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alperezq's review against another edition
3.0
Better than it has any right to be. Even if you don't read the book I recommend listening to the playlist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlTwJYVXOk0&list=PLgSUAPkvG4QSrRqygcMYhhiieNSXckcLk , they are mostly really good songs. Hornby highlights how these songs have played a role in his life and in doing so he manages to make them feel as personal for the reader as they are for the author. He's also a great music critic without being too pretentious and recognizing the generational and cultural barriers at play when appreciating music.
zoemig's review against another edition
3.0
"if you love a song, love it enough for it to accompany you throughout different stages of your life, then any specific memory is rubbed away by use."
Nick Hornby (author of the novels About a Boy and High Fidelity among others) writes with a refreshing frankness, which makes his books easy and enjoyable to read. Even when you are not familiar with what he is talking about, you are still somehow able to relate. I have already read many of his articles on books this year, which are available in collections such as The Polysyllabic Spree. In 31 Songs, he delves into the most important (not necessarily his favourite) songs in his life and explains why and how they had their impact. Also included in the collection are several music articles originally published in the New Yorker.
The problem I had with 31 Songs wasn't that it wasn't well written or interesting- it was that even when I already knew the songs he was writing about it was hard for me to really care. It is impossible for me to give a high ranking or recommendation of a book which doesn't really make you feel anything strongly, and that was my experience with 31 Songs. However because of this negative, it's actually a really good book for a waiting room or airplane trip or any place when you only have a short while and maybe suddenly interrupted- you will enjoy reading it, but you won't be tragically devastated to put it down either. ***
Nick Hornby (author of the novels About a Boy and High Fidelity among others) writes with a refreshing frankness, which makes his books easy and enjoyable to read. Even when you are not familiar with what he is talking about, you are still somehow able to relate. I have already read many of his articles on books this year, which are available in collections such as The Polysyllabic Spree. In 31 Songs, he delves into the most important (not necessarily his favourite) songs in his life and explains why and how they had their impact. Also included in the collection are several music articles originally published in the New Yorker.
The problem I had with 31 Songs wasn't that it wasn't well written or interesting- it was that even when I already knew the songs he was writing about it was hard for me to really care. It is impossible for me to give a high ranking or recommendation of a book which doesn't really make you feel anything strongly, and that was my experience with 31 Songs. However because of this negative, it's actually a really good book for a waiting room or airplane trip or any place when you only have a short while and maybe suddenly interrupted- you will enjoy reading it, but you won't be tragically devastated to put it down either. ***
remocpi's review against another edition
4.0
En este libro, NH se dedica lo que sabe: escribir y contar cosas. Es un libro en el que nos cuenta su relación con 31 canciones, tanto las que le han marcado como las que le recuerdan algo de su vida, como las que le sugieren cosas nuevas. Este NH es un melómano de cuidado. Leyéndole uno tiene la impresión de que nunca llegará a escuchar tanta música como él.
Ya que el libro iba de canciones, se me ocurrió algo. Me fui a radio mula y sintonicé las 31 canciones, que fui escuchando a razón de una –a veces dos, pues hay capítulos dobles– por capítulo. Y les aseguro que la experiencia merece la pena. Conocía tres canciones de las 31 que destaca NH. Y sin embargo me encantó ir descubriendo grupos nuevos mientras un guía de excepción te contaba lo que sentía al oírlas y te hacía una breve reseña de cómo llegó a conocer al grupo.
En realidad, no son 31 canciones, sino casi 100, pues en muchos capítulos NH habla de muchas canciones que no salen en el título. Por ejemplo, en el capítulo sobre la canción X, NH comienza “no es que X me parezca mejor que Y, ni que Z, pero tiene algo que es especial. Al mismo tiempo que descubrí X yo estaba enganchado con A, B y C, que luego me llevaron a descubrir E, F y G…” y luego vuelve a hablar de X. En total, ya les digo, salen un montonazo de canciones.
En muchos de los capítulos NH habla de su vida, y de cómo han tenido ciertos episodios de ésta mucho que ver con las canciones que comenta. Me gusta leerle cuando escribe así. NH es un tío normal, con un don para contar cosas (y respaldado en castellano por un excelente traductor), que te lleva por donde quiere y te hace disfrutar por el camino, aunque sólo te esté contando que una vez organizó un festival benéfico en un colegio de primaria. Hay otro libro suyo, Fiebre en las gradas, que está aún mejor. Es una biografía de su pasión por el Arsenal, equipo de la Premier inglesa. Sólo habla de él y de fútbol, y es genial. Este libro recuerda a aquél, cambiando el tema, pero no llega a igualarlo. La sensación de leerlo con música, sin embargo, ha hecho que me haya encantado la experiencia. Mi nota: Muy entretenido.
Ya que el libro iba de canciones, se me ocurrió algo. Me fui a radio mula y sintonicé las 31 canciones, que fui escuchando a razón de una –a veces dos, pues hay capítulos dobles– por capítulo. Y les aseguro que la experiencia merece la pena. Conocía tres canciones de las 31 que destaca NH. Y sin embargo me encantó ir descubriendo grupos nuevos mientras un guía de excepción te contaba lo que sentía al oírlas y te hacía una breve reseña de cómo llegó a conocer al grupo.
En realidad, no son 31 canciones, sino casi 100, pues en muchos capítulos NH habla de muchas canciones que no salen en el título. Por ejemplo, en el capítulo sobre la canción X, NH comienza “no es que X me parezca mejor que Y, ni que Z, pero tiene algo que es especial. Al mismo tiempo que descubrí X yo estaba enganchado con A, B y C, que luego me llevaron a descubrir E, F y G…” y luego vuelve a hablar de X. En total, ya les digo, salen un montonazo de canciones.
En muchos de los capítulos NH habla de su vida, y de cómo han tenido ciertos episodios de ésta mucho que ver con las canciones que comenta. Me gusta leerle cuando escribe así. NH es un tío normal, con un don para contar cosas (y respaldado en castellano por un excelente traductor), que te lleva por donde quiere y te hace disfrutar por el camino, aunque sólo te esté contando que una vez organizó un festival benéfico en un colegio de primaria. Hay otro libro suyo, Fiebre en las gradas, que está aún mejor. Es una biografía de su pasión por el Arsenal, equipo de la Premier inglesa. Sólo habla de él y de fútbol, y es genial. Este libro recuerda a aquél, cambiando el tema, pero no llega a igualarlo. La sensación de leerlo con música, sin embargo, ha hecho que me haya encantado la experiencia. Mi nota: Muy entretenido.
meliemelo's review against another edition
4.0
I think this was the first Nick Hornby book that I read. Quite an odd choice to start, and yet I remember liking the style of it. I'll definitely reread it again someday.
ambergold's review against another edition
4.0
This book has made my life so much better while reading it that I've been watching the "percentage read" tick up on my Kindle with the doomed sensation of a mother waiting for her newborn to wake up and start screaming. It's nonfiction and consists of 26 essays that chronicle Hornby's 31 favorite songs at the time (early 2000s). Hornby's an obsessive music fan who did some serious music journalism in his time, and his deep knowledge shows, but better than that is the breezy, sardonic, casual style in which he writes, as he tells anecdotes about hearing the songs for the first time and how his personal life interwove and interacted with each song, as well as tracing the band's roots and musical influences.
The book isn't riveting: it's discursive and *satisfying* instead, like dipping into a sauna and feeling the world fall away. Having read four of his novels and (nearly) two of his nonfiction, if he rewrote the phonebook, I'd read it. And this, despite the fact our musical tastes just barely overlap! (Fun fact: someone has, of course, made a Spotify playlist of his choices: it's called "Nick Hornby's 31 Songs").
The book isn't riveting: it's discursive and *satisfying* instead, like dipping into a sauna and feeling the world fall away. Having read four of his novels and (nearly) two of his nonfiction, if he rewrote the phonebook, I'd read it. And this, despite the fact our musical tastes just barely overlap! (Fun fact: someone has, of course, made a Spotify playlist of his choices: it's called "Nick Hornby's 31 Songs").
kate_in_a_book's review against another edition
4.0
I love Nick Hornby. And this collection of his essays about music might be Hornby at his best. Because when it comes to music, Hornby is a true fan, but not the kind of fan who knows it all and lectures on the roots of all music; he’s a fan in that he loves what he loves with great enthusiasm, and his enthusiasm is infectious.
As the title suggests, these essays centre around a list of 31 songs. Not necessarily Hornby’s favourite 31 songs, though they are for the most part among his favourites. Instead he has chosen songs that give him something to write about. So his selection of “Smoke” by Ben Folds Five gives us an essay about pop lyrics and whether it matters that most pop lyrics aren’t the stuff of great poetry (a subject of great interest to me; in fact I wrote my dissertation on it). I was happy to find, as a fan of Ben Folds, that Hornby’s decision on this matter doesn’t affect his belief that “Smoke” is “lyrically perfect”.
My full review: http://www.noseinabook.co.uk/?p=2705
As the title suggests, these essays centre around a list of 31 songs. Not necessarily Hornby’s favourite 31 songs, though they are for the most part among his favourites. Instead he has chosen songs that give him something to write about. So his selection of “Smoke” by Ben Folds Five gives us an essay about pop lyrics and whether it matters that most pop lyrics aren’t the stuff of great poetry (a subject of great interest to me; in fact I wrote my dissertation on it). I was happy to find, as a fan of Ben Folds, that Hornby’s decision on this matter doesn’t affect his belief that “Smoke” is “lyrically perfect”.
My full review: http://www.noseinabook.co.uk/?p=2705
undomielle's review against another edition
4.0
"Just as some of us were beginning to fear that club culture was finally going to make us feel excluded from the young person’s party (and, let’s face it, it was about time), they invented chillout music, and we felt right at home again", or else: I love you Nick Hornby.
daaave's review against another edition
4.0
This is a collection of essays about some of Hornby's favorite songs. I started off the book listening to each song before reading the attached essay. Then I started to realize that I was becoming more interested in the slices of life each song was revealing about the author. Hornby wrote the book my favorite movie (High Fidelity) is based upon. I have always viewed him as something of a hero, and it seems so fitting that he would hide his autobiography in a collection of essays about music. He says himself that he became a novelist because he couldn't make it as a songwriter. You can feel his longing to be a part of that world throughout the book.
The final product of this book is a story of Hornby and a handy soundtrack already prepared. Great summer reading.
The additional five essays at the end were solely about the music on which they were focused, I actually thought this took away from the narrative the rest of the book provided.
The final product of this book is a story of Hornby and a handy soundtrack already prepared. Great summer reading.
The additional five essays at the end were solely about the music on which they were focused, I actually thought this took away from the narrative the rest of the book provided.