in Tacoma, Washington and still have to go to church every Sunday).
9. He is no longer a goth.
10. Under no circumstances will he eat onions.
Author photo © Helen Giles
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