How I Became a Famous Novelist

How I Became a Famous Novelist (2009) by Steve Hely. This is one of the funniest books I've read in a month of Sundays. The fictional protagonist, named Pete Tarslaw, decides that he wants to become a famous author so that he will have riches, a teaching post at a college, and lots of sex with co-eds. His strategy is to look at the New York Times best-seller list and take elements from all the most successful writers and incorporate them into his "novel." Along the way, he takes a writing course, and not being able to remember the teacher's name, he dubs her SpaghettiHair HamsterFace. I found this hilarious, along with most of the rest of the book, which was a real page-turner. By writing a fake book about how he became a famous novelist, Hely may have succeeded in becoming a famous novelist. This book was a real treat, all the way through. Grade: A