Hammond: New Hammond book?

TraumaDoll

TraumaDoll

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http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/HB-43404/Or-Is-That-Just-Me?.htm

Don't know if anyone's heard about this yet, but it seems he has his third autobiographical book out in as many years. The publishers don't appear to have noticed that the title changed, though. :huh:

Anyone else going to be reading this? Sorry if it's old news, I haven't been here long and I've scarcely been on at all in the last week.
 
I'm guessing he will talk about the Vietnam trip, and maybe touch a bit on the Children's Centre?

Either way, I'm there :)

I really enjoyed his previous books so this one should be good too :)
 
3 books in 3 years is a lot. That's a diary really. I think I'll let some of you read it before I buy.
 
Another one?

Has his ghost writer got blackmail photos or something?
 
:nod: So now I'm confused. I'd heard/read about this a few months ago; at the time, it was called Did I Say That?. Is it now going to be called Or Is That Just Me?? Make up your minds, Orion! Also: Can we not have an abridged audio version, please?

There's got to be stuff on the Vietnam trip for sure.

I read the other two books about a month ago. Loved them.
 
Soup? said:
Has his ghost writer got blackmail photos or something?
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In fairness to the Hamster (and in the case of the first book, Mindy) I think he does actually write them himself. Remember they met when they were both working in PR, an industry which generally requires a good command of written English. The first book in particular displayed two distinct styles of writing (the part written by Mindy while he was in a coma) and his writing conveys much of the same phraseology as his spoken stuff. Of course they are edited, tweaked and proof-read but I think in the main what you read is Hammond.

I've read several genuine and ghost-written autoboigraphies (no, not Jordan's!) and it's fairly easy to spot which ones are real or ghosted. I could be wrong of course but that's my two cents.

At least I have the first item on my (40th) birthday list.
 
Mineworksfine said:
In fairness to the Hamster (and in the case of the first book, Mindy) I think he does actually write them himself. Remember they met when they were both working in PR, an industry which generally requires a good command of written English. The first book in particular displayed two distinct styles of writing (the part written by Mindy while he was in a coma) and his writing conveys much of the same phraseology as his spoken stuff. Of course they are edited, tweaked and proof-read but I think in the main what you read is Hammond.

I've read several genuine and ghost-written autoboigraphies (no, not Jordan's!) and it's fairly easy to spot which ones are real or ghosted. I could be wrong of course but that's my two cents.

At least I have the first item on my (40th) birthday list.
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Yup, if you read some of Hammy's articles, you can very easily recognise his writing style. He's very descriptive and uses a lot of metaphors.

Mindy's aswell, she's a bit more romantic than Rich, and uses a lot of little anecdotes in her articles, which generally are nothing short of adorable :)
 
He did say in one of the Jonathan Ross interviews that they asked him if he wanted a ghost writer and they said no. Of course anyone can say anything, but I agree the writing feels like him. He writes how he speaks.
 
Richard's said in interviews that he's always loved writing, and used to write a lot when he was younger. He's also been an advocate of getting children reading and getting parents to read to their kids. If anyone hasn't seen him reading Three Billy Goats Gruff I can post the link, but I assume everyone has by now. :)

At any rate, reading and writing seem to have always been an important part of his life. It makes complete sense to me that he would want to write about his 'adventures' when it's obvious people would be interested in reading them.
 
I'm reading the first chapter of As You Do at the moment, and the little diary bits appear to be quite different to the main chunks of the book. But I'm sure he wrote it! I'm quite enjoying it, I'll have to race through it before this comes out!
 
Mineworksfine said:
In fairness to the Hamster (and in the case of the first book, Mindy) I think he does actually write them himself. Remember they met when they were both working in PR, an industry which generally requires a good command of written English. The first book in particular displayed two distinct styles of writing (the part written by Mindy while he was in a coma) and his writing conveys much of the same phraseology as his spoken stuff. Of course they are edited, tweaked and proof-read but I think in the main what you read is Hammond.
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flydiscovery said:
He did say in one of the Jonathan Ross interviews that they asked him if he wanted a ghost writer and they said no. Of course anyone can say anything, but I agree the writing feels like him. He writes how he speaks.
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Exactly.

I think you get a better sense that these really are Hamster's own words (and Mindy's, in regards to On the Edge) when you're listening to the audio versions. Even then, he probably has to read stuff a certain way (and some of it may be due to his radio background), and various bits and pieces have to be cut out or truncated (much to, at least, my chagrin); but it's still undeniably his own words he's reading. To me, he writes like he's in the pub, or a restaurant, or at home telling these stories to his mates (in this case, us--the readers/listeners/his fans).

Mini1 said:
I'm reading the first chapter of As You Do at the moment, and the little diary bits appear to be quite different to the main chunks of the book. But I'm sure he wrote it! I'm quite enjoying it, I'll have to race through it before this comes out!
Click to expand...

Somehow I think the diary bits were written in "real time"--as in, while he was experiencing whatever he was writing about at that moment, then inserted into various parts of the book to add to the story.

A while back, Radio Times had him do a mini-journal when he and the other fellas were filming in Vietnam, covering the days they spent driving the length of it (there's a scan around here somewhere, I think...they're not on the RT website). It's a similar style to those, methinks.
 
Aw no Mindy or the girls in this one :(
 
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