The Polysyllabic Spree

by Nick Hornby
The Polysyllabic Spree
published
November 30th 2004 by McSweeney's
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binding
Paperback, 230 pages

isbn
1932416242   (isbn13: 9781932416244)

description
"Books are, let's face it, better than everything else," writes Nick Hornby in his "Stuff I've Been Reading" column in The Believe...more





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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2012)



Núria
12/17/07

bookshelves: 2007, 3-buenos, literatura-en-ingles, mios, no-ficcion, siglo-xxi
Read in December, 2007
recommends it for: a los que les apasiona leer
The Complete Polysyllabic Spree es la recopilación de una columna de Nick Hornby que aparece cada mes en la revista Believer y en la que comenta los libros que ha leído en el mes pasado. Es un estilo parecido al de '31 canciones', mezcla de reseña/crítica y relato autobiográfico. Y no importa si no has leído los libros de los que habla, porque más que hacer una crítica ortodoxa de un puñado de libros, lo que hace es hablar de su experiencia como lector y de sus hábitos de lectura, de l...more
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Lisa Vegan
Lisa rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
09/22/07

bookshelves: nonfiction-general-nature-biography, reviewed
Read in September, 2007
recommends it for: all bibliophiles & anyone with a good sense of humor
By the time I got to page 40, I had emailed 2 friends to recommend this 140 page book; it’s a very quick read. Some of those early chapters turned out to be my favorites but I thought the whole book was brilliant.

These are funny and smart and well-written essays: autobiographical and about books. Wonderful concept: each chapter is an accounting of one month of the author’s book buying and book reading and starts with a list of books bought and books read and then goes on to wonderful com...more
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Lauren
Lauren rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
08/18/07

Read in June, 2007
recommends it for: anyone who can't stop buying books!
This is for the true bibliophile - for those I-can't-stop-buying-new-books-even-though-I-have-piles-unread-at-home types (a group to which I happily claim membership). Nick Hornby spent a little over a year analyzing his reading habits - what he bought, what he started and couldn't finish, what he loved - and each month printed an article in the Believer magazine with his musings. I was hesitant at first to read the collected articles because I though I'd have to have Nick Hornby's taste in bo...more
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Ginnie
Ginnie rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/24/08

bookshelves: books-about-books
I had to hunt this up and post it to explain that in an important way this delightful book of Hornby's about his 14 months of current reading isn't the same as Alberto Manguel's A Reading Diary: a passionate reader's reflections on a year of books which was essentially a re-reading of old favorites. Whew! Now that I've got that off my chest I can go back to my notes when I first read this in 2004.

What works for Hornby is his easy-going voice, his enthusiasm and passion. It is not i...more
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Diana
Diana rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
09/12/08

Read in October, 2007
A collection of Hornby's columns from the Believer magazine. He starts with a plea for eliminating dullness in books:

'It is set in stone, apparently: books must be hard work, otherwise they're a waste of time. And so we grind our way through serious, and sometimes seriously dull, novels, or enormous biographies of political figures, and every time we do so, books come to seem a little more like a duty, and Pop Idol starts to look a little more attractive.'

And then:

'If' you're reading...more
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Jonathan
Jonathan rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
02/27/08

Read in February, 2008
This is a compendium of a year's worth of Hornby's columns about books bought and/or read in The Believer magazine. The tone is colloquial like whoa, a bit skittish. Hornby, who's penned About A Boy and A Long Way Down, among other novels, is (unlike much of what he attempts to read) high readable himself. This little jam of a book flies over 140 pages.

Yes, it is fun to commiserate with a for-real writer who laments things like being given book recommendation (or, worse, being gifted books o...more
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LordBeardsley
bookshelves: read2007
Read in September, 2007
recommends it for: not "people of letters"
I read this book in one sitting. I'm a sucker for reading lists and talk about books in general. Nick Hornby writes in a wonderfully chatty, witty manner that makes this journal of his reading experiences hard to put down. This even made me consider reading David Copperfield and re-think the novel Housekeeping by Marilyn Robinson (you'll be shocked to hear that one Nate!). My only small criticism is the magazine The Believer...I've long been skeptical of magazines like The Believer and McSweeney...more
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Chelsea
Chelsea rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
09/14/07

bookshelves: 2007, booksandwords, collections, humor, own
Read in September, 2007
Oh, Nick Hornsby. You are a clever, clever man. Now I'm going to have to suck it up and read some of your novels.

He talks about books, and how he keeps buying books, but not necessarily reading them. And then he decides that a person's collection of books - the ones they bought rather than the ones they've read - is the best way to define them. And then I considered proposing.

I think I would have given it a five if I had read more of the books he talked about. Or heard of, even. Bu...more
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Tracy
Tracy added it
06/21/08

Read in June, 2008
He writes a column about books for The Believer magazine. This is a collection of 14 columns. I was looking for one of his novels, and picked this up from the library by accident. He is so witty that I can barely keep up, and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of one of his novels. This site is about rating books, not columns, so I didn't rate it.
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Jerry
Jerry rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
07/03/08

Ah, a book about books! I even enjoyed reading about the books I have no interest in. Hornby really knows his way around a book review. If more reviewers followed his lead, reading might become and olympic sport.
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julieta
julieta rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
11/01/08

bookshelves: favoritos
Read in October, 2008
I am always curious to read about what writers I like are maybe reading. I love Nick Hornby, and this book is all about loving books. And as both a NH fan, and as a book lover, I totally enjoyed it. I wish I had something like his articles in my morning paper! I don't know if he plays with empathy and humor to get people to like him, but it totally works for me. The books read have no order at all, it´s all pleasure reading. Being a pleasure reader myself, I can identify with the whimsical way ...more
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Chelsea
Chelsea rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/14/07

Read in December, 2006
recommends it for: hornby fans and voracious readers
fun, quick read that readers will relate to... also a great place for other book recommendations.
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Raül
10/02/08

bookshelves: 2008
Read in September, 2008
The Complete Polysyllabic Spree es la prueba final de que la cosmogonía de Nick Hornby es plenamente merecedora de (mi) adoración. En este libro se recogen las columnas mensuales que el autor escribe para The Believer, esa revista literaria única en su filosofía de no hablar mal de ningún libro bajo ningún concepto. Las intenciones son genuinamente geniales (ojalá proliferara la creencia de que "para hablar mal de algo en un medio, mejor no hablar de ello")....more
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Serena
Serena rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/13/08

Read in May, 2008
Nick Hornby's Polysyllabic Spree is an interesting look at what one man buys and reads in a given month. The commentary about his choices and his reads are fantastically amusing. It's good to see that us readers and writers are not alone in our efforts to catalogue our finds and keep a running tally of our progress.

It was intriguing to learn how he chose his books in a given month and how one choice led to the others.

One thing I think I took issue with was Hornby's contention that he has...more
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Itpdx
Itpdx rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
07/20/08

Read in July, 2008
This is a collection of columns that Hornby wrote for The Believer, which I have never seen or read. It is about the books he bought (and why) and read. His humor had me laughing out loud. Just like English professional football and cricket, it didn't matter whether I knew the books or authors he was writing about, he still got his points across. I particularly like his theory on the proper length of biographies. He thinks a lot of readers would like to know something about the subject but ...more
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Marion
Marion rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/06/08

Read in August, 2008
recommends it for: bookworms
The Polysyllabic Spree is a collection of Nick Hornby's book column issued in The Believer, a North-American literature magazine.

It is organized in months, every month featuring a list of books bought, books read and a discussion of the books read together with stories from Hornby's quotidian life.

I liked the idea to write a book (or, rather, columns) in order to honor other books. All those references to books, authors and oth...more
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John
John rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/12/08

Read in May, 2008
This is Horby's account of two years of book buying and book reading. Although it is not meant as literary criticism in a strict sense (I hesitate to use the term lit crit light, but, there, I used it anyway), his insights are valuable in a literary sense nevertheless. Hornby's reading tastes are quite eclectic - at least during the period he describes - and cover contemporary fiction, classic fiction, graphic novels, letters, and a bit of non-fiction. It's interesting listening to a successful ...more
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Evil_Dead_Junkie
Evil_Dead_Junkie rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
02/13/08

bookshelves: lit-criticism
I read this and it's twin every year or so to remind me why I like Nick Hornby. Sometimes that's hard as one happens to catch a glimpse of How To Be Good and A Long Way Down on the bookshelf and the next thing one knows they're in an ambulance being treated for having "angryed up the the blood".

Still when reading these it's tough to stay mad at good old Hornby. The guy is endearing and his voice is so personable that this is less a book of criticism as it is a portable conversation...more
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Slygly
Slygly rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
09/10/07

Read in September, 2007
Preface: This is a biased review because I adore Nick Hornby and everything he writes on principle. If he wrote an algebra textbook I would surely give it a minimum three out of five stars.

The Polysyllabic Spree is exactly the sort of light reading I craved: (mostly obscure) book reviews and rants about book ownership causing me to smirk until my face hurt, all collected from his column in The Believer Magazine. I cherished Hornsby's music critiques in High Fidelity; his take on books was e...more
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Colin O'Grady
Colin rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
04/01/08

bookshelves: non-fiction
If you like this website, you'll like this book. It's just a collection of essays (magazine columns, really), all written by Nick Hornby, in which he shares his thoughts on the books he has read and the books he intends to read. They contain all of the typical wit that I've come to expect from Nick Hornby as he sorts through what he likes and what he doesn't like; what he 'intends' to read and what he ACTUALLY intends to read. His reading runs the gamut, from Dickens to Moneyball (a book abou...more
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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 3.70 (1466 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 3.70 (1404 ratings)
number of reviews: 197







other editions

The Complete Polysyllabic Spree (Hardcover)
The Complete Polysyllabic Spree (Paperback)
Complete Polysyllabic Spree, The (Paperback)









quote

"Books are, let's face it, better than everything else. If we played cultural Fantasy Boxing League, and made books go 15 rounds in the ring against the best that any other art form had to offer, then books would win pretty much every time. Go on, try it. “The Magic Flute” v. Middlemarch? Middlemarch in six. “The Last Supper” v. Crime and Punishment? Fyodor on points. See? I mean, I don’t know how scientific this is, but it feels like the novels are walking it. You might get the occasional exception -– “Blonde on Blonde” might mash up The Old Curiosity Shop, say, and I wouldn’t give much for Pale Fire’s chance against Citizen Kane. And every now and again you'd get a shock, because that happens in sport, so Back to the Future III might land a lucky punch on Rabbit, Run; but I'm still backing literature 29 times out of 30." more quotes »