i-would-like-to-thank

[i-would-like-to-thank]

The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher, by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury, 2008)

A trip to Legoland for being patient? Now that is a very good deal! I wonder what other bribes the children of authors have succumbed to?

[i-would-like-to-thank]

Swing Time, by Zadie Smith (Penguin, 2016)

Just imagine being thanked by Zadie Smith. Imagine. 

[i-would-like-to-thank]

The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry (Serpent’s Tail, 2016)

[i-would-like-to-thank]

Succession by Livi Michael (Fig Tree, 2015)

I wonder what makes someone a writer’s friend. A red pen wielding taskmaster, or someone with words of encouragement and a glass of wine at the end of the day? Is Anna a writer herself, or someone that understands a writer’s needs? So many questions... 

[i-would-like-to-thank]

Meanwhile in San Francisco: the city in its own words by Wendy MacNaughton (Chronicle, 2014)

Are these the best acknowledgements ever?! The author, Wendy MacNaughton, has drawn the face of each and every person – and animal – she wishes to thank. Makes me wish I’d been involved. 

[i-would-like-to-thank]

The Discomfort Zone by Jonathan Franzen (Picador, 2006) Plain and simple. We soon learn that Bob and Tom are Jonathan's brothers. Easy.

[i-would-like-to-thank]

Jebel Marra, by Michelle Green (Comma Press, 2015)

This collection of short stories is rigorously, carefully researched, but the detail is so sensitively interwoven, that the reader forgets that the author has probably researched the subject within an inch of its life. It’s beautiful storytelling.

It’s no surprise, then, that Michelle Green’s acknowledgements page is fruitful and full. I especially like Hatim Ali’s ‘fingersprints are throughout this book.’ 

[i-would-like-to-thank]

The Accidental by Ali Smith (Penguin, 2005) A strange book where nothing is quite as it seems, and these dedications are deliciously oblique, too. I especially like 'the wizard of us.' Entertainment or conjuring using only thin air?

[i-would-like-to-thank]

The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, by Steve Roud and Julia Bishop (Penguin, 2012)

I like the idea of partner and daughters holding ‘the fort so valiantly’, as if the portcullis had to be operated on a number of occasions.

And this scholarly work of passion owes much to a great number of people, by the looks of things. The line ‘Modern life would be much the poorer if [singers and collectors] had not made the effort to pass on this important part of our cultural heritage.’ Quite right.

[i-would-like-to-thank]

Want to acknowledge Murphy; my wolf.

Kate Tempest, The Bricks That Built The Houses (Bloomsbury, 2016)

[i-would-like-to-thank]

The Accidental Musician, by Judy Dyble (Soundcheck Books, 2016)

This is just a delight, as acknowledgements go: it’s humble, it hints at the author’s fear of releasing something so permanent into the world, it namechecks the proofreader, it worships at the altar of the jellybean.

[i-would-like-to-thank]

The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman (Transworld, 2012)

No named individuals so nobody can be forgotten; nobody’s privacy is invaded (including the author’s). I like the use of the midwifery metaphor when this novel is focused on childbirth, parenting and families.