I took one glance at the covers of Simon Van Booy‘s books, one long, lingering glance at his photos, and then noted that the word love appears in nearly every title of his published works and I thought to myself, what a curious, calculated man. (You can drool over him at his website.) Born in rural Wales, Simon attended a prestigious private school for boys in Wales, eventually ended up playing football at a university in Kentucky, taught English in Greece and endured the earthquake and personal poverty there while writing. Today he lives in New York City–I guess enjoying all a hunky 34-year-old man can, all the while teaching and working with an outreach program for adults in underserved communities.
I am taking home Love Begins in Winter and hope to read at least one of his stories tonight. As may be apparent to you by now, I am trying to get past the strong romantic image SimonVan Booy seems to have put forth intentionally and move on to more of a substantial impression of him. Most people have a degree of narcissism, I think he certainly has found a healthy outlet for his.
Now back to his writing . . . sigh.
The Secret Lives of People in Love (2007) is a collection of short stories set in New York City, Paris and Greece and has been re-released this February 2010. Love Begins in Winter came out in 2009 and won the prestigious Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. His published writing includes a collection of poetry, a children’s book and a series of philosophical works (Why We Need Love; Why We Fight; Why Our Decisions Don’t Matter–all out in August 2010). His first novel, The Greek Affair, is supposed to be out in 2010 as well.
I don’t mean to treat Simon Van Booy as a man might be tempted to treat a stereotypical blond bombshell, but I think he has the potential to intrigue us all with his charms in the midst of a dismal and endless February.
I promise to report back on the courtship.
2/26 Update: I am on page 30-something of the first story which is 70-something pages long. I guess these are really more aptly titled novellas. But what is important is that I find his writing to be very agreeable. Simon has a neat way of leaves spaces in thought between the sentences, but he so far has filled in the spaces quite elegantly at later points in the story. I can’t wait to finish this story. The only interference in our courtship is my own fatigue and my true-love who loves to talk to me. Life is so hard!
Please comment if you have read Love Begins in Winter!
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