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A review by savvinaki
31 Songs by Nick Hornby
4.0
If you are considering reading this book, then my guess is that you are either a Nick Hornby fan (like me) or always curious about music-related text (like me) or born in the late 50s (not like me) - or even all three if you are Hornby himself.
And I say do it. It is a sweet and sour collection of thoughts on the state and evolution of music post World War II. There is some interesting insight, but the main attraction for me was his language. It's neither exactly funny nor exactly serious, but it's uniquely his, and if you remember yourself not being able to put down his "Juliet, naked", then you will know what I mean.
On top of that, it's entertaining to see how wrong or right he was about 2022's music climate 20 years ago. It's certainly interesting how he viewed Destiny's Child existence in the top 10 back then ("unmemorable"), when Beyonce ended up becoming who she is today. It tells you that critics, like all of us, are people and are also in danger of getting old and too possessive with their own youth, their own pop, their own definitions of what makes music memorable or worthy.
[Last thing: I will know I have made it when people care which 31 songs permanently marked my life.]
And I say do it. It is a sweet and sour collection of thoughts on the state and evolution of music post World War II. There is some interesting insight, but the main attraction for me was his language. It's neither exactly funny nor exactly serious, but it's uniquely his, and if you remember yourself not being able to put down his "Juliet, naked", then you will know what I mean.
On top of that, it's entertaining to see how wrong or right he was about 2022's music climate 20 years ago. It's certainly interesting how he viewed Destiny's Child existence in the top 10 back then ("unmemorable"), when Beyonce ended up becoming who she is today. It tells you that critics, like all of us, are people and are also in danger of getting old and too possessive with their own youth, their own pop, their own definitions of what makes music memorable or worthy.
[Last thing: I will know I have made it when people care which 31 songs permanently marked my life.]