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cultneophyte7's review
5.0
Ykw, I'm just gonna write down some quotes.
“I have always been accused of taking the things I love - football, of course, but also books and records - much too seriously, and I do feel a kind of anger when I hear a bad record, or when someone is lukewarm about a book that means a lot to me.”
“I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it.”
“So please, be tolerant of those who describe a sporting moment as their best ever. We do not lack imagination, nor have we had sad and barren lives; it is just that real life is paler, duller, and contains less potential for unexpected delirium.”
“But what else can we do when we're so weak? We invest hours each day, months each year, years each lifetime in something over which we have no control; it is any wonder then, that we are reduced to creating ingenious but bizarre liturgies designed to give us the illusion that we are powerful after all, just as every other primitive community has done when faced with a deep and apparently impenetrable mystery?”
“Like most depressions that plague people who have been more fortunate than most, I was ashamed of mine because there appeared to me no convincing cause for it; I just felt as though I had come off the rails somewhere.”
“Few of us have chosen our clubs, they have simply been presented to us; and so as they slip from Second Division to the Third, or sell their best players, or buy players who you know can't play, or bash the ball the seven hundreth time towards a nine foot centre-forward, we simply curse, go home, worry for a fortnight and then come back to suffer all over again.”
“A critical faculty is a terrible thing. When I was eleven there were no bad films, just films I didn't want to see, there was no bad food, just Brussels sprouts and cabbage, and there were no bad books - everything I read was great. Then suddenly, I woke up in the morning and all that had changed. How could my sister not hear that David Cassidy was not in the same class as Black Sabbath? Why on EARTH would my English teacher think that 'The History of Mr Polly' was better than 'Ten Little Indians' by Agatha Christie? And from that moment on, enjoyment has been a much more elusive quality.”
“I have always been accused of taking the things I love - football, of course, but also books and records - much too seriously, and I do feel a kind of anger when I hear a bad record, or when someone is lukewarm about a book that means a lot to me.”
“I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it.”
“So please, be tolerant of those who describe a sporting moment as their best ever. We do not lack imagination, nor have we had sad and barren lives; it is just that real life is paler, duller, and contains less potential for unexpected delirium.”
“But what else can we do when we're so weak? We invest hours each day, months each year, years each lifetime in something over which we have no control; it is any wonder then, that we are reduced to creating ingenious but bizarre liturgies designed to give us the illusion that we are powerful after all, just as every other primitive community has done when faced with a deep and apparently impenetrable mystery?”
“Like most depressions that plague people who have been more fortunate than most, I was ashamed of mine because there appeared to me no convincing cause for it; I just felt as though I had come off the rails somewhere.”
“Few of us have chosen our clubs, they have simply been presented to us; and so as they slip from Second Division to the Third, or sell their best players, or buy players who you know can't play, or bash the ball the seven hundreth time towards a nine foot centre-forward, we simply curse, go home, worry for a fortnight and then come back to suffer all over again.”
“A critical faculty is a terrible thing. When I was eleven there were no bad films, just films I didn't want to see, there was no bad food, just Brussels sprouts and cabbage, and there were no bad books - everything I read was great. Then suddenly, I woke up in the morning and all that had changed. How could my sister not hear that David Cassidy was not in the same class as Black Sabbath? Why on EARTH would my English teacher think that 'The History of Mr Polly' was better than 'Ten Little Indians' by Agatha Christie? And from that moment on, enjoyment has been a much more elusive quality.”
josepheck23353's review
4.0
Fever pitch. Honest. Perceptive and witty. Chronicling the Author’s Journey into and through his obsession withe Arsenal Football Club.
It articulates the nature of being a sports fan , its pitfalls and all consuming nature. One in which many can relate too. Football in particular is a religion , one in which the fan devoted themselves too. For the Author it served as a lifelong companion , closely following his own personal ups and downs.
And as an avid follower , Nick witnessed many more downs than ups. Yet his devotion and obsession grew and never wavered. For non-sport fans this is still a great read , as it gives you an insight into the purpose a fan finds in following there team. It also gives a perspective to the outsider looking in , explaining the why’s.
Great read , related a lot to how football has helped me and also nice to read a book about a different club existing outside my Manchester United Universe.
It articulates the nature of being a sports fan , its pitfalls and all consuming nature. One in which many can relate too. Football in particular is a religion , one in which the fan devoted themselves too. For the Author it served as a lifelong companion , closely following his own personal ups and downs.
And as an avid follower , Nick witnessed many more downs than ups. Yet his devotion and obsession grew and never wavered. For non-sport fans this is still a great read , as it gives you an insight into the purpose a fan finds in following there team. It also gives a perspective to the outsider looking in , explaining the why’s.
Great read , related a lot to how football has helped me and also nice to read a book about a different club existing outside my Manchester United Universe.
dubsington's review
3.0
You had best like yourself some Nick Hornby, or you'd better be a football (read:soccer) fanatic if you're going really dig this book. I happen to be quite a sports enthusiast so I was okay with it. The book is mostly a series of page-or-two vignettes that parallel Hornby's life with his football obsession. At times he is insightful about both life and football, and at other times both sides fall flat. As a fan of sport, it was interesting to get a clear glimpse into another fanatics way of life, but if you're not a big fan of sports, specifically football, this one may best be left on the shelf.
ginadylan's review
informative
medium-paced
2.75
This was a good book a nice book but if you aren’t into football a lot of it is a little boring lol
doritobabe's review against another edition
2.0
Ugh. I am so glad this book is over. When I thought it would evolve into something more FUN and fulfilling to read it just continued rambling on incessantly about nothing (or to me, what is nothing as there is no character development or ANYTHING). This book is nothing more than a comprehensive history of the Arsenal soccer team from the sixties to the nineties peppered with the reality of the flagrant racism that still runs in the UK and the selfish debauchery of people ("fans") fighting against themselves and the team. Hornby would have us believe that these horrible stunts are all in the name of love of the game; some kind of action done in the throws of "passion", when really he could be making a wise comment (instead, which, maybe he is but I am just too biased/annoyed to fully be aware of it) of the discontentment of so many generations of men (and a few women too) in modern London. He was funnier at first, even though I hardly understood it, but after awhile it has just devolved into a rant about what isn't good about being involved in the game (interestingly, I like this technique at the same time, because it goes from the fanciful unaware viewing of a youth to an observant and critical adult). So, WHY STAY?!?! You just made me think that soccer would be a fun past time and now I won't even bother going to a game in the UK this May.