Omnivore Pin-up: Jonnie, 24, Newcastle
Reviewer, Poser, Proser, Egon Loeser. If you want a bit more of this gorgeous Geordie in your life, read on at jonniemcaloon.com. For dinner party invitations or requests for a pen-pal, send him your beautifully crafted sentences via love@theomnivore.com.
What are you reading at the moment?
John Banville’s Shroud. I’m a big fan of him and this is apparently the only one of his novels he likes. Lavish, sharp, complex and more than a bit unsavoury: it’s got it all.
What have you just finished reading?
The last book I read for pleasure was Knut Hamsun’s Mysteries and it reset the clock. What have we been doing all these years? He wrote it about 120 years ago and it’s more psychologically advanced and candid than most things I’ve read in the meantime.
What will you read next?
I’m excited to read some Evie Wyld, so her two books are next.
Which author do you have a crush on?
I’m easy for anyone who can put lots of underlineable sentences on every page without being superficial. Candia McWilliam was a bit of a pin-up in the late eighties/ early nineties. Her first book: A Case of Knives – my oh my! I had to start underlining my underlinings. But maybe I shouldn’t say I have a crush on her because her son’s my mate…
What’s the sexiest thing you’ve ever read?
Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Top that. Or maybe Henry and June.
Which book would you give someone you’re trying to impress?
I’d give them my book (whehey!) – No no. I’d probably give them something overlong and very wise like Brothers Karamazov, or something merely overlong, like anything by Thomas Mann. Scrap that – I’d give them something overlong that I haven’t and may never read, like all of Proust. I’d do it with a straight face.
