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'Extraordinary prose' Sunday Times

About the Author

Born in 1957 Nicholson Baker is the author of several acclaimed novels; A Box of Matches, Vox and The Fermata as well as essays, including the campaigning Double Fold for which the New York Times called him 'the Erin Brokovich of the library world'.

Reviews

Extraordinary prose
*Sunday Times*

As Kipling was to the secrets of the jungle, so is Baker to modern domesticity, equally ready with fascinating observation
*Daily Telegraph*

There is a good deal more everyday wonder here than in a hundred original miscellanies
*Observer*

This might be Baker's best yet - you're in for a treat
*Evening Standard*

Like the small, agreeable sensations it so deftly evokes, this modestly scaled story is a pleasure that can add cheer to an entire day
*Spectator*

The science of the insignificant has always been Baker's field of study. Treading a fine line between microcosmic dazzlement and banality, he has carved out a minuscule kingdom for himself. After his recent excursion into nonfiction (the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Double Fold), he returns to fiction with a novel in the classic Baker tradition. For Emmett, a 44-year-old father and textbook editor, the predawn wintry darkness is an invitation to musings and meditations on life's events-make that nonevents. Each chapter begins virtually identically ("Good morning, it's 4:45 a.m...."), with Emmett reflecting on something as he sips coffee and warms himself by the fire: the family's pet duck, outside in the cold; a well-worn briefcase; an alternative career as a lichen expert; the idea of collecting paper towel designs. His family-two children and wife Claire-occasionally appear in his ruminations, and his love for them is palpable. But they never emerge as more than background figures, because Emmett's preoccupation is with himself; at one point, he (literally) gathers lint from his navel. Baker struggles to manufacture drama ("Last night my sleep was threatened by a toe-hole in my sock"), and his prose is evocative (a match bursting into flame becomes a "dandelion head of little sparks"). He is such an excellent writer, a master of descriptive detail with an unusual perspective on the world, that he can almost be forgiven for his tendency to focus on the mundane-almost. Emmett's life may seem rich to him, but it isn't rich enough to propel an entire novel. Even readers with a weakness for Baker's particular brand of minutiae may find themselves hoping that next time he will find a subject worthier of his prose. Agent, Melanie Jackson. Author tour. (Jan. 14) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Extraordinary prose * Sunday Times *
As Kipling was to the secrets of the jungle, so is Baker to modern domesticity, equally ready with fascinating observation * Daily Telegraph *
There is a good deal more everyday wonder here than in a hundred original miscellanies * Observer *
This might be Baker's best yet - you're in for a treat * Evening Standard *
Like the small, agreeable sensations it so deftly evokes, this modestly scaled story is a pleasure that can add cheer to an entire day * Spectator *