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31 Songs

3.55 of 5 stars 3.55 · rating details · 6,569 ratings · 320 reviews

There is nothing quite so incomprehensible as love: 31 Songs is Nick Hornby's account of a selection of the music that lives deep in his heart and it is beside the point that most of us would make radically different selections. He makes some useful distinctions--these are not songs he loves for their associations so much as particular songs through which he learned more a...more

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Published February 24th 2005 by Penguin (first published December 15th 2002)

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Sep 04, 2007 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

the original hardcover edition is the one to get. it's all made up nice to resemble a mix tape you made back in high school and handed, sweaty palm and all, to the girl you were madly in love with. she was all long brown hair and old striped izod shirts that were hand-me-downs from her older brother or father. and afterwards. days later. you sat on a guardrail in a parking lot and talked about the songs. and the sun was setting over telephone wires on beat-up cars and still. it was a perfect lan...more

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Apr 12, 2010 Alison rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: music lovers, Hornby lovers (is there a difference?)

A couple of times a year I make myself a tape to play in the car, a tape full of all the new songs I've loved over the previous few months, and every time I finish one I can't believe they'll be another. Yet there always is, and I can't wait for the next one; you need only a few hundred more things like that, and you've got a life worth living.

I love Nick Hornby. I love his voice. And I love that he's so neurotically obsessive about the things that he loves.

Here he dissects 31 of his favorite s...more

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Feb 27, 2011 Kitty-Wu rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: myfavs

Bueno, no es una novela, ni un ensayo, ni una crítica musical (como se esfuerza en recordarnos el autor constantemente).... es una mirada sobre 31 canciones que de alguna manera u otra han calado en Hornby, bien sentimentalmente, bien por otros motivos más "musicales". No puedo evitarlo, Hornby me cae bien, me gusta como escribe, y es un fan de la música, como yo, aunque no tenga su nivel de conocimientos seguramente... pero el libro destila pasión y eso es lo que me atrapa, aunque no compartamo...more

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Jul 05, 2008 Zac rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What could perhaps described as autobiographical music criticism. Anyone who knows me knows I frequently cite the often miss attributed quote "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" (Costello? Monk? Mingus? Kant?) so this book is kinda like that. Plus, Hornby frequently comes across as an old, liberal fart, especially in his descriptions of 21st century pop music and hip hop BUT HE KNOWS HES AN OLD LIBERAL FART AND HE REALLY LOVES Nelly Furtado so that sort of makes it OK doesn'...more

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Mar 04, 2013 John rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“You could, if you were perverse, argue that you’ll never hear England by listening to English pop music. The Beatles and the Stones were, in their formative years, American cover bands that sang with American accents; the Sex Pistols were The Stooges with bad teeth and a canny manager, and Bowie was an art-school version of Jackson Browne until he saw the New York Dolls.”
So begins Nick Hornby’s chapter on why England’s national anthem should change (shouldn’t they all?) from “God Save the Quee...more “You could, if you were perverse, argue that you’ll never hear England by listening to English pop music. The Beatles and the Stones were, in their formative years, American cover bands that sang with American accents; the Sex Pistols were The Stooges with bad teeth and a canny manager, and Bowie was an art-school version of Jackson Browne until he saw the New York Dolls.”
So begins Nick Hornby’s chapter on why England’s national anthem should change (shouldn’t they all?) from “God Save the Queen” to Ian Dury & The Blockheads “Reasons to be Cheerful.” And he lays down astute reasoning behind his wry suggestions.
In Hornby’s personal survey on music, “Songbook,” he ponders many ideas, among them how many Dylan discs are really enough. Apparently five is all you need even though he amassed 20+ discs and collections as we all did. And he’s right; he’s right about so many songs and artists and pop movements that you can’t help but stop and cue up Youtube. You’ll even cue up “Late for the Sky” by Jackson Browne just to see if Hornby’s post-40s sensibilities align with your growth from The Ramones to songs with meaning.
Often they do. Hornby’s re-examined musical history is right on. “I can’t afford to be a pop snob any more, and if there is a piece of music out there that has the ability to move me, then I want to hear it, no matter who’s made it.” In the case of Hornby’s re-assessment of Browne and the “delicate Californian flowers” and his cross reference of Mojo Magazine’s top 100 Greatest Punk Singles as proof that sometimes we get some music at certain times in our lives and sometimes we’re just not attuned to other efforts is spot on. He’s right, there really isn’t 100 great punk singles, most are simple awful, but he does recognize it’s a moment in life that we hold dear. And then it’s time to move on.
Hornby’s “Songbook” isn’t clear-cutting nostalgia. He appreciates greatness and what moves us. “What must it have been like, to listen to “Like a Rolling Stone” in 1966, aged nineteen or twenty?” Hornby asks. “I heard “Anarchy in the UK” in 1976, aged nineteen, but the enormous power those records had then has mostly been lost now.” Songs got faster, louder, and shorter, so they lost the shock. Dylan, being Dylan, we mine it deeper, because it was meant to be mined. Or so we thought, and that may be why we get exhausted by ‘serious’ artists, Dylan, Zeppelin, Springsteen, until the fun is gone. As Hornby points out, “Like a Rolling Stone,” still sounds perfect. It just doesn’t sound fresh anymore.”
“Songbook” starts with an assessment of Springsteen and a mention of Dave Eggers’ theory that we play songs over and over because we have to ‘solve’ them. That may be true, but we still love the evanescence of what moves us. Then Hornby ends “Songbook” with a look at Patti Smith. “One of the things you can’t help but love about Smith is her relentless and incurable bohemianism, her assuaged thirst for everything connected to art and books and music. In this one evening she named-checked Virginia Woolf and Tom Verlaine, William Blake and Jerry Garcia, Graham Greene and William Burroughs.” While Springsteen worries about being The Boss, and as perfect as he can be, and he can be absolutely perfect, witness his song “The Rising” in response to 9/11, Smith on the other hand “seems blissfully untroubled about her status as an artist: she just is one, and it requires no further contemplation on her part.”
Hornby wrote that after seeing a transformative Patti Smith performance, and I’m convinced, as he was that night,that great artists, those that make us feel the music and art and writing channeled through them, make us all better human beings.
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Bryan Winchell Yeah---I'm with you on Jackson Browne---doubt I'll ever be a fan. But it could be for Hornby like it is for me with certain songs in the 1980s. Songs...more
Mar 06, 2013 12:33am

Bryan Winchell John---I was thinking about this conversation some more today and thinking that perhaps for people who like me who came of age in the late 1980s/early...more
Mar 07, 2013 11:56pm

Mar 10, 2012 Remo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2006, biografia, musica

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 –...more 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.(less)

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Feb 10, 2012 Ian Hrabe rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A nice, breezy little insight into the music half of Nick Hornby's brain (the other half would be equal parts football and writing, I suppose). It feels a bit loose and seat of pants-y (which, again, I suppose, is the point) but there are too many references to Nelly fucking Furtado. But there are also two Teenage Fanclub songs on the list, so I guess that balances it out. Songbook worked the best when Hornby went on about songs that inspired bits and pieces of his books (the part about Badly Dr...more

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Dec 27, 2011 Noel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: music lovers

Recommended to Noel by: Garrett Lemons

I love Nick Hornby. I enjoy his non-fiction, essay style and am inconceivably envious over the freedom he has in expression. Some of his verbiage and description out of reach for me merely because I lack the gumption to be as wittily vulgar. (My favourite line from the book was something like: as a writer "everything should be effing effable, otherwise what's the point?") Most of the music reviewed, I'm sad to say, I haven't experienced very much. But much like Rob Sheffield's Talking to Girls...more

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Sep 26, 2011 Patrick McCoy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: music, non-fiction

Nick Hornby has been a part of mainstream culture for a while now, and I didn't bother with his last novel, How to Be Good. But I heard good things about Songbook and have read occasional essays about music by him in the New Yorker. I bought it and finally got around to reading and really enjoyed it. I like his conversational tone and self-depreciating humor. The essays are general and personal the same time. I am not familiar with all the songs and disagree with some of his picks, but it still...more Nick Hornby has been a part of mainstream culture for a while now, and I didn't bother with his last novel, How to Be Good. But I heard good things about Songbook and have read occasional essays about music by him in the New Yorker. I bought it and finally got around to reading and really enjoyed it. I like his conversational tone and self-depreciating humor. The essays are general and personal the same time. I am not familiar with all the songs and disagree with some of his picks, but it still interesting to hear what it is about the songs that he loves. I was surprised by how much he loves Nelly Furtado's "I'm Like A Bird", a song I must confess to liking, but not as much as Hornby. I concur with a lot of his attitudes about pop music. Here are some of the more interesting points discussed in the book:

Hornby writes: "A couple of times a year I make myself a tape to play in the car, a tape full of all the new songs I've loved over the previous months, and every time I finish one I can't believe there'll be another one; you need only a few hundred more things like that and you've got a life worth living."

I used to do this quite frequently as well, but in the age of the iPod I make song lists. The thing I love about the iPod is that on shuffle you can discover or re-discover music, since I usually play it on shuffle when not listening to song lists, or individual artists. Occasionally I listen to a series of album on shuffle or individual albums that I have recently purchased as well. But mostly I listen to shuffle, and occasionally a song will emerge in different light that form how I hear the first time. So recently I have re-discovered" Vampire" from the Gorillaz first album.

"I discovered, sometime during the last few years, that my musical diet was light on carbohydrates, and that the rock riff is nutritionally essential." I'd say my musical diet still has enough carbohydrates and I hope it always stays that way.

Sometimes I just need to hear "I Wanna Be Your Dog" or "Touch Me I'm Sick."

"I had always presumed (I was a music snob even before I knew anything) that covers were inauthentic, somehow, and inevitably inferior-that only the originals really counted. But when I checked out these originals, I discovered to my confusion that quite often (he) had improved upon them."

I would as far as to say that if I don't hear any covers/alternate versions of songs at a live concert I feel cheated. Covers reveal taste, irony, and influences-sometimes all at once.

Elsewhere he makes spot on observations about the British national character and what artists represent in their music, among other things. He also talks about the need to continue to find new music and discovered lesser-known tracks by major artist. He praises those who introduced us to great music there have been many in my life as well. All in all a very thought provoking and entertaining. It falls into the category of non-required reading that seems to pure enjoyment for me.
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Aug 31, 2010 kate added it · review of another edition

I've never read hornby before - though of course i saw high fidelity, because (as everyone knows) all movies set in indie record stores are must-sees. it's the second book i have read that makes me nostalgic for the days of mixed tapes and mixed cds - despite the fact that my ipod & the internet have allowed me to explore ever broadening musical tastes - i was reminded of the art of one perfect song. my friends will suffer for this at christmas, no doubt.

i came away with a renewed appreciati...more

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Feb 25, 2010 Brayden rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've been a Nick Hornby fan ever since I read High Fidelity and was blown away by what I consider to be one of the best "pop" novels ever written. But ever since reading High Fidelity, I've felt let down by his work. It's not that the other novels aren't enjoyable, but they don't emanate the same kind of raw honesty and personal meaning that High Fidelity did for me. There was something about that book that just seems very true to me.

That said, this is best book I've read by him since High Fidel...more

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Jan 21, 2010 Lionel Valdellon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rummaging through the music section of my library one day, I found Songbook by Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity and About A Boy, and immediately brought it home. There’s nothing better than coming across someone who enjoys music and can write about it with skill and verve.

Songbook is basically a collection of reflections on 31 songs, not his all-time “best of” list, but rather, songs which he’s listened to over and over again and which he wanted to write something about. Thus he has essays o...more Rummaging through the music section of my library one day, I found Songbook by Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity and About A Boy, and immediately brought it home. There’s nothing better than coming across someone who enjoys music and can write about it with skill and verve.

Songbook is basically a collection of reflections on 31 songs, not his all-time “best of” list, but rather, songs which he’s listened to over and over again and which he wanted to write something about. Thus he has essays on everything from Nelly Furtado’s “Fly Like A Bird” and Ben Folds Five’s “Smoke” to Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan tunes. The book even comes with an audio CD containing 11 of the 31 songs he wrote about.

Hornby refrains from turning the chapters into blog-like entries and talking about what was happening in his life at the time he was listening. Instead, he waxes almost poetically on issues like the throw-away culture which outputs current pop music and how it still manages to produce intelligent, soulful compositions; he reflects on the difference between sad songs about work versus sad songs about relationships; he even talks about generational differences, and touches on music and social change. It’s not philosophy, as much as a chance to talk about pop music intelligently and insightfully.

NUGGET OF WISDOM

The best nugget of wisdom I took away from the book: “Dave Eggers has a theory that we play songs over and over, those of us who do, because we have to ’solve’ them.”

I remember doing exactly that– placing an mp3 on constant repeat over a period of time — in order to squeeze the juice out of it, to get at its message, its point, its truth. To enjoy its aural and intellectual stimulus, and allow it to carry me forward.

FAVORITE QUOTE

“A couple of times a year I make myself a tape to play in the car, a tape full of all the new songs I’ve loved over the previous few months, and every time I finish one I can’t believe that there’ll be another. Yet there always is, and I can’t wait for the next one; you only need a few hundred more things like that, and you’ve got a life worth living.”

If you love pop music and intelligent writing, then you will relish Hornby’s Songbook. It is a hopeful, insightful read with its own built-in soundtrack. Worth it!

Originally posted on my blog:
http://lionel.valdellon.com/?p=341 (less)

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Aug 21, 2012 Snow Ford rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nick Hornby starts out the book by saying that these will not be essays about the memories these song invoke, so "Love is a Mix Tape" this is not. However, he has quite a few things to say about the thoughts these songs might generate. And being Nick Hornby, he does state everything quite well. This book did inspire me to look up quite a few of these songs and give them a listen. I just wish that the CD included with the book included all of the songs he mentions, rather than just a few. I feel...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Patrick Neylan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: auto-biography, music, non-fiction

'31 Songs' isn't as profound as it thinks it is; it's a fun, quick read and rather enjoyable for the most part. But I still don't get why Hornby's musical taste is any more interesting to read about than mine (or yours), apart from the fact that he's a 'name' author. I reckon I could have written something just as interesting, but (probably like Hornby) I've found that my views on music are a great way to scare girls away.

I would have given this 3 stars, but I've just started reading Lester Bang...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: keeper, second-hand

Knew instinctively I would love this book and it's been on my shelf for ages but thought that reading it without listening to the music would be like someone describing to you, in great detail, their favourite chocolate bar then handing you the empty wrapper.

But if you do it properly - find somewhere quiet (a rare commodity, and the reason it's taken me so long to finish it), read a chapter, listen to the song(s) - it gives the delicious sensation of being gently seduced. Because while The Mix T...more

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Dec 11, 2008 Jesse Houle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I definitely think this book (at least the first half of it) is a must-read for anyone who is very interested in music. He uses various songs (often surprising selections) as examples for what makes music important/enjoyable/valuable. In many of the chapters/articles he will describe exactly why one might shy away from, dismiss or dislike a particular artist, song or genre and then essentially give you a very valid explanation for why that isn't acceptable. I feel like it's not only fun to hear...more

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Jan 08, 2010 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, essays, music

p. 43 ...the best music connects to the soul, not the brain, and I worry that all this Dylan-devotion is somehow antimusic - that it tells us that the heart doesn't count, and only the head matters.

p. 49-50 "All art constantly aspires toward the condition of music," Walter Pater said, in one of the only lines of criticism that has ever meant anything to me (if I could write music, I'd never have bothered with books); music is such a pure form of self-expression, and lyrics, because they consist...more

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Jan 03, 2012 Christy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm a big fan of Nick Hornby, partially because I relate so much to his musical references. So I really enjoyed these essays on songs. I especially like that I don't share all the same tastes in music, but I do share his passion, obsessive nature, and desire to discuss music at length. As an artist I really related to his feeling that sometimes when he writes he is trying to evoke a song, even though the reader will probably never realize this. I've had the same experience with painting. In fact...more

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Nov 10, 2010 abatage rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I wanted to give this book five stars, because I can't really fault it at all, but at the end of the day it didn't change my life or blow me away with it's artistic majesty, so four will have to do. Just know that while Nick Hornby may not be the most literary example of writers in our contemporary culture, he certainly is brilliant.

This particular collection of songs that actually mean something to the author, is a great read. Any book that makes me laugh out loud gets bonus marks in my world a...more

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May 05, 2009 Meridth Gimbel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(Written by my husband Edward) "This is an amazing collection by one of my absolute favorite contemporary authors on the subject of pop songs. I know, I know...when most people hear the words 'pop music' images of boy bands and bubble-gum dance through their skulls. This is a mistake. Pop music is more like a medium than a genre. Like the three minute song with wicked hooks that goes 'Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Chorus-Chorus' is equivalent to a novel; any book of fiction between 100-1000 p...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Palmyrah rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Throughout this book, Mr. Hornby promotes the case for loving disposable, easy-to-listen-to pop music, arguing (quite reasonably, in my view) that you cannot eat caviar and drink champagne every day. Towards the end of the book, however, he complains that he no longer has time to assimilate a new pop song and enjoy it before he starts hearing it at the supermarket, or Starbuck's, or soundtracking a TV commercial. It seems Mr. Hornby wants to have his cake and eat it.

You haven't heard most of the...more

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Oct 08, 2011 Jason Briggs rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book a few years ago. I picked up the book because this is the author of high fidelity. One of my favorite movies. I also was interested because the idea behind the book. In this book, Nick Hornby takes the reader through a list of his favorite songs, their significance to him and why and what he loves about music in general as well. This is a great book and I believe everyone can relate to the author's emotional connections with a song list, in their own unique way. We all love musi...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Sam Grove rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Perfect commentary for those of us who have ever felt touched by music; the lyrics, melody, beat etc etc. Though I do not necessarily know all of the artists he talks about or even agree with him on what constitutes 'good' music, that is the whole point of this book. Whatever your musical leanings, the songs you love will affect you in different ways and its those effects that make music so definitive to our lives. So what if you dance every time you hear a Britney Spears song? Who cares if you...more

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Nov 18, 2012 annik rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: brit-lit, read-in-russian

Хорнби – один из тех парадоксов, которые постоянно встречаются на моем пути. Причем я сознательно взращиваю их, видимо, надеясь перехитрить саму себя.
Парадокс Хорнби в том, что я не читала ни одной его художественной книги, только статьи о книгах и о музыке, хотя изначально к нему меня привела именно обложка его художественной книжки, а отзывы других людей на музыку-кино-книги я вообще не люблю. Читаю только в исключительных случаях, чаще это люди, которых я знаю лично, и поэтому Хорнби – интере...more Хорнби – один из тех парадоксов, которые постоянно встречаются на моем пути. Причем я сознательно взращиваю их, видимо, надеясь перехитрить саму себя.
Парадокс Хорнби в том, что я не читала ни одной его художественной книги, только статьи о книгах и о музыке, хотя изначально к нему меня привела именно обложка его художественной книжки, а отзывы других людей на музыку-кино-книги я вообще не люблю. Читаю только в исключительных случаях, чаще это люди, которых я знаю лично, и поэтому Хорнби – интересная фигура в моем читательском опыте, ибо я с ним не знакома и он мне даже не нравится.

31 песня, 31 глава. Я честно забила свой плеер 30-ю песнями из его списка (одну так и не смогла найти, даже ласт.фм не признался, что ее знает), чтобы слушать и читать согласованно; песня – это дополнение к словам, которые пытается донести Хорнби. После Ника у меня ощущение, что я всю жизнь читала только Джудит Макнот, такое сочетание легкого цинизма и откровенности о своих переживаниях редко где встретишь.
Сразу стоит сказать, что Хорнби, несмотря на внешний снобизм, никого не агитирует слушать «правильную» музыку, он всего лишь зарисовывает свои мысли с песней фоном. У него явно накопилось множество интересных выводов в голове, и чтобы не быть голословным, приводит конкретные примеры из своей жизни.

Если бы я не увлекалась книгами, то точно была бы предана музыке – вот такая мысль пришла мне в голову. Спасибо Хорнби, теперь я могу называть всю музыку, которую слушаю, просто «поп», не подразделяя на поджанры, названия которых нужны только.. а, никому они не нужны. Порадовало, что если я и не слушала музыку указанных Хорнби исполнителей, то хотя бы слышала о них.

Во время поиска песен появились первые претензии к переводчикам. Прочитав только оглавление, я уже нашла несколько ошибок, из-за которых мне было смехотворно не найти эти песни. А сколько имен и названий было переврано, не сосчитать: например, кто такой «Барт Бачар»? Удивительно, но это Burt Bucharach. О количестве орфографических ошибок я уж молчу. Если и читать – то в оригинале, тогда играть в «угадайку» не придется.

annikeh.net (less)

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May 15, 2009 Rich rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humor, music, culture, all-time-favorites, favorite-authors

Hornby always makes me laugh, and laugh deeply--from my gut. At the same time he makes me think. Great combination.

In Songbook, he presents eleven essays on songs that have meaning for him. Some of them I've heard, and I love. Others I've heard and didn't love. And other I haven't heard even heard of the band, let alone the song.

What makes this book good, if not great, is that he was able to find ways to connect me as the reader to songs I've never heard and bands I've never heard of. Not only...more

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Apr 16, 2013 William Koon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I like the way Hornby writes. I like what he writes about. In fact, he wrote the only young adult book I have ever read. This one, although valid, is a bit lazy. What are your top 31 songs and why? What's your pet peeve? He makes some choices I would like Van Morrison and some I wouldn't like Patti Smith. In between he writes about autism and his son and other things that matter. But he always pushes to the front that what matters most is music. He makes the English mistake of evaluating America...more

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May 15, 2013 David Crawford rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There are people who listen to music as background and filler, and there are people for whom music is something very personal and profound. I am the latter, and so is Nick Hornby (no surprise to anyone who has read High Fidelity).

I was familiar with only about a third of the songs in this book, and was at least acquainted with about half. I was, however, familiar with about 95% of the sentiments expressed in this book, even if I was never able to express them myself.

Overall, a great musing on t...more

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Aug 27, 2007 Pietrus Block rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Does anyone know if Mr. Hornby was serious when he cited the following lines (from Aimee Mann's "Ghostland") as excellent?

"Everyone I know is acting weird
or way too cool
they hang out by the pool
so I just read a lot and ride my bike around the school."

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Jan 03, 2010 Kyla rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my first introduction to Nick Hornby, and now that I've found an author who shares my feelings and taste in music, I'm completely willing--even more willing than I might be for a writer who's "only" as great as Hornby--to explore the novels he's written. For one, he's hilarious. I laughed and laughed deeply at his jokes (especially those regarding his Billboard exploration and songs to have sex to). And secondly, he has a writing style that's both candid and eloquent, serviceably invisi...more

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Jun 28, 2008 Dynamopiev rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Absolute shit! Some terrible, terrible song choices - Nelly Furtado!! It's embarrasing! Like hearing your dad telling you he watched the fratellis on Jools Holland and thought they were great! Awful, awful book!

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About Nick Hornby

Nick Hornby is the author of the novels A Long Way Down, Slam, How to Be Good, High Fidelity, and About a Boy, and the memoir Fever Pitch. He is also the author of Songbook, a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award, Shakespeare Wrote for Money, and The Polysyllabic Spree, as well as the editor of the short-story collection Speaking with the Angel. He is a recipient of the American Acade...more

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Quotes from 31 Songs

“Sarcasm and compassion are two of the qualities that make life on Earth tolerable.” — 392 people liked it

“Because music, like color, or a cloud, is neither intelligent nor unintelligent - it just is. The chord, the simplest building block for even the tritest, silliest chart song, is a beautiful, perfect, mysterious thing, and when an ill-read, uneducated, uncultured, emotionally illiterate boor puts a couple of them together, he has every chance of creating something wonderful and powerful. All I ask of music is that is sounds good.” — 71 people liked it

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