Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Danny Wallace, is better known for his non-fiction books. In fact, Danny Wallace wrote one of my favorite books of all time… actually… that’s not quite right, Danny Wallace wrote half of one of my favorite books of all time with his then-flatmate Dave Gorman. In case you’re interested that book was called ‘Are You Dave Gorman’ and it chronicled a drunken bet between Dave and Danny which stated that Dave would never be able to find 54 people called Dave Gorman. Possibly the funniest book I’ve ever read.
Since the release of ‘Are You Dave Gorman?’, both he and co-author Dave have become famous for their range of non-fiction ‘wacky-adventure books’ and sporadic television appearances. However, it was Danny who really hit the big time when one of his later books ‘Yes man!’ was adapted into a film starring Jim Carrey – which strangely had almost nothing to do with the book upon which it was based. Regardless, both are incredible writers and I’d highly recommend any of their books to anyone.
Where was I going with this?
Oh right, yeah. So, I am a fan of Danny Wallace, but his last book, “Friends like these” was slightly disappointing (read: not as good as his others) and I was worried how he would turn his hand at fiction. I saw the book on a shelf, decided it was worth the risk, and it paid off. Easily the best book I’ve read all year, and certainly one of the funniest.
‘Charlotte Street’ tells the story of a man named Jason Priestley (no, not the star of Beverly hills 90210) who has reached a bit of a slump in his life. One day he has a fleeting moment with a pretty young woman whilst helping her with her bags and into a taxi. By accident, he ends up with her disposable camera and no way to contact her to give it back. He becomes smitten, perhaps borderline obsessed with “The Girl”, and thanks to the actions of his flatmate and good friend Dev, he embarks on a quest to return the pictures to their owner which lies somewhere between stalking and hopelessly romantic.
I don’t want to reveal any more than that, so as not to spoil a fantastic read but I just could not put this book down, I think I managed a couple of short breaks while a made a cup of tea, but aside from that I was addicted. If you’ve read any of his previous books, you can really see their influence in this one, and it makes it all the better.
Head out and buy it now; you won’t be disappointed.
‘A magical slice of book heaven.’ – Ryan Sweeney
