This is not a book of reviews. This is not a book that sneers at other books. This is a book about reading - about enjoying books wherever and however you find them.

Nick Hornby, author of the bestsellers About a Boy and Fever Pitch - takes us on a hilarious and perceptive tour through the books he bought, the books he read and his thoughts on literature. He is first and foremost a reader and he approaches books like the rest of us: hoping to pick up one he can't put down. The Complete Polysyllabic Spree is a diary of sorts, charting his reading life over two years. It is a celebration of why we read - its pleasures, its disappointments and its surprises. And above all, it is for you - the ever hopeful reader.

For fans of Bill Bryson and Stephen Fry, and for bookworms everywhere, this witty, passionate book will make you cherish the world of letters anew.