nick hornby's the polysyllabic spree
i decided to take a break from the crappy book i was reading and whip through this one instead, since i'm a hornby fan, he's a reliably entertaining author, and he was talking about books! i sort of wish the believer had waited a little bit longer to publish this, so there'd be more than a year's worth of columns--this book is a little on the slim side, and left me wanting more. of course, it did turn out to be entertaining, i got some ideas for books to check out, and i felt vindicated whenever he liked something i had also read and liked. note to self: pick up his songbook, preferably the older edition w/ cd if you can.
2 comments:
jordon here.
i want to check this book out. rocks that it's in paperback. i too like hornby, though most critics don't; i think they find his writing a little too impressionisitic and precious. but i like his style; like one reviewer who does like him put it, hornby makes you feel like he's on your level, and not some know-it-all. there's also something to be said for his taste in music, which is pretty damn good (though a little soft in the belly for me).
i wasn't a huge fan of songbook probably because i didn't expect it to be as whimsical as it was. he kind of just hands us a bunch of songs he thinks are cool and attaches anectdotes to them. a musicologist he ain't. to be fair, he did write songbook just to raise some money for that creative writing center in san francisco, so i guess i should have suspected how half-baked it would be. but hornby's still high on my list of critics i enjoy reading the most--i wish he were still at the new yorker. (not sure how i feel about sasha frere-jones's allegiance to the poppier side of pop music, though i give him a shout-out for his review of _madvillainy_).
enjoy your break!
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proceeds from polysyllabic spree and songbook, besides going to 826 valencia, also go to an autism organization in the uk (just to be accurate).
i like hornby's personal anecdote things better than his novels (though i do like those a lot too)--his writing is casual and funny and relate-able.
i haven't read songbook, just perused it at a bookstore, but he did have some songs that i love, so it seemed worth checking out. :)
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