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Stuff I've Been Reading #1
The Polysyllabic Spree
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 that month—they almost never overlap—and briefly discusses the books he's actually read. The Polysyllabic Spree includes selected passages from the novels, biographies, collections of poetry, and comics discussed in the column.
143 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
82 people are currently reading
9512 people want to read
About the author
Nick Hornby
137 books10.1k followersNicholas Peter John Hornby is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir Fever Pitch (1992) and novels High Fidelity and About a Boy, all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists. His books have sold more than 5 million copies worldwide as of 2018. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Hornby was named the 29th most influential person in British culture. He has received two Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for An Education (2009), and Brooklyn (2015).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 647 reviews
December 31, 2019
A book I received for Christmas. I enjoy reading about the books others read, plus I enjoy Nick Hornby. Spell check wanted in the worst way to change Hornby to horny. Thank goodness I caught that one, there are many I haven't. Lol! These are essays he wrote for The Beloved magazine, and each month starts with the books he acquired and those read. His reading is varied and his opinions often amusing.
He tells little tidbits about each book, taking us right along with his thoughts. In between he tells us a little about his life, his family and the polysyllabic spree, which is what he calls those in charge of the magazine. He particularly loves Dickens, in this book he reads David Copperfield, and even prints out the part where David tries to sell his jacket. Dickens apparently created over 1300 characters in his books. He also thinks highly of the works of Patrick Hamilton, whom I have yet to read. Other books and opinions will have to be read by yourselves.
The danger in a book such as this, are the number of books I have added to an already huge to read list. He does nicely provide an index at books end.
He tells little tidbits about each book, taking us right along with his thoughts. In between he tells us a little about his life, his family and the polysyllabic spree, which is what he calls those in charge of the magazine. He particularly loves Dickens, in this book he reads David Copperfield, and even prints out the part where David tries to sell his jacket. Dickens apparently created over 1300 characters in his books. He also thinks highly of the works of Patrick Hamilton, whom I have yet to read. Other books and opinions will have to be read by yourselves.
The danger in a book such as this, are the number of books I have added to an already huge to read list. He does nicely provide an index at books end.
March 9, 2016
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 complain or get lost or anything. I ran out of space to write on it so I had to switch to a cleaner note pad piece of paper and yet it stuck with me because it knew that I would need it someday.
Let’s start at the first number… 25:
“I reread Stop-Time because Frank Conroy is so eloquent and moving about books and their power at the end of Stone Reader. I don’t reread books very often; I’m too conscious of both my ignorance and my mortality. …But when I tried to recall anything about it other than its excellence, I failed. Maybe there was something about a peculiar stepfather? Or was that This Boy’s Life? And I realized that, as this is true of just about every book I consumed between the ages of say fifteen and forty, I haven’t even read the books I think I’ve read. I can’t tell you how depressing this is. What’s the fucking point?”
Well said, Nick. This is why we are soul mates. You may not know that right now. You may sit in your flat in London listening to music and reading emails and such, drinking tea and watching your children play. Maybe you should close your drapes in case someone is watching? You are oblivious that I am the one for you. I am the Annie Wilkes to your Paul Sheldon. (You dirty dirty bird.)
Nick used to write a column for something called The Believer. It sounds like a magazine or something, I don’t care. He writes about books that he’s purchased and books that he’s read each month. Hmmm… sounds somewhat familiar. (except, like, he gets paid for it) How many reviews have I read over my 3 ½ years here on GR? What did I do before GR? Scan the NYTBR? Not really. Okay, sometimes… but, this--- this beautiful community has expanded my vistas… I have 409 books on my to-read shelf. How awesome is that? I know that GR gets a lot of flack, mainly from within… too many vote whores, too many silly reviews that have nothing to do with the book, too many pictures, too many cliques, yadda yadda yadda… As Steppenwolf once sang “Nothing is like it used to be.” So what? It is what it is (Lifehouse) and I like it. I am guilty of many of the aforementioned grumblings and I don’t care. And I really like that Nick Hornby likes to do it (heh) too. (Oh forgive me Paul for prattling away and making everything all oogy )
I recently wrote a review for Julie Orringer’s How to Breathe Underwater--a collection of short stories. I stammered and driveled throughout it. Nick read it too and this little summary: "Orringer writes about things that everyone writes about--youth, friendship, death, grief, etc.---but her narrative settings are fresh and wonderfully knotty. So, while her themes are as solid and recognizable as oak trees, the stuff growing on the bark you’ve never seen before.” BAM! (God, I love you.)
This, by the way, is the only book he reviews that I’ve read. I’m such a lacking stalker.
Next number: 58
“One of the reasons I wanted to write this column, I think, is that because I assumed that the cultural highlight of my month would arrive in book form, and that’s true, for probably eleven months of the year. Books are, let’s face it, better than everything else. If we played Cultural Fantasy Boxing League, and made books go fifteen rounds in the ring against the best that any other art form had to offer, then book 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.”
(MISERY IS ALIVE!! MISERY IS ALIVE!!! Oh, this whole house is going to be full of romance! Oooooh! I’M GOING TO GO PUT ON MY LIBERACE RECORDS!)
Don’t fight it, Nick. It’s like the fates have spoken, my love.
97
“I am, I think, a relatively passive reader, when it comes to fiction. If a novelist tells me that something happened, then I tend to believe him, as a rule. In his memoir Experience, Martin Amis recalls his father, Kingley, saying that he found Virginia Woolf’s fictional world “wholly contrived: when reading her he found that he kept interpolating hostile negatives, murmuring ‘Oh no she didn’t’ or Oh no he hadn’t’ or ‘Oh no it wasn’t’ after each and every authorial proposition”; I only do that when I’m reading something laughably bad.”
Ok, there’s a difference between passive and passion. I only passionately throw books against walls and yell at characters who do stupid things. It’s because I CARE. This is why I love this site, because people write with enthusiasm and it’s not all textbooky and crap. This is what I love about this collection. The ranting about football and why finishing David Copperfield left you feeling bereft. There’s always MORE to the story because we are self centered narcissists. And that’s okay.
125
“I don’t have the wall space or the money for all the art I would want, and my house is a shabby mess, ruined by children…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. Maybe that’s not worth the thirty-odd quid I blew on those collections of letters, admittedly, but it’s got to be worth something, right?”
I don’t feel so guilty that I have a whole bookcase of un-read books or that I haven’t read Dickens yet or that I still go to the library every week and I still look forward to sharing my thoughts with this wacky ass community on GR. Wow, this was as rewarding as a shrink session. The weight has been lifted, Nick! Grumblers grumble on. I’ve been vindicated, time to get another iced coffee.
I sort of feel like that right now. It did a really good job holding my spot (twss) and it didn’t complain or get lost or anything. I ran out of space to write on it so I had to switch to a cleaner note pad piece of paper and yet it stuck with me because it knew that I would need it someday.
Let’s start at the first number… 25:
“I reread Stop-Time because Frank Conroy is so eloquent and moving about books and their power at the end of Stone Reader. I don’t reread books very often; I’m too conscious of both my ignorance and my mortality. …But when I tried to recall anything about it other than its excellence, I failed. Maybe there was something about a peculiar stepfather? Or was that This Boy’s Life? And I realized that, as this is true of just about every book I consumed between the ages of say fifteen and forty, I haven’t even read the books I think I’ve read. I can’t tell you how depressing this is. What’s the fucking point?”
Well said, Nick. This is why we are soul mates. You may not know that right now. You may sit in your flat in London listening to music and reading emails and such, drinking tea and watching your children play. Maybe you should close your drapes in case someone is watching? You are oblivious that I am the one for you. I am the Annie Wilkes to your Paul Sheldon. (You dirty dirty bird.)
Nick used to write a column for something called The Believer. It sounds like a magazine or something, I don’t care. He writes about books that he’s purchased and books that he’s read each month. Hmmm… sounds somewhat familiar. (except, like, he gets paid for it) How many reviews have I read over my 3 ½ years here on GR? What did I do before GR? Scan the NYTBR? Not really. Okay, sometimes… but, this--- this beautiful community has expanded my vistas… I have 409 books on my to-read shelf. How awesome is that? I know that GR gets a lot of flack, mainly from within… too many vote whores, too many silly reviews that have nothing to do with the book, too many pictures, too many cliques, yadda yadda yadda… As Steppenwolf once sang “Nothing is like it used to be.” So what? It is what it is (Lifehouse) and I like it. I am guilty of many of the aforementioned grumblings and I don’t care. And I really like that Nick Hornby likes to do it (heh) too. (Oh forgive me Paul for prattling away and making everything all oogy )
I recently wrote a review for Julie Orringer’s How to Breathe Underwater--a collection of short stories. I stammered and driveled throughout it. Nick read it too and this little summary: "Orringer writes about things that everyone writes about--youth, friendship, death, grief, etc.---but her narrative settings are fresh and wonderfully knotty. So, while her themes are as solid and recognizable as oak trees, the stuff growing on the bark you’ve never seen before.” BAM! (God, I love you.)
This, by the way, is the only book he reviews that I’ve read. I’m such a lacking stalker.
Next number: 58
“One of the reasons I wanted to write this column, I think, is that because I assumed that the cultural highlight of my month would arrive in book form, and that’s true, for probably eleven months of the year. Books are, let’s face it, better than everything else. If we played Cultural Fantasy Boxing League, and made books go fifteen rounds in the ring against the best that any other art form had to offer, then book 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.”
(MISERY IS ALIVE!! MISERY IS ALIVE!!! Oh, this whole house is going to be full of romance! Oooooh! I’M GOING TO GO PUT ON MY LIBERACE RECORDS!)
Don’t fight it, Nick. It’s like the fates have spoken, my love.
97
“I am, I think, a relatively passive reader, when it comes to fiction. If a novelist tells me that something happened, then I tend to believe him, as a rule. In his memoir Experience, Martin Amis recalls his father, Kingley, saying that he found Virginia Woolf’s fictional world “wholly contrived: when reading her he found that he kept interpolating hostile negatives, murmuring ‘Oh no she didn’t’ or Oh no he hadn’t’ or ‘Oh no it wasn’t’ after each and every authorial proposition”; I only do that when I’m reading something laughably bad.”
Ok, there’s a difference between passive and passion. I only passionately throw books against walls and yell at characters who do stupid things. It’s because I CARE. This is why I love this site, because people write with enthusiasm and it’s not all textbooky and crap. This is what I love about this collection. The ranting about football and why finishing David Copperfield left you feeling bereft. There’s always MORE to the story because we are self centered narcissists. And that’s okay.
125
“I don’t have the wall space or the money for all the art I would want, and my house is a shabby mess, ruined by children…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. Maybe that’s not worth the thirty-odd quid I blew on those collections of letters, admittedly, but it’s got to be worth something, right?”
I don’t feel so guilty that I have a whole bookcase of un-read books or that I haven’t read Dickens yet or that I still go to the library every week and I still look forward to sharing my thoughts with this wacky ass community on GR. Wow, this was as rewarding as a shrink session. The weight has been lifted, Nick! Grumblers grumble on. I’ve been vindicated, time to get another iced coffee.
August 18, 2007
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 books (whatever that is). What I found was a surprisingly insightful look at the love of reading. I found myself dog-earing pages to read passages on the phone to my father (my bibliophile role model), or to remind myself of books that sounded interesting (damn you, Nick Hornby, for encouraging my habit!). He really sums the whole thing up when he says, "I suddenly had a little epiphany: all the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal." Indeed. I highly encourage you to add this one to your collection.
September 22, 2007
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 and tidbits about the books, authors, autobiographical information, etc. Very British.
My favorite quote in the book is on page 125: "I suddenly had a little epiphany: all the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal." I so agree! And I so enjoyed his love of reading & books, and he has very eclectic tastes, as do I.
I had heard of Nick Hornby but never knew what he’d written. When I got this book noticed that 3 of his books have been made into movies I’ve enjoyed: Fever Pitch, About a Boy, and High Fidelity.
Unfortunately (fortunately?), this book has given me yet more ideas for books to read. More the ones he read and wrote about than his other books.
Oh, and he loved one of my favorite books: How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer!
I borrowed this book from the library but it's worth owning, especially because the profits from this book’s sales go to 2 charities: 50% to TreeHouse in England, which is school for kids with autism (the author has a son who’s autistic) and 50% to 826nyc, a writing program for kids based on a very successful local program in San Francisco started by the author Dave Eggers.
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 and tidbits about the books, authors, autobiographical information, etc. Very British.
My favorite quote in the book is on page 125: "I suddenly had a little epiphany: all the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal." I so agree! And I so enjoyed his love of reading & books, and he has very eclectic tastes, as do I.
I had heard of Nick Hornby but never knew what he’d written. When I got this book noticed that 3 of his books have been made into movies I’ve enjoyed: Fever Pitch, About a Boy, and High Fidelity.
Unfortunately (fortunately?), this book has given me yet more ideas for books to read. More the ones he read and wrote about than his other books.
Oh, and he loved one of my favorite books: How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer!
I borrowed this book from the library but it's worth owning, especially because the profits from this book’s sales go to 2 charities: 50% to TreeHouse in England, which is school for kids with autism (the author has a son who’s autistic) and 50% to 826nyc, a writing program for kids based on a very successful local program in San Francisco started by the author Dave Eggers.
February 8, 2017
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 loved it. Loved it--even though I now have even more books on my to-read list (thanks a lot, Nick). I was amazed at how funny and smart Hornby's writing was, and finished it in one sitting.
Are his novels as good as his nonfiction?
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 loved it. Loved it--even though I now have even more books on my to-read list (thanks a lot, Nick). I was amazed at how funny and smart Hornby's writing was, and finished it in one sitting.
Are his novels as good as his nonfiction?
September 28, 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 of unread books without losing their composure or their desire for more.'" (referring to So Many Books, Gabriel Zaid) p 124
Hornby reads widely so the reader is exposed to so many books, old, new, literary, sport. Run, don't walk, to get a copy if you enjoy reading about reading (unless you require it be "serious".
Heartily recommended
Addendum: The quote below (p 91) where Hornby writes he read but never swore once, refers to his reading poetry, specifically What Narcissism Means to Me by Tony Hoagland. He offered his "line" up as a cover blurb thinking it might be useful on a book of poetry.
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 of unread books without losing their composure or their desire for more.'" (referring to So Many Books, Gabriel Zaid) p 124
Hornby reads widely so the reader is exposed to so many books, old, new, literary, sport. Run, don't walk, to get a copy if you enjoy reading about reading (unless you require it be "serious".
Heartily recommended
Addendum: The quote below (p 91) where Hornby writes he read but never swore once, refers to his reading poetry, specifically What Narcissism Means to Me by Tony Hoagland. He offered his "line" up as a cover blurb thinking it might be useful on a book of poetry.
February 13, 2013
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 badly, when books don't stick or take, when your mood and the mood of the book are fighting like cats, you'd rather do anything but attempt the next paragraph, or reread the last one for the tenth time."
Well, this kind of book is tailor-made for Goodreads fans. In a way, Goodreads is a polysyllabic spree too.
"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.”
I would add that not only do our libraries articulate who we are, they also articulate who we want to be.
On quoting Gabriel Zaid, “the truly cultured are capable of owning thousands of unread books without losing their composure or their desire for more.” , he enthuses "That’s me! And you, probably! That’s us!"
Yes! it is me! Hi! (nerdy Horshack wave) Thanks for giving me again even more titles for my TBR pile, Nick! ( So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in an Age of Abundance )
This inaugural volume is the second one I've read in this series (the first was the last one of the series, More Baths, Less Talking) and it's just as good.
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 badly, when books don't stick or take, when your mood and the mood of the book are fighting like cats, you'd rather do anything but attempt the next paragraph, or reread the last one for the tenth time."
Well, this kind of book is tailor-made for Goodreads fans. In a way, Goodreads is a polysyllabic spree too.
"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.”
I would add that not only do our libraries articulate who we are, they also articulate who we want to be.
On quoting Gabriel Zaid, “the truly cultured are capable of owning thousands of unread books without losing their composure or their desire for more.” , he enthuses "That’s me! And you, probably! That’s us!"
Yes! it is me! Hi! (nerdy Horshack wave) Thanks for giving me again even more titles for my TBR pile, Nick! ( So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in an Age of Abundance )
This inaugural volume is the second one I've read in this series (the first was the last one of the series, More Baths, Less Talking) and it's just as good.
November 2, 2011
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.
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.
May 18, 2011
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.
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.
March 22, 2014
Nick Hornby is one of my soulmates. It doesn't matter that he doesn't know me personally or know I exist. I reserve the right to fall in love with every reader and lover of books, just a little bit. I want to be him. I want to get paid to do what he does. A bit of envy, then.
I reread some of the chapters in this book because I was studying how he talks about books. Each month for his column in The Believer, Hornby lists the books he has bought and the books he has read, followed by a narrative about how they are linked or how one led to another or excuses for why he hasn't read what or how much he expected to read.
I've marked a bunch of things to read and smiled/laughed at some of his thoughts on familiar authors or books (a description of Peter Hamilton calls him an "urban Hardy, with everyone doomed from the first page"), but more than that he made me fantasize about all the books I already own. Some I've started and set aside for other things but now they're running through my head, crowding each other for attention. Others I've always had good intentions to read and will, someday.... Hornby understands that just because your house is full of books to read does not mean you won't buy more of them.
This book was also discussed on the Reading Envy Podcast Episode 02.
I reread some of the chapters in this book because I was studying how he talks about books. Each month for his column in The Believer, Hornby lists the books he has bought and the books he has read, followed by a narrative about how they are linked or how one led to another or excuses for why he hasn't read what or how much he expected to read.
I've marked a bunch of things to read and smiled/laughed at some of his thoughts on familiar authors or books (a description of Peter Hamilton calls him an "urban Hardy, with everyone doomed from the first page"), but more than that he made me fantasize about all the books I already own. Some I've started and set aside for other things but now they're running through my head, crowding each other for attention. Others I've always had good intentions to read and will, someday.... Hornby understands that just because your house is full of books to read does not mean you won't buy more of them.
This book was also discussed on the Reading Envy Podcast Episode 02.
July 3, 2019
This was fun! Thank you to my friend Stephanie for putting this series on my radar. Originally written for the arts and literature magazine The Believer, Hornby wittily chronicles his monthly reading (this collection is from 2004). Each chapter begins with a listing of what he purchased versus what he actually read that month. My TBR has grown a bit! I really appreciate a writer who’s also a prolific reader, book buyer/hoarder, and thoughtful reviewer.
December 4, 2011
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.
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.
April 21, 2018
“Last month, I ended by saying that I was in need of some Dickensian nutrition, and maybe it’s because I’ve been sucking on the bones of pared-down writing for too long. Where would David Copperfield be if Dickens had gone to writing classes? Probably about seventy minor characters short, is where.”
What an entertaining and humorous collection of essays about reading, not reading and the acquisition of books. I really enjoyed the heck out of this slim volume, reading one or two essays per day. Any serious reader will recognize many of their own foibles and feel at home in these pages and he’s a fan of Dickens, what more could I want?
What an entertaining and humorous collection of essays about reading, not reading and the acquisition of books. I really enjoyed the heck out of this slim volume, reading one or two essays per day. Any serious reader will recognize many of their own foibles and feel at home in these pages and he’s a fan of Dickens, what more could I want?
July 5, 2021
"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?
Struggle...
So it's fiction, right?
February 23, 2020
Hornby's monthly column for the Believer is amusing but also more true to the experience of being a reader than the usual review. I enjoy following the lists of what he's acquired, and what he's actually read, and seeing when he gets to things. As well, he reveals just a bit about his normal life, and how it gets in the way of his reading. Finally, there's the really interesting aspect of how all this combines, at what sort of reading continuity and bizarre juxtapositions come up.
Library copy
Library copy
September 15, 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 enjoyed him, and his mocking of the Polysyllabic Spree.
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 enjoyed him, and his mocking of the Polysyllabic Spree.
July 21, 2012
Hornby is utterly honest and unpretentious when it comes to appraising both his varying abilities to read the books he has bought (in general, purchased books far outpace the read ones, of course) and the books he's actually read.
I love this: "all the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal." That's the best nod to cognitive dissonance I've heard in some time. (Oh yes, I do intend to read those biographies of Rilke and Woolf on my shelf some day...)
I love this: "all the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal." That's the best nod to cognitive dissonance I've heard in some time. (Oh yes, I do intend to read those biographies of Rilke and Woolf on my shelf some day...)
May 11, 2014
This book is a collection of the author's articles written for a literary magazine. Each one starts with a list of the books he has bought and the books he has read that month. He always buys many more than he reads - a familiar problem. I love Nick Hornby's sense of humour and laughed out loud many times while reading, plus I shared the best bits with anyone who would listen and they unfailingly laughed too. I enjoyed this book much more than I expected to. A really good read.
December 21, 2022
Nick Hornby had me right from his opening paragraph:
So this is supposed to be 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 badly, when books don't stick or take, when your mood and the mood of the books are fighting like cats, you'd rather do anything but attempt the next paragraph, or reread the last one for the tenth time.
As he states, any similarly compulsive reader who "hasn't felt the same way isn't owning up."
A compulsive collector of books who admits to buying vast numbers of books he may not get around to reading for a long while, if ever, Hornby found himself in what must surely be his dream job, that of composing a monthly column for a literary magazine, commenting on the books he has read that month — and offering clues as to his reasons for acquiring other books along the way. (Regrettably, it appears that the magazine "Believer" has since folded.)
Many of his references to books I haven't read certainly sent me scurrying about to locate unfamiliar material and as he predicts, one thing leads to another, and another ...
And so Hornby has set me off searching out contemporary writers such as Julie Orringer and also reconsidering mossy Victorians like Wilkie Collins — while discovering that some of today's iconic voices such as Patrick Hamilton are not to be found in our local library.
Meanwhile, I wish to applaud Hornby's proposal that those intending to write a biography should first go to the National Biography Office to get a permit that tells you the number of pages you get. (There will be no right of appeal.) It's quite a simple calculation. Nobody wants to read a book longer than — what? — nine hundred pages? OK, a thousand, maybe. And you can't really get the job done in less than 250. So you're given a maximum length if you're doing Dickens, say — someone who had an enormous cultural impact, wrote enormous books, and had a life outside them. And everyone else is calculated using Dickens as a yardstick.
I like this notion so much that I'd love to have it apply in similar fashion to books of all sorts, not just biographies. I'm sure that many of us have chafed at weighty tomes that would have been greatly improved by the liberal application of an editor's red pencil!
Many thanks to my friend Maryl, who, knowing my own obsession with books, kindly lent this small volume to me. It's both enlightening and provocative — and something that I would otherwise never have stumbled upon.
So this is supposed to be 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 badly, when books don't stick or take, when your mood and the mood of the books are fighting like cats, you'd rather do anything but attempt the next paragraph, or reread the last one for the tenth time.
As he states, any similarly compulsive reader who "hasn't felt the same way isn't owning up."
A compulsive collector of books who admits to buying vast numbers of books he may not get around to reading for a long while, if ever, Hornby found himself in what must surely be his dream job, that of composing a monthly column for a literary magazine, commenting on the books he has read that month — and offering clues as to his reasons for acquiring other books along the way. (Regrettably, it appears that the magazine "Believer" has since folded.)
Many of his references to books I haven't read certainly sent me scurrying about to locate unfamiliar material and as he predicts, one thing leads to another, and another ...
And so Hornby has set me off searching out contemporary writers such as Julie Orringer and also reconsidering mossy Victorians like Wilkie Collins — while discovering that some of today's iconic voices such as Patrick Hamilton are not to be found in our local library.
Meanwhile, I wish to applaud Hornby's proposal that those intending to write a biography should first go to the National Biography Office to get a permit that tells you the number of pages you get. (There will be no right of appeal.) It's quite a simple calculation. Nobody wants to read a book longer than — what? — nine hundred pages? OK, a thousand, maybe. And you can't really get the job done in less than 250. So you're given a maximum length if you're doing Dickens, say — someone who had an enormous cultural impact, wrote enormous books, and had a life outside them. And everyone else is calculated using Dickens as a yardstick.
I like this notion so much that I'd love to have it apply in similar fashion to books of all sorts, not just biographies. I'm sure that many of us have chafed at weighty tomes that would have been greatly improved by the liberal application of an editor's red pencil!
Many thanks to my friend Maryl, who, knowing my own obsession with books, kindly lent this small volume to me. It's both enlightening and provocative — and something that I would otherwise never have stumbled upon.
January 1, 2013
A book about reading and reviewing books? This was tailor-made for Goodreaders!!11!1!!
IMO: you'd either develop a passionate hatred for it, or quite the opposite. I bought this two months ago and just waited for the right time to devour it. New Year's Eve/Day seemed appropriate. I've been gorging myself on too much crappy New Adult fiction, anyway.
I'm glad to say that I have an incredible amount of love for The Polysyllabic Spree. I found myself laughing out loud at parts. Nick Hornby has a ridiculously compulsive style of narration, perhaps compounded by the fact that the book is comprised of columns he wrote for the Believer. It also contains extracts of books he particularly liked. As someone wary of flimsy recommendations, I immediately began mentally adding to my to-read shelf after the first extract. (And Hornby reads poetry too! POETRY!) He takes us through his journey of "reader conflict", a journey I'm sure everyone here is familiar with. It's just interesting without shoving anything down your throat.
Hornby is also English and alludes to Arsenal Football Club a lot. They happen to be my second favourite English club. As a fan of the EPL, his natterings about abandoning books for the joy of crying over football felt like home to me. I recall him agonising over how Arsenal beat Liverpool (my first favourite club) 2-0 in a fictional book--at the time of writing, Arsenal hadn't beaten us with that scoreline since 1991. It's something I myself would do, should I have read that particular book.
Only one day into the new year and here's one for my 2013 favourites shelf!
IMO: you'd either develop a passionate hatred for it, or quite the opposite. I bought this two months ago and just waited for the right time to devour it. New Year's Eve/Day seemed appropriate. I've been gorging myself on too much crappy New Adult fiction, anyway.
I'm glad to say that I have an incredible amount of love for The Polysyllabic Spree. I found myself laughing out loud at parts. Nick Hornby has a ridiculously compulsive style of narration, perhaps compounded by the fact that the book is comprised of columns he wrote for the Believer. It also contains extracts of books he particularly liked. As someone wary of flimsy recommendations, I immediately began mentally adding to my to-read shelf after the first extract. (And Hornby reads poetry too! POETRY!) He takes us through his journey of "reader conflict", a journey I'm sure everyone here is familiar with. It's just interesting without shoving anything down your throat.
Hornby is also English and alludes to Arsenal Football Club a lot. They happen to be my second favourite English club. As a fan of the EPL, his natterings about abandoning books for the joy of crying over football felt like home to me. I recall him agonising over how Arsenal beat Liverpool (my first favourite club) 2-0 in a fictional book--at the time of writing, Arsenal hadn't beaten us with that scoreline since 1991. It's something I myself would do, should I have read that particular book.
Only one day into the new year and here's one for my 2013 favourites shelf!
February 24, 2012
I don't want to imply that people shouldn't read a book for the sake of being entertained, because this (and presumably most everything written by the great Nick Nornby) is more entertaining than my sorry rating would suggest, but there is simply no meat on these bones. The book is a compilation of magazine articles Hornby wrote for a British rag 8 years ago. He simply tells you what he read that month. As a compilation, I suspect this book is worth less than it would be in serial over a year. Sure, I was compelled to jot a few books down, but that feeling can be satisfied by Googling "best of" lists for 10 minutes, or attending a cocktail party. I happened to be trapped on a boat with this book, so I went through it dutifully, despite feeling as if I were somehow wasting 70 seconds for every minute I spent reading.
April 19, 2009
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.
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.
February 12, 2025
A book about the joys of buying books and reading books - what more could one ask for? Hornby is an accomplished writer and brings a light touch to proceedings here, which are his collected monthly columns tracking his book-buying and book-reading habits. (Spoiler alert: he is not always aligned!) It's fun to spot similar habits, like over-buying books, or reading more recent purchases first. My only disappointment was that I wasn't inspired (as I hoped I might be) to go seek out anything he read or bought. But this is only volume one of three, so it is early days yet.
September 12, 2008
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.'
'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.'
February 28, 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 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.
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.
August 23, 2015
I had never read anything by Nick Hornby before picking up his slim volume of collected articles from Believer magazine, enticingly titled The Polysyllabic Spree. I’ve never even seen the movies based on his work, and I was employed by a video rental store for five years. After reading this, I’m a little sad that I haven’t given him a chance before this; Hornby is a highly accessible and entertaining writer, even when doing something as simple as keeping a monthly record of his reading habits.
It’s fortunate for Hornby that he is so accessible, as this is a complaint he touches on with some frequency in regards to other writers and critics. He is a “reader of the masses,” the kind of guy that would like to eliminate all of the pretentious nonsense that turns the average person away from reading. I like him for this, since most professional critics and reviewers try so hard to present themselves as the arbiters of good taste, who read in a vacuum and pass their judgment from on high.
Basically, this book was an entertaining little compilation of reviews tinged with autobiography and social commentary. There were some reviews that were rather pointless, as they didn’t receive enough space to convey much, but there were others that made me throw the book aside and scramble for a bit of paper to scrawl titles for future reference. His identification of himself by the books he has read/bought has to hit home with anyone that loves to read, and the fact that he is able to integrate his reading life into his real life makes his writing very enjoyable, even when his "Polysyllabic Spree*" joke starts to wear a little thin.
I think I knew that Hornby was going to be my kind of guy after the first few articles. You see, each entry is preceded by a list of the books he has purchased and the books read each month, and these lists almost never sync up. It is obvious very early on that he has been accumulating a decently sized collection of books that will probably never be read, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I am in the process of doing the same thing.
(*The Polysyllabic Spree is the name Hornby has given the folks that run Believer magazine, in reference to that weird band Polyphonic Spree that had way too many members that all looked like rejects from Jonestown. You'll have to read the book to understand why this is both funny and a bit irritating).
It’s fortunate for Hornby that he is so accessible, as this is a complaint he touches on with some frequency in regards to other writers and critics. He is a “reader of the masses,” the kind of guy that would like to eliminate all of the pretentious nonsense that turns the average person away from reading. I like him for this, since most professional critics and reviewers try so hard to present themselves as the arbiters of good taste, who read in a vacuum and pass their judgment from on high.
Basically, this book was an entertaining little compilation of reviews tinged with autobiography and social commentary. There were some reviews that were rather pointless, as they didn’t receive enough space to convey much, but there were others that made me throw the book aside and scramble for a bit of paper to scrawl titles for future reference. His identification of himself by the books he has read/bought has to hit home with anyone that loves to read, and the fact that he is able to integrate his reading life into his real life makes his writing very enjoyable, even when his "Polysyllabic Spree*" joke starts to wear a little thin.
I think I knew that Hornby was going to be my kind of guy after the first few articles. You see, each entry is preceded by a list of the books he has purchased and the books read each month, and these lists almost never sync up. It is obvious very early on that he has been accumulating a decently sized collection of books that will probably never be read, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I am in the process of doing the same thing.
(*The Polysyllabic Spree is the name Hornby has given the folks that run Believer magazine, in reference to that weird band Polyphonic Spree that had way too many members that all looked like rejects from Jonestown. You'll have to read the book to understand why this is both funny and a bit irritating).
October 30, 2016
My laptop croaked the other day. I turned it on and was greeted by an image of a file folder with a question mark blinking inside it. I walked in to the living room shoving the monitor in my boyfriend's face and started to cry. What will I do without my computer? How will I work? The writer's block I've suffered the past three months was suddenly gone and I was filled with Great Ideas™ and now I had to hand over my laptop to a slim man wearing a fake badge clipped to his beltloop at the Geek Squad desk inside a Best Buy. I'm writing this from a tiny bluetooth keyboard hitched to my iPad (which needs a guy with a fake badge to replace its screen, but that's another story.)
So, you understand how I ended up at a used bookstore with a basket full of books even though I have piles of books at home from trips just like this one for other reasons. I love to buy books as much as I love to read them. Maybe a little more. The hunt is better than the kill, right? When I found my boyfriend sitting at a little table in the children's section reading the one book he was buying--a little mass market paperback of some sort (he hates when I call them that; he thinks I'm being snobbish), I tried to hide my basket. He was horrified.
I realize I've made this review all about me, but this was the first book I read from this stack--appropriately, a book about buying too many books and reading only some of them while also trying to do things like have a life. I love reading books about reading books. I only gave this three stars because I have to save some room for the other twenty or so books I bought and will read during the difficult separation from my laptop to be even better. Incidentally, during the reading of Nick Hornby's book, I purchased three more books to arrive to my home next week and added several more to my wish list. Do not read this if you are trying to quit reading. Otherwise, I hope you are armed with a Amazon Prime membership and some empty shelf space.
So, you understand how I ended up at a used bookstore with a basket full of books even though I have piles of books at home from trips just like this one for other reasons. I love to buy books as much as I love to read them. Maybe a little more. The hunt is better than the kill, right? When I found my boyfriend sitting at a little table in the children's section reading the one book he was buying--a little mass market paperback of some sort (he hates when I call them that; he thinks I'm being snobbish), I tried to hide my basket. He was horrified.
I realize I've made this review all about me, but this was the first book I read from this stack--appropriately, a book about buying too many books and reading only some of them while also trying to do things like have a life. I love reading books about reading books. I only gave this three stars because I have to save some room for the other twenty or so books I bought and will read during the difficult separation from my laptop to be even better. Incidentally, during the reading of Nick Hornby's book, I purchased three more books to arrive to my home next week and added several more to my wish list. Do not read this if you are trying to quit reading. Otherwise, I hope you are armed with a Amazon Prime membership and some empty shelf space.
March 25, 2018
I think I am going to stop partially writing reviews in my head before I finish the books, because, not only did Nick Hornby pull an extra star out of this one, but I have found that there are several books after all that I would read at his suggestion. The problem is, if you can call it a problem, that Nick Hornby and I have different tastes in books. You have to understand something though. I love Nick Hornby. High Fidelity is one of my favorite books of all time. I believe that I have most all of his books, except Fever Pitch (I am not a fan of sport), and I plan to read through them in my own time. I enjoy his wry sense of humor and sarcasm. Upon reading this book, however, I discovered that he and I are not reading kindred spirits. In fact, if he and I were in a book club, he would probably grow very frustrated with me, because I would think all his books were too serious and memoir-ish, and I would ridicule his love of Dickens. However, in the end he had a great quote from the letters of Chekhov, which makes me feel that I too would want to read the letters of Anton Chekhov and made me think that I had judged his list of books unfairly. He did mention several authors I do like in this book after all. Mr Hornby, you therefore get 4 stars! And a promise that we should perhaps be in one book club together if that were to work out. P.S. I love that the proceeds of this book go to two worthy causes.
December 28, 2015
Book blurb: In his monthly column "Stuff I've Been Reading", Nick Hornby lists the books he's purchased and the books he's read that month - they almost never overlap - and briefly discusses the books he's actually read.
This little collection of essays is a delightful read. Some people can vegetables, the rest of us hoard books. If you are the type of person who buys books whenever you walk by a bookstore, because even though you have 1000 or so unread books on your shelves at home, you are concerned about the coming apocalypse and are never sure that you have enough reading material to get you through those dark days ahead, then this is perfect book for you. Reading each short essay is like having a drink with a literate reader friend, and every essay adds more books to that pile you must someday read.
Funny that I have yet to read any of the author's novels, but there are 4 books in this essay series, and I plan to slowly savor my way through them all.
This little collection of essays is a delightful read. Some people can vegetables, the rest of us hoard books. If you are the type of person who buys books whenever you walk by a bookstore, because even though you have 1000 or so unread books on your shelves at home, you are concerned about the coming apocalypse and are never sure that you have enough reading material to get you through those dark days ahead, then this is perfect book for you. Reading each short essay is like having a drink with a literate reader friend, and every essay adds more books to that pile you must someday read.
Funny that I have yet to read any of the author's novels, but there are 4 books in this essay series, and I plan to slowly savor my way through them all.
February 10, 2019
A sheer pleasure to read. Fellow Goodreaders, if ever there was a book for us, this is it!
Hornby is a very engaging writer. Here, he shares his struggles as a reader - one who frequently buys more books than he can possibly finish. I personally share his struggle and I have a feeling that if you are a member of this site, you probably do too.
First written as a monthly column in Believer, we check in with Hornby over the course of a year and change as he stocks up and barely makes a dent in his growing personal library. On the strength of his suggestion I have personally found many promising new books that I will be checking out forthwith. I will also be giving Dickens another look very soon.
Great writing, great reading, and eminently relatable!
Hornby is a very engaging writer. Here, he shares his struggles as a reader - one who frequently buys more books than he can possibly finish. I personally share his struggle and I have a feeling that if you are a member of this site, you probably do too.
First written as a monthly column in Believer, we check in with Hornby over the course of a year and change as he stocks up and barely makes a dent in his growing personal library. On the strength of his suggestion I have personally found many promising new books that I will be checking out forthwith. I will also be giving Dickens another look very soon.
Great writing, great reading, and eminently relatable!
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