I notices recently that I had finished Speaking with the Angel and hadn't thrown it up on the left. The book is a collection of short stories by, as far as I can tell, writers who Nick Hornby knew in some way. The collection was designed to be a fund raiser for special schools for children with autism, of which the editor's son is one. Child that is, not a school. Hornby wrote a quite poignant introduction about dealing with his son's autism and the school he helped establish. It made me feel guilty that I picked up the book on a remainder shelf for two bucks. On the other hand, many of the stories weren't all that good, not to mention especially inappropriate for children, if you get my gist. One exception is a story called, of all things, "Nipple Jesus". Easily the best story I've read about contemporary art and artists and their relation to society at large.