The Polysyllabic Spree is a 2004 collection of Nick Hornby's "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns in The Believer. The book collates his columns from September 2003 to November 2004, inclusive. It also includes excerpts from such authors as Anton Chekhov and Charles Dickens. In it, Hornby lists the books he bought each month, and the books he actually read. For instance, he might buy Dickens, but read J.D. Salinger. He then writes a column revolving around what he read, bought, and what he intends/intended to read. The title is a reference to the choral symphonic-rock group The Polyphonic Spree. In the book, Hornby describes the people who run The Believer as being "all dressed in white robes and smiling maniacally, sort of like a literary equivalent of the Polyphonic Spree." (pg. 30) There are three follow-up books, Housekeeping vs. The Dirt (2006), Shakespeare Wrote for Money (2008) and More Baths Less Talking (2012). List of books September 2003 Books bought: Robert Lowell: A Biography – Ian Hamilton Collected Poems – Robert Lowell Against Oblivion: Some of the Lives of the 20th-Century Poets – Ian Hamilton In Search of J. D. Salinger – Ian Hamilton Nine Stories – J. D. Salinger Franny and Zooey – J. D. Salinger Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction – J. D. Salinger The Ern Malley Affair – Michael Heyward Something Happened – Joseph Heller Penguin Modern Poets 5 – Corso/Ferlinghetti/Ginsberg Books read: All the Salingers In Search of Salinger and Lowell Some of Against Oblivion Pompeii by Robert Harris (not bought) October 2003 Books bought: A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates – Blake Bailey Notes on a Scandal – Zoë Heller (released in the US as "What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal") Books read: Being John McEnroe – Tim Adams Stop-Time – Frank Conroy The Fortress of Solitude – Jonathan Lethem Desperate Characters – Paula Fox Notes on a Scandal – Zoë Heller Where You’re At – Patrick Neate Feel Like Going Home – Peter Guralnick The People's Music – Ian MacDonald A Tragic Honesty – Blake Bailey (unfinished) How to Stop Smoking and Stay Stopped for Good – Gillian Riley Quitting Smoking – The Lazy Person's Guide! – Gillian Riley November 2003 Books bought: Bush at War – Bob Woodward Six Days of War – Michael B. Oren Genome – Matt Ridley Isaac Newton