Reading your posts here on Substack is a delightful part of my day. Your way with words makes my heart sing and my mouth smile. Thank you Tom for bringing your work to the world.
My head was slightly exploding at the surrealist, yet familiar tone you have woven in your posts that I have come to love and cherish. If this descriptive derivative of mangled bodies, slurpy beverages and bleeting llamas wins you a coveted Pulitzer, we will all be eternally, ceremoniously grateful.
As enticing as this excerpt is 1983 will have to wait till I’ve read my signed copies of Notebook and Villager which are probably somewhere over the Indian Ocean right now. In the meantime I shall enjoy having just read and looked up the meaning of a word I’ve never come across before - spavined.
Tom, I finished reading "1983" and I loved it. I got so buried in the stories (wake up in the middle of the night? read some more pages) that when they all ended I felt a bit adrift and sad. They linger in my mind though like a good long walk along some of my favorite paths around here. I love your vision and that you take the time to share it with us. Can't wait for the next one! (no pressure though, really, please take care of yourself).
Congratulations on your new book! We rarely receive parcels from England, but oddly we were expecting two when your package with Notebook and Villager arrived. My wife tore it open, expecting it to contain “Mr. Rat in a Nightcap” (a stuffed animal, who will be anthropomorphized and join the family like all the rest). Anyway, we had a brisk discussion about who gets to read “Notebook” first—which I won, fortunately. I’m enjoying it, but your admonition to “watch out for pantomime horses at your door” has us distractedly checking the front door every so often. BTW, I ordered 1983 from Blackwells this morning (which I promised my wife she could read first).
I live in the US so I'm sure it will be a minute before I receive my physical copy, but I got the ebook yesterday. Started reading it last night, and I'm obsessed. Very few books make me forget about playing Wordscapes before bed!
My copy now graces my To-Be-Read pile. It will be consumed like a fine wine that waited patiently in a dusty cellar, ready for me when I was primed for a journey into your rich imagination.
'I cannot wait' is a sentiment so utterly trite I struggled to write it, and am reluctant to click 'post'. But it is a true statement, a concise one, and I wanted to say it out loud. To you, Tom, and to you - everyone else wondering whether or not to buy 1983. (If you're following his work here, you probably know the answer.)
(I am also keen to find out more about Rosa Bosom and (courteously) get to know her - Ms Bosom sounds very much like Galya, the kind, bespectacled lady who boiled bad soup very lovingly in my old news bureau in Moscow in 1994. We weren't allowed out to do Brave Things unless we finished our bowlfuls.)
I came here from Laura Thompson's shout-out – https://laurathompsonwriter.substack.com/ – and subscribed right away. If the excerpt above is anything to go by, I know I'm in for a real treat. I'm so skint I wouldn't be able to pay a subscription to my own Substack, but if I ever make some money again, I'll support you financially and with all my enthusiasm. Good luck, Tom!
Reading your posts here on Substack is a delightful part of my day. Your way with words makes my heart sing and my mouth smile. Thank you Tom for bringing your work to the world.
My head was slightly exploding at the surrealist, yet familiar tone you have woven in your posts that I have come to love and cherish. If this descriptive derivative of mangled bodies, slurpy beverages and bleeting llamas wins you a coveted Pulitzer, we will all be eternally, ceremoniously grateful.
As enticing as this excerpt is 1983 will have to wait till I’ve read my signed copies of Notebook and Villager which are probably somewhere over the Indian Ocean right now. In the meantime I shall enjoy having just read and looked up the meaning of a word I’ve never come across before - spavined.
Now I'm going to look that word up too
Tom, I finished reading "1983" and I loved it. I got so buried in the stories (wake up in the middle of the night? read some more pages) that when they all ended I felt a bit adrift and sad. They linger in my mind though like a good long walk along some of my favorite paths around here. I love your vision and that you take the time to share it with us. Can't wait for the next one! (no pressure though, really, please take care of yourself).
Thanks Sue. Great to hear! I’ve just finished editing the next one…
Congratulations on your new book! We rarely receive parcels from England, but oddly we were expecting two when your package with Notebook and Villager arrived. My wife tore it open, expecting it to contain “Mr. Rat in a Nightcap” (a stuffed animal, who will be anthropomorphized and join the family like all the rest). Anyway, we had a brisk discussion about who gets to read “Notebook” first—which I won, fortunately. I’m enjoying it, but your admonition to “watch out for pantomime horses at your door” has us distractedly checking the front door every so often. BTW, I ordered 1983 from Blackwells this morning (which I promised my wife she could read first).
I live in the US so I'm sure it will be a minute before I receive my physical copy, but I got the ebook yesterday. Started reading it last night, and I'm obsessed. Very few books make me forget about playing Wordscapes before bed!
Yay! Thanks Mary.
My copy now graces my To-Be-Read pile. It will be consumed like a fine wine that waited patiently in a dusty cellar, ready for me when I was primed for a journey into your rich imagination.
It came in and I had to stop my son from walking out the door with it!
😂
'I cannot wait' is a sentiment so utterly trite I struggled to write it, and am reluctant to click 'post'. But it is a true statement, a concise one, and I wanted to say it out loud. To you, Tom, and to you - everyone else wondering whether or not to buy 1983. (If you're following his work here, you probably know the answer.)
(I am also keen to find out more about Rosa Bosom and (courteously) get to know her - Ms Bosom sounds very much like Galya, the kind, bespectacled lady who boiled bad soup very lovingly in my old news bureau in Moscow in 1994. We weren't allowed out to do Brave Things unless we finished our bowlfuls.)
Just received my copy in the post - hot off the press. That's my afternoon gone, inside the covers of a book (again) ... never a bad thing :-)
I shall be buying one for my son, born 1976 , a massive fan . Converted by Close Encounters.
Congratulations, Tom
I’m laughing already, I have my copy
I was born in 1983. I’ll read your book ;)
Just ordered your beautiful book at Blackwell. Can’t wait to read it!
I’m sorry… from Blackwells!
I came here from Laura Thompson's shout-out – https://laurathompsonwriter.substack.com/ – and subscribed right away. If the excerpt above is anything to go by, I know I'm in for a real treat. I'm so skint I wouldn't be able to pay a subscription to my own Substack, but if I ever make some money again, I'll support you financially and with all my enthusiasm. Good luck, Tom!
Thanks Portia! (And thank you, @laura thompson!) Really appreciate the thought, and I hope you enjoy 1983…