Greg Stekelman- TheManWhoFellAsleep

I first heard about Greg Stekelman on the Big Green Book Shop blog (you know the one? 'Two Blokes,One Bookshop, No Idea'). They'd had an amusing interview with Greg and a fabulous little write-up about his book 'A Year in the Life of TheManWhoFellAsleep'. I wrote to Greg asking if he'd be up for
appearing on the show with me. His reply interested me. He wanted to know how I'd heard about him
and why I wanted him on the show. Now, I've written to thousands (slight exagerration) of authors
and I've never been asked this. This is no reflection on them. Damn right, authors should get asked
to appear on shows and publicise their books more often than they do AND shouldn't be surprised by
the attention. Anyway,I answered his questions as honestly as I could and he agreed to appear on the
show.

We met at the appointed time and place and got on the train to Brentwood. I was slightly taken aback
by how different he looked to how I'd imagined. Yes, I had seen pictures of him on his blog and
various other internet sites. In my defense, the pictures weren't all that clear. In my head, Greg
was a really tall, scruffy, mad crazy hairdo sporting, Jarvis Cocker-esque glasses clad being. But,
no. We were having a good old chat when I had a call from a friend at work about her relationship
falling apart.Not the kind of conversation you want to be having on the phone cramped on a busy
train and I was very aware that I was sitting opposite a writer who also does the Tube Gossip Column
for London's Time out.

Greg was funny and fun to chat to. And as you can see from the above pictures, looked very different to how I'd imagined!

Read on for books of Greg's choice.For more info on the man himself, visit www.themanwhofellasleep.com

Guest: Greg Stekelman, Time Out London's Tube Gossip columnist, a weekly feature under the heading Overheard Underground. Stekelman started themanwhofellasleep.com in 2001.The website is an eclectic mix of his writing,illustrations,animations and features.A Year in the Life of TheManWhoFellAsleep, Stekelman's first novel, based on writing from his website was published last April.

Books

A Year in the Life of TheManWhoFellAsleep by Greg Stekelman
'The doorbell rang.I looked at my alarm clock. It was 3.00am.I closed my eyes and pretended I hadn't
heard it. It rang again. I put on a pair of jeans and answered the door. It was Jesus. 'He looked
terrible. His hair was unkempt and there were grey bags under his eyes. He stank of whisky. You had
best come in, I said.' So begins a year in the life of The Man Who Fell Asleep - artist, thinker,
writer, North Londoner, and alter-ego of Greg Stekelman, the bastard lovechild that James Thurber,
Mark Twain and Eddie Izzard never had. Part novel, part journal, part snippets of conversation
overheard on the Tube, part collection of drawings of Kevin Spacey and Condaleeza Rice, this unique
diary is guaranteed to have you weeping with bemused laughter before you reach the end of the first
chapter.

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
Down-and-out drunk Terry Lennox has a problem: his millionaire wife is dead and he needs to get out
of LA fast. So he turns to his only friend in the world: Philip Marlowe, Private Investigator. He's
willing to help a man down on his luck, but later, Lennox commits suicide in Mexico and things start
to turn nasty. Marlowe finds himself drawn into a sordid crowd of adulterers and alcoholics in LA's
Idle Valley, where the rich are suffering one big suntanned hangover. Marlowe is sure Lennox didn't
kill his wife, but how many more stiffs will turn up before he gets to the truth!

For Esme- With Love and Squalor by J.D.Salinger
This is a collection of nine exceptional short stories from the author of "The Catcher in the Rye",
J D Salinger. The book includes two of Salinger's most famous and critically acclaimed pieces, which
helped to establish him among contemporary literary greats.The title story-a soldier's recollection
of his meeting with a young girl, Esme, before being sent into combat - prompted a flood of readers'
letters when it was first published in "The New Yorker in 1950". The haunting, "A Perfect Day for
Bananafish" is the first of the author's many stories to feature the Glass family and follows eldest
sibling, Seymour Glass, and his wife, Muriel, as they honeymoon in Florida.

The Book of Sand by Jorge Luis Borges
"The Book of Sand" was the last of Borges' major collections to be published. The stories are,in his
words, 'variations on favourite themes...combining a plain and at times almost colloquial style with
a fantastic plot'. It includes such marvellous tales as "The Congress", "Undr" and "The Mirror and
the Mask". Also included are the handful of stories written right at the end of Borges' life -
"August 25, 1983", "Blue Tigers", "The Rose of Paracelsus" and "Shakespeare's Memory".

Labyrinth by Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges was a literary spellbinder whose tales of magic, mystery and murder are shot
through with deep philosophical paradoxes. This collection brings together many of his stories,
including the celebrated "Library of Babel".

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael ChabonThe brilliantly original new novel from Michael Chabon,author of 'The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay'
and 'The Final Solution'. What if, as Franklin Roosevelt once proposed, Alaska -- and not Israel --
had become the homeland for the Jews after World War II? In Michael Chabon's Yiddish-speaking
'Alyeska', Orthodox gangs in side-curls and knee breeches roam the streets of Sitka, where Detective
Meyer Landsman discovers the corpse of a heroin-addled chess prodigy in the flophouse Meyer calls
home. Marionette strings stretch back to the hands of charismatic Rebbe Gold, leader of a sect that
seems to have drawn its mission statement from the Cosa Nostra -- but behind Rebbe looms an even
larger shadow. Despite sensible protests from Berko, his half-Tlingit, half-Jewish partner, Meyer is
determined to unsnarl the meaning behind the murder. Even if that means surrendering his badge and
his dignity to the chief of Sitka's homicide unit -- also known as his fearsome ex-wife, Bina. 'The
Yiddish Policemen's Union' interweaves a homage to the stylish menace of 1940s film noir with a
bittersweet fable of identity, home and faith.It is a novel of colossal ambition and heart from one
of the most important and beloved writers working today.

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
This spellbinding volume brings together the five novels from Susan Cooper's classic fantasy
sequence: "Over Sea", "Under Stone"; "The Dark is Rising"; "Greenwitch"; "The Grey King"; and
"Silver on the Tree". Here Barney, Jane and Simon discover an ancient map in Cornwall;the mysterious
Merriman reveals his secret purpose; and Will Stanton realizes that he is not just an ordinary boy
but has a far greater role in fulfilling his destiny. Creating a magical world where the everyday
mingles with the supernatural, "The Dark is Rising Sequence" weaves a story of secret codes, strange
prophecies, the legend of King Arthur and a centuries-old conflict between the power of good and the
forces of evil.

Next week,on Book Club, author Rosy Thornton.