THE BEST OF A.A. GILL by A.A. Gill

 

How I mourn that this man is no longer living in this world. We are all the poorer for not having him casting his perceptive eye over the many issues he was drawn to. We miss his fearlessness in confronting topics many would rather not be faced with, his disregard for only writing nice things, not afraid to be negative, rude, completely politically incorrect and biting in some of his reviews of people, places, eating establishments. Audacious yet full of compassion and tenderness in much of his writing. Here is someone who can write about anything, any subject you could think of, and make it a perfect piece of prose with an angle, an opinion, an argument, an idea that you hadn't heard of. 

This book is a collection of his best writings, although I fully expect that to be subjective naturally, published in a number of publications, mainly The Sunday Times, but also Australian Gourmet Traveller, GQ, Vanity Fair, and Tatler. His subject matter ranges from his opinions about vegetarians, Starbucks, the restaurant Noma, Essex, Airports, Teletubbies, David Attenborough, Pornography, Ageing, and many others. The issue dearest to his heart is the refugee crisis - so perfect and heartfelt in its hopelessness, despair and personal stories.

What makes his writing more stunning is that he is dyslexic. There is an article about that too. All his work apparently is dictated by him and then transcribed. His brain is amazing, and maybe because it sees words and how to tell stories in a different way from us literate people, his approach to telling us what he thinks is more powerful than simply using words as we know them to tell the story. I don't know enough about how the dyslexic brain works, but I do know this is one extraordinary man. 

Wouldn't it be marvellous to hear his take on the year 2020? There would be a whole book of writings generated by this insane year we have just all gone through. Genius.