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A review by zoemig
31 Songs by Nick Hornby
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. ***