“Absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder. It makes people think you’re dead.”
I picked this up on hearing of Chris’s death last week. Although I’m a regular reader of his fiction work, including his wonderful Bryant and May stories, I’d not heard of this one, and not noticed it in the shops. Not really surprising, as it’s more about crime stories than my usual reading of choice (although I do like a good crime story from time to time, admittedly.)
But what a revelation. You know when you find a book that you’ve never heard of before but really, REALLY like when reading? This is one, which is slightly ironic when this relatively forgotten book is about forgotten authors and their books. (I’m sure Chris would appreciate that.)
As the summary states, here there are 99 authors, all of whom Chris thought were worth remembering. Some I’d heard of (Kyril Bonfiglioli, Leslie Charteris, John Christopher, Margery Allingham), others I hadn’t (far too many to mention). Often the author’s lives are as wild and as odd and as exciting as the fiction they wrote.
But what made the book worthwhile and elevated it beyond a typical booklist were the comments by Chris in each chapter. Each motif has comments on the authors, their works and sometimes little personal touches about what the books mean/meant to Chris. It’s a book written out of love for books that are loved and still should be loved, and that shines through each author’s chapter.
So too with the number of little essays Chris slips in along the way. How about all the relatively unknown authors that Disney turned into films? What about the Charles Dickens that time tends to forget? The Booker authors? The ‘Justly Forgotten’ authors, of which Denis Wheatley, T.H. White and Cornell Woolrich amongst others all take a place?
Even if I’d not met him*, though, the author’s voice is strong throughout, whilst not overpowering the main content. Chris’s introduction about why authors are forgotten, for example, is SO good – humorous, witty, knowledgeable. If that doesn’t make you want to read more then this isn’t the book for you.
However, in my opinion The Book of Forgotten Authors is wonderful for any bibliophile. If you love fiction books and love finding out about authors, do yourself a favour and dig this one out. If the sign of a book’s success is to increase the number of books it makes me want to buy and read, then The Book of Forgotten Authors is an unqualified success! (I’ve started making a list…as if my To Be Read pile wasn’t big enough already.) I’m sorry I’ve not read it before, but I guess that is the joy and the attraction of such a book – the undiscovered pleasure such a find can bring.
This is a book that deserves not to be forgotten, despite Chris’s request at the end that one day he would hope to be one. Catnip for readers! ?
*Slight disclosure: I met Chris on more than one occasion. From what I remember, this book is SO Chris, filled with little asides that made me feel that he’s in my head saying them as I read!
The Book of Forgotten Authors by Christopher Fowler
Published 2017 by riverrun
ISBN: 978 1 78648 490 1
382 pages
Review by Mark Yon
