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.
jordon here.
ReplyDeletei 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!
http://infogluttony.blog-city.com
proceeds from polysyllabic spree and songbook, besides going to 826 valencia, also go to an autism organization in the uk (just to be accurate).
ReplyDeletei 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. :)