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The Polysyllabic Spree (Stuff I've Been Reading #1)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 5,086 ratings · 554 reviews

The Polysyllabic Spree is the first title in the Believer Book series, which collects essays by and interviews with some of our favorite authors—George Saunders, Zadie Smith, Michel Houellebecq, Janet Malcolm, Jim Shepard, and Haruki Murakami, to name a few. In his monthly column "Stuff I've Been Reading", Nick Hornby lists the books he's purchased and the books he's read...more

Paperback, 143 pages

Published November 30th 2004 by McSweeney's, Believer Books (first published 2004)

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Community Reviews

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Apr 07, 2011 Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Believers

Shelves: favorite-authors, mmxi, it-was-density, holy-shit, essays, cultured, contemporary

So, I have this Dunkin Donuts receipt that I was using for a place-mark for this book. It’s from March 14th and it’s for 3 iced coffees… and now it’s torn and there’s a gaping hole right over the total, it looks like it got wet at some point. There are numbers written all over it, some circled, some underlined, some with exclamation points. There’s something sticky on the edge. I was number 750.

I sort of feel like that right now. It did a really good job holding my spot (twss) and it didn’t com...more

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Apr 07, 2011 JSou rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to JSou by: Kim

Shelves: non-fiction, library, essays

How is it that I've never read any Nick Hornby before? I feel like I've been missing out, and now want to thrust this book at everyone I know and [to steal a quote from the book itself] declare, "This is me!

I always thought Hornby would be too dick-lit for my tastes; I did see the film versions of High Fidelity and About a Boy, but even those were just okay for me. When I saw Kim was reading this, and realized it was a book about books, (those are my weakness), I thought I'd give it a shot. I l...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Jacob rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-part-2, essays-letters-journals-etc, books-on-books

"One man's struggle with the monthly tide of books he's bought and the books he's been meaning to read."

Struggle...

So it's fiction, right?

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Aug 18, 2007 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who can't stop buying books!

Shelves: favorites

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 book...more

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May 18, 2011 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tuesday night found me at a Shell station on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee. I was filling up my tank before heading back to my hotel to curl up in a warm bed and crash. As I shivered in my too light for the 52° weather dress and sandals (it had been 30 degrees warmer when I started the day in Montgomery, Al), I yawned to remind myself of how completely beat I was and then immediately locked my keys in the car.

As I sank onto a gas station bench to wait for AAA (who were delayed due to so...more Tuesday night found me at a Shell station on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee. I was filling up my tank before heading back to my hotel to curl up in a warm bed and crash. As I shivered in my too light for the 52° weather dress and sandals (it had been 30 degrees warmer when I started the day in Montgomery, Al), I yawned to remind myself of how completely beat I was and then immediately locked my keys in the car.

As I sank onto a gas station bench to wait for AAA (who were delayed due to some sort of accident which had turned a major interstate into a parking lot), I felt quite sorry for myself. Then I reached into my purse and pulled out The Polysyllabic Spree. 35 minutes later when the AAA guy arrived to rescue me, I was grinning ear to ear and marking my place in my book in markedly better spirits than I had been in before I had dived into it.

The Polysllabic Spree is a collection of essays that Nick Hornby wrote earlier this decade for The Beliver. I was completely entertained as Mr. Hornby related the details of his book reading and book buying habits for the each month. I loved that he got completely the joy of acquiring books, even when you have books everywhere and could probably never read them all if you bolted the front door and just chained yourself to the shelf. His reading tastes are quite eclectic and his writing in this is like that in his novels - breezy and fun.

The only complaint I have about the book is that due to The Believer's desire to be snark-free, books that Mr. Hornby did not care for are just referred to as abandoned literary novel, etc. I would have appreciated a warning! Quite a few of his positive reviews made me want to pick up that book right that minute and see if I loved it as well.

He spoke of a Biography of Richard Yates so glowingly that I wanted to read a book by Mr. Yates (Just the knowledge that Larry David dated his daughter, the model for Elaine in Seinfeld, was enough to pique my curiousity. The real Alton Benes, this I've got to see).

Coincidentally, I had a copy of Revolutionary Road tucked in my suitcase and so leapt in (to the book, not the suitcase). I have several more on the list from Mr. Hornby that have moved up to the top of my ever changing next to read list.

I would only change the lack of negative reviews. No need to be nasty, but it would have been nice to get a few "yikes, avoid this one!" warnings.

All in all, an entertaining book by a man who understands that "Books are, let's face it, better than everything else." Highly recommended for bibliophiles who don't just like books, but love them.

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Dec 17, 2007 Núria rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: a los que les apasiona leer

Shelves: 2007, mios, no-ficcion, literatura-en-ingles, siglo-xxi, 3-buenos

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 la satisfac...more

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Sep 22, 2007 Lisa Vegan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: all bibliophiles & anyone with a good sense of humor

Shelves: reviewed, non-fiction, biography, essays, books-about-books, favorites

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 commentary...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Ellie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Can I just say that I love how Nick Hornby's mind works? This book consists of articles he published in the Believer Magazine, just Nick musing about books he has purchased and his thoughts about what he has read (no spoilers), with comments about life in general interspersed. First of all, I've noted some titles that I now am eager to read, but even if I don't ever read a single book mentioned, I got a ton of enjoyment just listening to his musings. I originally gave this 4 stars, but after thi...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Cheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: british, essays, criticism, non-fiction, books-about-books

Nick Hornby begins his book with the month of Sept 2003, listing on the left the 10 books he acquired that month (a few Salingers, a couple of biographies, some poetry), and the 4 books he read that month (the Salingers and one from a TBR pile).
And then he tells us, "So this is supposed to about the how, and when, and why, and what of reading--about the way that, when reading is going well, one book leads to another and to another, a paper trail of theme and meaning; and how, when it's going ba...more

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Sep 24, 2011 Aurora Fitzrovia rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: about-books-reading, language-english, form-book, owning-mine, read-in-2011, age-adult

Ich habe auf Seite 83 mit dem Lesen aufgehört.

Eigentlich liebe ich ja Bücher, die über Bücher handeln. Und vor allem wenn sie dann auch noch von einem Buchautor geschrieben wurden. (Bzw. in diesem Fall besteht das Buch aus den Kolumnen, die Hornby für eine Zeitschrift geschrieben hatte)
Super interessant fand ich, dass Hornby am Anfang immer seine gelesenen und gekauften Bücher gegenüber stellt und die Liste der gekauften Bücher stets länger ist. Sehr sympathisch ;) Und auch viele der Anekdoten ü...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: readers

Shelves: book-related, essays, library-book, favorites, read-in-2012

Absolutely loved this book. I not only laughed out loud many times, I snickered many more, I have a list of books I want to check out (and some music), and I and I have even more admiration for Dickens. I also really enjoy meeting another reader who buys books for the love of them, not knowing exactly when he will read them (if ever).

Another of my favorite quotes: "Zaid's finest moment, however, comes in his second paragraph, when he says that 'the truly cultured are capable of owning thousands...more

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Dec 04, 2011 Anthony Chavez rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Nick Hornby is flat out interesting all around, and he writes about my favorite topics, all of which I want to read and absorb. He is exceptional at relating what it means to be a fan of almost anything, for example, Fever Pitch (sports), Songbook (music), and Polysyllabic Spree (books), High Fidelity and Juliet, Naked (Music and Relationships), the list goes on and on. This is a short collection of articles Hornby wrote for Believer magazine over a period of 14 months, each of which begins with...more Nick Hornby is flat out interesting all around, and he writes about my favorite topics, all of which I want to read and absorb. He is exceptional at relating what it means to be a fan of almost anything, for example, Fever Pitch (sports), Songbook (music), and Polysyllabic Spree (books), High Fidelity and Juliet, Naked (Music and Relationships), the list goes on and on. This is a short collection of articles Hornby wrote for Believer magazine over a period of 14 months, each of which begins with a list each of books Hornby bought and another list of books read during that particular month.

The Polysyllabic Spree accomplishes a few things beyond the obvious of adding to the reader's inevitably already-too-long list of must reads (there's no way a true reader or Hornby fan who picked up this book didn't already have a list, I sure do): he writes on particularly interesting books, and even adds excerpts to some of them, like a literary sample platter; moreover, it compares books to other cultural media and explains why and how literature beats movies and film almost every time. Hornby recounts some amusing anecdotes about his writing career and first glimpses of associated fame. Most importantly, the Spree offers great commentary on the compulsive allure of reading... no, of book purchasing (and then reading... well sometimes), and of the acceptable snobbishness associated with selectively accepting book recommendations, and literary criticism. Hornby is both passionate and very opinionated on the subject, and reveals his personal literary ethic throughout. He treats personal book recommendations with suspicion, hates Amazon reviewers, and seeks to avoid too familiar subject matter (such as autism (he has an autistic son)) and writing styles (just as he prefers others' cooking style to his own).

The book suggestions are fantastic, although there is an emphasis on obscure older British authors. Hornby abided by the Believer's editors' review rules, one of which was emphasizing only the positive in his selected books, so almost every book listed in the Spree comes recommended.

=The book's title comes from Hornby's hilarious send-up of the editorial staff, which he pictures as "twelve rather eerie young men and women, all dressed in white robes and smiling maniacally, like a sort of literary equivalent of the Polyphonic Spree."= I got a good laugh from those references.

I now have a whole lot of book picks that I wouldn't otherwise be aware of, and Hornby really made me want to read David Copperfield.(less)

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Sep 12, 2008 Diana rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 a book that...more 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 a book that's killing you, put it down and read something else, just as you would reach for the remote if you weren't enjoying a TV programme.'

I read on eagerly waiting for lists of brilliant, readable, funny, informative books. Very exciting. I have been looking for these my whole life and finally somebody was going to tell me all their names!

Each chapter lists books that Hornby has bought, and (much shorter) lists that he has read. I know it's a cliché to say it, but I really did laugh at his tales of buying more books than he can ever read, being unable to pass a book shop without purchasing, agonising over what he 'ought' to read.

However his lists aren't as promosing as I had hoped. Of those that I've read, aside from Dickens, none are as entertaining as his own work. He even recommends dreary Ian McEwan. Then he backtracks and raves about Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, saying 'I have always prized the accessible over the obscure, but after reading Housekeeping I can see that in some ways the easy accessible novel is working at a disadvantage.' So what was all that stuff about giving up if it makes you sweat?

He gets very excited about John Carey's What Good Are the Arts? He says 'while reading it, you become increasingly amazed at the muddle that apparently intelligent people have got themselves into when they attempt to define the importance of - and the superiority of - high culture.' I was going to order it until I found a review by Jeanette Winterson, which completely trashes it. I may order it anyway.

And here's what he has to say about reviewing:

'At the beginning of my writing career I reviewed a lot of fiction, but I had to pretend, as reviewers do, that I had read the books outside of space, time and self - in other words I had to pretend that I hadn't read them when I was tired and grumpy, or drunk, that I wasn't envious of the author, that I had no agenda, no personal aesthetic or personal taste or personal problems, that I hadn't read other reviews of the same book already , that I didn't know who the author's friends and enemies were, that I wasn't trying to place a book with the same publisher, that I hadn't been bought lunch by the book's doe-eyed publicist. Most of all I hadn't to pretend that I hadn't written the review because I was urgently in need of a quick couple of hundred quid. Being paid to read a book and then write about it creates a dynamic which compromises the reviewer in all kinds of ways, very few of them helpful.'
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Feb 27, 2008 Jonathan rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 outri...more 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 outright):

“Usually, of course, I treat personal book recommendations with the suspicion they deserve. I’ve got enough to read as it is, so my first reaction when someone tells me to read something is to find a way to doubt their credentials, or to try to dredge up some conflicting view from my memory. (Just as stone always blunts scissors, a lukewarm “Oh, it was OK,” always beats a “You have to read this.” It’s less work that way.)”

The title comes from the moniker he's given an imaginary (or are they?) squad of Believer mag honchos who issue edicts to him as to how he will write his column. (One stipulation: Abandon any book that's not going well, and DO NOT mention it by name.) He imagines them in flowing robes, 12 of them (6 of each gender of course); of course this is meant to drum up the Polyphonic Spree, those be-robed indie choir rockers, as Hornby (also author of Songbook and High Fidelity; need I say more?) is some kind of music snob.

This book (I was -- gasp -- gifted it!) is hardly necessary but sometimes insightful and often amusing. Poignant and yet funny are his thoughts on books about autism; his own son has the condition. He gushes over Dickens and Vonnegut and more, interspersing some poems and excerpts he loves amidst his own columns/chapters.

Here's Hornby on novels, their epic and lengthy qualities:

“But there comes a point in the writing process when a novelist—any novelist, even a great one—has to accept that what he is doing is keeping one end of a book away from the other, filling up pages, in the hope that these pages will move, provoke, and entertain the reader.”

And on how one can Wiki his way to impressing others:

“A good chunk of coming across as educated, after all, is just a matter of knowing who wrote what: someone mentions Patrick Hamilton, and you nod sagely and say, Hangover Square, and that’s usually enough. … ‘the truly cultured are capable of owning thousands of unread books without losing their composure or their desire for more.’”

I honestly feel better on the other side of thumbing through this read. That's what he intended, and that's what matters.(less)

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Sep 07, 2007 Lord Beardsley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: not "people of letters"

Shelves: read2007

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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Apr 19, 2009 Jasmine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: british

This book has convinced me I have to read How to Breathe Underwater, Meat is Murder, We're in Trouble, and True Notebook.

Hornby is interesting and fun he makes fun of the believe staff and does his best to not make fun of books, he fails miserably. I'll be off buying the next two volumes while you are all out buying this one.

It reminds me of Umberto Eco when he talks about how important it is to own books that you don't read and how stupid people are who ask if you have read them all.

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Sep 14, 2007 Chelsea rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: booksandwords, collections, humor, own, 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. But I still enjo...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Lisetta rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Questo �� la prima volta nella quale sono costretta a specificare che il libro meritava per me, due stelle e mezzo. Non so bene per quale motivo, ma spesso durante la lettura, mi perdevo completamente: tante delle sue battute non le ho comprese(humor ingelse?), passaggi repentini da un'osservazione ad un'altra, miscuglio di diverse citazioni, libri, titoli....! Ho avuto cos�� l'impressione, come se tante volte l'autore si lasciasse prendere dalla mano e dimentico del "colloquio" con i lettori, s...more Questo �� la prima volta nella quale sono costretta a specificare che il libro meritava per me, due stelle e mezzo. Non so bene per quale motivo, ma spesso durante la lettura, mi perdevo completamente: tante delle sue battute non le ho comprese(humor ingelse?), passaggi repentini da un'osservazione ad un'altra, miscuglio di diverse citazioni, libri, titoli....! Ho avuto cos�� l'impressione, come se tante volte l'autore si lasciasse prendere dalla mano e dimentico del "colloquio" con i lettori, si fosse immerso in disquisizioni e pensieri del tutto personali.
Ma nel complesso l'ho trovato interessante, proprio negli argomenti che per altri invece al contrario, sono stati motivo stesso di un "sentimento di avversione" nei confronti di questo libro.
Ad esempio come era nelle mie aspettative ha trattato testi che io non conoscevo, e finalemnte in questo modo ho avuto la possibilit�� di conoscerli e forse un giorno, leggerli. Perch�� dovremmo leggere di un testo che parla di libri gi�� letti, quale sarebbe lo scopo? Non �� meglio invece saperne di pi��, su testi che non conosciamo, e magari ampliare e spaziare con i nostri inetressi, volgendo lo sguardo a generi letterari ai quali forse, (se nessuno ce ne avesse mai parlato) non ci saremmo mai accostati?
Il " lettore" �� per me quello curioso, aperto sempre a nuove possiblit��, a nuovi generi, a tutto ci�� che insomma ci permetta di ampliare le nostre conoscenze del mondo delle sue diverse e molteplici sfaccettature.....!
L'Altro motivo di interesse �� pi�� semplice e risiede nel fatto che, come per molti, anch'io mi rivedo in molte piccole e grandi manie tipiche dei lettori "accaniti", ad esempio: la paura spasmodica di rimanere senza libri, quanto l'amara consapevolezza di non riuscire a leggere tutti i libri in circolazione, il non sentirsi in colpa nell'abbandonare un libro ect....
E poi ho trovato finalmente una risposta, seppur solo accennatadall'autore, su un dubbio che da tempo mi "perseguita": pochi sono gli scrittori che realmente scrivono da soli il loro libro. E ci�� trova conferma in tutta quella selva sterminata di testi, di recente pubblicazione ,"scritti" ,(in questo caso le virgolette sono d'obbligo) da persone che non sono neanche in grado di pronunciare una frase di senso compiuto, figuriamoci quindi scrivere un libro?!!!!!!!(less)

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Jan 26, 2009 Bob rated it 4 of 5 stars

Reread this last night (in about an hour - it's slight) and almost stopped on page 25, agreeing with his statement "I don't reread books very often; I'm too conscious of both my ignorance and my mortality" but decided to carry on and the paragraph itself ended on the Bayardian conundrum "...when I tried to recall anything about [ Frank Conroy's Stop-Time :] other than its excellence, I failed...And I realized that...this this is true of just about every book...I haven't even read the books I thi...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Michelle Morrell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: x-read-2012

I have never read a Nick Hornby book before now. I always meant to, but other things got in the way, in fact I think I have a copy of High Fidelity somewhere. I was missing out on a soul mate.

This is a small book, recounting a bit more than a year of his column where he logs what books he buys, which he reads, and then a wandering muse about those he did read, those he didn't, books from his past, books from the world's past and the general state of being head over heels in love with reading.

Som...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Megan Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars

I bet you never thought that book reviews could be interesting. Boy, sir, are you ever wrong.

Spree is my word book for the month. Again, every month I read a book about words/writing/editing, etc. (which, in theory, improves my writing skills), but this may be the first book I’ve ever read about READING. It is comprised of a year’s worth of articles Horby, who is one of my favorite contemporary authors and is the creator of great works such as High Fidelity and About a Boy, wrote for the litera...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Avery rated it 3 of 5 stars

Se existe algo que qualquer escriba-genial-ignorado-do-grande-público gostaria de escrever, é um livro sobre livros. Membro postiço do libelo de Nick Hornby, Frenesi... apresenta obras interessantes para apreciadores da literatura, sem floreios e meneios.

No livro foram reunidas 28 colunas que Hornby produziu para a revista The Believer, publicação dirigida por sinistro grupo de jovens de roupão branco fanáticos de direita. Entre os mimos literários estão Dickens, C. S. Lewis e coisas novas, qua...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Roberta rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2007

Nick Hornby, autore di svariati romanzi, ci propone una raccolta di saggi originariamente pubblicati mensilmente sulla rivista inglese The Believer. Un lettore può scegliere se leggere per migliorarsi o leggere per piacere: ovviamente la distinzione fra le due categorie è abbastanza grossolana, ma Hornby ritiene che la seconda opzione sia infinitamente più divertente. E così è: a questo dobbiamo le entusiastiche recensioni di romanzi quali La fortezza della solitudine, Pompei o David Copperfield...more

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Nov 02, 2011 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nick Hornby has always been an interesting figure to me, at a remote intersection between the laddish and the literary. His defining affections are football (the English kind), rock music, and pub culture. At the same time, he reads lots of books – and some of them are serious. Maybe such a subspecies is less rare in England, but where I’m from they’re scarce. Of course, as a writer it’s not so surprising that he’s a reader, too. It’s the kind of books he reads, though, and his criterion for cho...more Nick Hornby has always been an interesting figure to me, at a remote intersection between the laddish and the literary. His defining affections are football (the English kind), rock music, and pub culture. At the same time, he reads lots of books – and some of them are serious. Maybe such a subspecies is less rare in England, but where I’m from they’re scarce. Of course, as a writer it’s not so surprising that he’s a reader, too. It’s the kind of books he reads, though, and his criterion for choosing them that makes Polysyllabic Spree worthwhile to read. It’s a short compilation of columns he wrote for Dave Eggers’ magazine The Believer where he discussed his monthly book purchases and gave short reviews of the ones he actually read (with the former list always longer than the latter). He also included a few excerpts, among them works by Dickens, Chekhov and Patrick Hamilton.

Hornby’s well-stropped wit, where the jokes are often at his own expense, complements his entertaining take on things from the Every Man point of view. Joe Sixpack was the old appellation around these parts, but I’m not sure what the English equivalent might be – something involving pints and pies I would guess. Anyway, he’s not the type to be taken in by anything pretentious and “littrary” . At the same time, he can enjoy good writing; even classics and critically acclaimed stuff. Maybe I’m making too much of this, but if his other interests really do seem at odds with his taste for the writerly arts, the apparent anomalies somehow make his declarations more affecting. Maybe it’s like the extra attention you might pay to a hipster extolling the virtues of one Jane Austen novel over another, or a guy in a hoodie holding court on which cozy mysteries are best. A fresh perspective can be good, especially from a fish who cares enough to come out of the water to give it. Beyond that, Hornby himself writes very well. Despite his incongruities (or maybe because of them), to my mind he’s credible. He sold me on a good half-dozen titles from his list.
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Sep 26, 2011 Patrick McCoy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: criticism, essays, non-fiction

A while back I read this review of Nick Hornby’s collection of columns about reading called The Polysyllabic Spree. I put it in my notebook to keep an eye out for it so when I saw it the other day at Kinokuniya and picked it up. Anyway, I really enjoyed Hornby’s previous book of essays about music, Songbook. He writes from the point of view of a fan more than a critic, although he will point out weaknesses and elaborate on why he likes what he likes. But there’s a sort of enthusiasm that permeat...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Laurie added it

It is great praise of Nick Hornby to say that I loved this book even though he and I do not have many of the same tastes in books. The thing that makes Hornby compulsively readable is his voice, which is detached and intense by turns, but always entertaining. In the same way, I enjoyed "Fever Pitch" without following soccer very closely. My enjoyment of the book is perhaps more amazing if I reveal that I try not to accumulate books, except those that I use for teaching. Where I live moisture and...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Melora rated it 4 of 5 stars

An impulse purchase after seeing a quotation from it somewhere, probably Facebook,and I really enjoyed it! Short essays about books and reading. I'd hardly heard of any of the books he talked about, and mostly they weren't the sort of books I like (I did add one of his recommendations, The Invisible Woman, by Claire Tomalin, to my list), but his reviews were entertaining and his writing about his reading and family life were very funny! Here are some favorite passages, which give an idea of his...more An impulse purchase after seeing a quotation from it somewhere, probably Facebook,and I really enjoyed it! Short essays about books and reading. I'd hardly heard of any of the books he talked about, and mostly they weren't the sort of books I like (I did add one of his recommendations, The Invisible Woman, by Claire Tomalin, to my list), but his reviews were entertaining and his writing about his reading and family life were very funny! Here are some favorite passages, which give an idea of his style...

"I don't want anyone writing in to point out that I spend too much money on books, many of which I will never read. I know that already. I certainly intend to read all of them, more of less. My intentions are good. Anyway, it's my money. And I'll bet you do it too."

(discussing the length of a Dickens novel, which, while not "spare," Hornby finds quite reasonable)
"But there comes a point in the writing process when a novelist -- any novelist, even a great one -- has to accept that what he is doing is keeping one end of a book away from the other, filling up pages, in the hope that these pages will move, provoke, and entertain a reader."

"But with each passing year, and with each whimsical purchase, our libraries become more and more able to articulate who we are, whether we read the books or not."

(from a review of A Life in Letters, by Anton Chekov...)
"As a special bonus, you also get some of those bad biopic comedy moments thrown in. "I went to see Lev Tolstoy the day before yesterday," he writes to Gorky. "He was full of praise for you, and said you were a 'splendid writer.' He likes your 'The Fair' and "In the Steppe,' but not 'Malva.'" You just know that there's only three words in this letter Gorky would have registered, and that he spent the rest of the day too depressed to get out of bed."

Oh, and he says Gosse's Father and Son is good, but that it took him a long time to decide to read it because he thought it would be depressing. Father and Son has been sitting on my shelf, unread, for years for exactly that reason, but Hornby's description, including, "OK, sometimes it reads like that Monty Python sketch about the Yorkshiremen, constantly trying to trump each other's stories of deprivation ("You lived in a hole in the road? You were lucky!") inspired me to move it from the back of the "to read" line to a front row shelf. That is persuasive writing!
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Jan 11, 2011 Parksy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Interesting thoughts on books and reading.

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Book Description
"Books are, let's face it, better than everything else," writes Nick Hornby in his "Stuff I've Been Reading" column in The Believer. "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? Fyo...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Emma rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Taken from my book journal [Not traditional review format]

'The Complete Polysyllabic Spree' came as I become desperate for a hobby, something to fill my time. I was actually searching for an outside hobby that involved exercise, but all I could think of that I already enjoy doing is reading. It has already shown me the way to make my reading have more of an impact, more output from me than just input from the books. Also, as I worry about the lack of book lovers around me, it assures me that rea...more Taken from my book journal [Not traditional review format]

'The Complete Polysyllabic Spree' came as I become desperate for a hobby, something to fill my time. I was actually searching for an outside hobby that involved exercise, but all I could think of that I already enjoy doing is reading. It has already shown me the way to make my reading have more of an impact, more output from me than just input from the books. Also, as I worry about the lack of book lovers around me, it assures me that reading what I read isn’t important, just reading fullstop is what counts. The message of ‘If you don’t like what you’re reading, you aren’t enjoying it and should just stop’ hits home. Bullying my boyfriend to read what I like isn’t a good plan. But as it happens, I bought the one book he actually picked out as interesting (even though I think it’s pants), and he took on the train and read. This is certainly progress, and the coinciding of this gives me a link to 'The Polysyllabic Spree', and frankly a love of it, regardless of being only 22 pages in.

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Still plugging away at CPS, which sounds like I’m not enjoying it which I am! It is sort of my Bible as it inspired me directly to write this book journal, and I thought I’d be reluctant to finish it in fear of moving on and out into the world on my own, but that’s not true actually. I just haven’t had the time to finish it, as beautifully easy-going as it is. But everytime I read it I get excited about my next book, and now I have so many on my list that it’ll be tricky to pick!

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So I have finally finished this inspirational book, and am left to fend for myself in the big wide world of books. I’ve been influenced by it significantly, particularly in that I’ve picked up 'Anna Karenina' again (have read half of it before in dribs and drabs) and 'Catch 22' (started but gave up before). Despite these clearly not being my perfect books, because I’ve tried and failed to read them before, I’ve picked them up again. I suspect this is for the same reasons Hornby does, which is that for all his belief in certain books being perfect for certain people, and his wise words about giving up immediately on books that you know are not your cup of tea (Why torture yourself by crawling through a book that makes you cry with frustration when there WILL be a book that you would love instead out there?), he still makes choices based on what other people think, and how he likes to think of himself. 'Catch 22' is a quirky and famous book that I own (so don’t even have to pay money for it) and I feel like I SHOULD like it and should have read it too, so I’m giving it another go. If I don’t finish it, I won’t be shocked. But my current plan is to take it by surprise and charge full pelt through it before it has the chance to counter-attack with boredom. Wish me luck.(less)

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May 24, 2009 Phil Huff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, summer-fun-reading

This book is a capital idea made even more fun by it's honesty and accessibility. This is the first of three collections of essays Hornby wrote for 'The Believer' magazine where he chronicles what he plans to read and actually reads each month.

We've all come back from the bookstore with a tome that we are eager to consume...yet it still sits on our coffee table three months later. Part of the charm is the knowledge that avid readers ARE similar, and that if a professional author doesn't get to a...more

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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 The Polysyllabic Spree

“All the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal. ... But with each passing year, and with each whimsical purchase, our libraries become more and more able to articulate who we are, whether we read the books or not.” — 729 people liked it

“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.” — 89 people liked it

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