The Complete Polysyllabic Spree

Stuff I've Been Reading (U.K. version) #1

by Nick Hornby

'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 books 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'

In his monthly accounts of what he's read - along with what he may one day read - Nick Hornby ably explores everything from the classic to the graphic novel, as well as poems, plays, and sports-related exposes. And if he occasionally implores a biographer for brevity, or abandons a literary work in favor of an Arsenal soccer match, then all is not lost. His writing, full of all the joy and surprise and despair that books bring him, reveals why we still read, even when there's soccer on TV, a pram in the hall, and a good band playing at our local bar.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Essays, Humor, British Literature, Comedy, 21st Century

278 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2005

About the author

Nicholas 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).

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a breakthrough. You know, like you get after months, maybe years, of intensive therapy. The solution had been staring me in the face – it’s often the way, isn’t it. The thing was, the lowest shelf of my shelves of novels – it’s actually the space between the real lowest shelf and the floor - was just too short. It was 8 inches, which is fine for most of the novels on this shelf but Cold Snap (Jones), Ulysses (Joyce), Lake Wobegon Days (Keillor) and The Collected Works of TS Spivet (Larsen) are 8 and a half inches tall, just because they’re more important than all of Henry James (which are all 6 inches), so they won’t stand up, I have to lie them down on their bosoms with their backsides protruding into the public gaze – it’s just not right. I hate doing that to books more than I hate going to the dentist. But then I noticed the top shelf of the back wall, which was populated by plays and poetry and sundry unclassifiable items. I never read plays and poetry no more. I know – it’s a terrible thing. So I just don’t care if playwrights and poets are on their front or their backside, they probably couldn’t stand up straight if you paid them anyhow, what a bunch of drunks. So I switched the beloved novelists for the less well beloved poets and playwrights and voila! I switched them round! No more dentist!

The above is the kind of thing that Nick Hornby might have but didn’t write in this book. Really, he’s quite similar to me – always playing the giddy goat – but of course he is a beloved million selling writer of novels so the resemblance shrivels and dies right there. This book is a collection of columns he wrote for The Believer, an American literary mag founded by Dave Eggars in 2003. So this is a chatty, witty record of what Nick bought and read in the years 2003 to 2006.

I liked it. I’ve spent 20 years avoiding anything by Nick Hornby until this year when I stumbled on the movie version of High Fidelity and thought it was a real hoot (not a fake hoot). Why did I avoid him? Well, who wants to read about modern British suburban life? No one has any guns, there are few tornadoes, a little bit of doleful adultery, it’s all a bit meurgh.

In true Hornby listlike fashion I will now present

BOOKS BOUGHT BECAUSE OF NICK’S ENTHUSIASTIC WIBBLING

Robert Lowell, a Biography : Ian Hamilton
Another Bullshit Night in Suck City : Nick Flynn

BOOKS I HAD ALREADY READ & WAS PLEASED TO SEE NICK AGREED WITH ME

Clockers : Richard Price
How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World : Francis Wheen
Hangover Square : Patrick Hamilton
Like a Fiery Elephant : Jonathan Coe
Chronicles : Bob Dylan
In Cold Blood : Truman Capote
Stuart – A Life Backwards : Alexander Masters
Persepolis : Marjane Satrapi

BOOKS I HAD ALREADY READ & WAS HORRIFIED TO SEE NICK DISAGREED WITH ME

No Name : Wilkie Collins (it did not fall apart in the last 200 pages!)
The Long Firm : Jake Arnott (it was unreadable macho crap)
Saturday : Ian McEwan (it was stupid)
Housekeeping : Marilynne Robinson (it was like being buried alive in angel dust)

There’s a much longer list of BOOKS NICK READ SO I DIDN’T HAVE TO such as Philip Larkin’s Letters (ugh) and Oh Play that Thing by Roddy Doyle (sounds grim) or Father and Son by Edmund Gosse (I'm asleep already).

Reading about some guy reading is probably a complete waste of time which should be better employed filling in those terrible gaps in your own literary knowledge like BALZAC or HOUELLEBECQ or GOGOL but this was fun.

Quote from page 67:

Oh man, I hate Amazon reviewers. Even the nice ones, who say nice things. They’re bastards too.

Lord knows what he’s said about Goodreads since then.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questo libro non mi ha preso. Per carità, Nick Hornby è simpatico, ironico, intelligente, pungente, un amico quasi, ma i libri che recensisce sono libri inglesi o americani, a me sconosciuti -o, se qualcuno lo conosco, non l'ho letto- e le battute che l'autore fa nel corso dei commenti rimangono incomprensibili.
La mia vita da lettore è del tutto diversa da quella dell'autore.
La cosa che ci accomuna e che mi ha spinto a finire la lettura è il grande amore per i libri:
"I libri, ammettiamolo, sono meglio di qualunque altra cosa. Se organizzassimo un campionato di fantaboxe culturale, schierando sul ring i libri contro il meglio che qualunque altra forma d’arte abbia da offrire, sulla distanza di quindici riprese… be’, i libri vincerebbero praticamente sempre.” Parole sante, Nick!

[7jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book of book reviews. This is a book about book reading experience with some related things and comments on books read and bought each month (which are listed, along with books left unfinished... if the book was particularly disliked, they are left anonymous-looking: no negativity in these monthly things are allowed, which is a good thing). The time is from September 2003 to June 2006, though it's not every-month sort of thing. These appeared first on the "Believer" magazine. In-between are some book extracts, including bits from "Persepolis", "David Copperfield" and one on a typical morning with two autistic boys (which is a complicated process but far from grim reading).

I did end up being curious about some books in there, and managed to find a few books to look further into. Also got bigger interest in getting and reading Wilkie Collins' "No Name" and Dickens' "Old Curiosity Shop". And now I'm pretty damn glad I have no chance of meeting Philip Larkin (but still keep liking his poems).

And what about the reading-related things? For example: holiday reading; getting picky when you know more about something than the author does; how hard it is the predict which books last to become classics; how far one should cut out things when trimming one's own writing; impact of baby's arrival on book reading (in NH's case, not much but *duh* XD ).

And I wish he had been smarter than trying scifi by reading Banks' "Excession" - it is *not* fit for that sort of thing. Maybe reading "Time Machine" by HG Wells or some Ray Bradbury short stories would've done a better work, but what can you do? *shrug* I do like that he dislikes the gleefulness of 'now *this* is so wonderfully not Politically Correct' thing:
"usually it means, quite simply, that a book or a movie or a TV programme is racist and/or sexist and/or homophobic; there is a certain kind of cultural commentator who mysteriously associates these prejudices with a Golden Age during which we were allowed to do lots of things that we are not allowed to do now. (The truth is that there's no one stopping them from doing anything. What they really object to is being recognized as the antisocial pigs they really are.)"

But anyway, this was one amazingly quick read, some laughs were had, as well as interesting information and some great recommendations. Not just another book about books to me, but a worthy good ride. So I recommend reading this ;)

[Marcello S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raccolta di saggi narrativi/recensioni presi dalla rubrica mensile tenuta da Hornby per la rivista Believer.
Riflessioni, spunti, divagazioni messe giù con il suo classico stile divertente e sensibile allo stesso tempo.

Anche se non ha pubblicato tutte cose indimenticabili, Hornby è una voce della narrativa contemporanea che se non ci fosse mi mancherebbe.
E non ci sono così tanti scrittori di cui potrei dire lo stesso.

Da mettere in conto che una parte dei libri cui si fa riferimento non sono tradotti in Italia.
Ovviamente mi ha fatto rimpinguare la fila dei to-read (non ce n’era bisogno Nick ma grazie lo stesso). [73/100]

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books about books, what’s not to love. Funny and enjoyable but skimmed some parts.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Complete Polysyllabic Spree" collects together the monthly "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns that Hornby wrote in The Believer magazine from September 2003 to June 2006. Each column is divided into "Books I've Read" and "Books I've Bought" which is genius because it shows the disparity between what's bought and what's read, something almost everyone who reads a lot can identify with. The big selling point for me is the number of times you find yourself thinking "I'm like that" when Hornby talks about a tedious novel wearing him down or loving a book you want to tell everyone about.

It's very lightweight material but hugely enjoyable for someone like me who loves to read and talk about books. It's fascinating to see a famous writer talking about books however The Believer has a cardinal rule - Thou Shalt Not Slag Off a Book - so you only get the good stuff, the books that he didn't finish are put down as "Anonymous Literary Novel".

There were so many books I ended up reading and loving thanks to Hornby's recommendations. "Citizen Vince" by Jess Walter, "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi, "The Men Who Stare at Goats" by Jon Ronson, "Hangover Square" by Patrick Hamilton, and "Case Histories" by Kate Atkinson. There are extracts from some selected books in between the columns so you can have a taste of what Hornby's talking about.

There's also some classic Hornby humour in his encounter with "Excession" by Iain M Banks. "The urge to weep tears of frustration was already upon me even before I read the short prologue, which seemed to describe some kind of androgynous avatar visiting a woman who has been pregnant for forty years and who lives on her own in the tower of a giant spaceship...By the time I got to the first chapter, which is entitled `Outside Context Problem' and begins `(CGU Grey Area signal sequence file #n428857/119)' I was crying so hard that I could no longer see the page in front of my face." (p.176-77).

It also features an introduction with the most impassioned encouragement for reading I've read. Hornby is a very generous reader who does his best to empathise with the writer even if he feels the book had its weak points. He also voices concerns I've had about reading too many novels instead of tackling meatier non-fiction fare. He quickly moves back to fiction though after a few forays into non-fiction.

It's a fascinating journey into a reader's mind and the way one book leads to another as well as the way we look at books. Highly recommended even if you're not a Hornby fan.

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

The absolute BEST THING about this book is that each chapter begins with a list of BOOKS BOUGHT and a list of BOOKS READ, and you can probably guess which list is usually longer.

Though I've read and enjoyed three fiction books by Hornby, his tribute to reading left me feeling uninspired. I didn't add a single title to my TBR list. Maybe it's because he reads a lot of biography. Or maybe it's just because I don't root for Arsenal.

I still say, if you read only one book this year about a man obsessively reading books, make it One for the Books by Joe Queenan.

[Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Ascoltate, vi confesserò una cosa che nessuno vi dirà mai: se non leggete i classici o il romanzo che ha vinto l'ultimo Booker Prize, non vi succederà niente di male, e soprattutto, se li leggete non vi succederà niente di straordinario. Voglio soltanto dire che voltare le pagine non dovrebbe essere come arrancare in un denso pantano. Lo scopo primario dei libri è che noi li leggiamo: se scoprite di non farcela, può darsi che la colpa non sia della vostra inadeguatezza. A volte i "buoni" libri sono un incubo."

[Melanie Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I didn't get as much TBR inspo as I was expecting to get from this, we seem to have very very different tastes. I adore Nick Hornby's writing though, in fact I laughed out loud several times which is an achievement in itself.

Great palette cleanser.

[The Frahorus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questo libro è la raccolta di una rubrica che lo scrittore Nick Hornby ha scritto, mensilmente, dall'estate del 2003 fino al 2006 in una rivista. Questa rubrica doveva parlare e commentare le letture che, di mese in mese, l'autore faceva. Insomma, è quel libro che parla di libri.

Non ho ancora letto nulla di questo autore, e devo dire che mi è risultato molto simpatico e ironico. Scoprire le sue letture e leggere i suoi divertenti commenti mi hanno fatto scorrere velocemente le pagine e adesso non vedo l'ora di leggere qualche suo romanzo.

Consigliato a chi ama i consigli di lettura.

[Austra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't read this book if your TBR shelf already takes up the whole wall. Because you will end up with even more books you want to read. Otherwise - entertaining and smart writing from Hornby. As always.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bisognerebbe sempre avere sottomano un libro di NH ancora intonso.
La sua prosa è fresca, accattivante, quando vuole esilarante. Le sue recensioni sono puntuali, incuriosiscono quanto basta per spingere il lettore a approfondire l'argomento (o il libro di cui si parla). NH non si atteggia a intellettuale, ma svela alcuni meccanismi del mondo editoriale che sono interessantissimi per chi i libri li compra.

Infine, ma assolutamente non da ultimo, NH ama la letteratura. Ama leggere, ama parlare dei libri che ha letto, si identifica come lettore prima ancora che come scrittore:

"Da quando ho iniziato questa rubrica credo di aver letto almeno una dozzina di libri splendidi ... E nella prossima annata ce ne saranno altrettanti. Di più, se leggerò più velocemente. Che cosa avete fatto per dodici volte l'anno scorso di altrettando stupendo, oltre a leggere libri? Bugiardi".

In questo libro ho trovato molte pagine fondamentali per descrivere la mia "vita da lettrice", tra cui queste:

- Sul comprare libri che non leggeremo:
"D'un tratto ho avuto una piccola epifania: tutti i libri che possediamo, letti e non, sono l'espressione più piena che abbiamo a disposizione della nostra personalità ... a ogni anno che passa, e a ogni acquisto capriccioso, le nostre biblioteche diventano sempre più capaci di descriverci, che i libri li leggiamo oppure no"

- La giustificazione per non voler leggere letteratura contemporanea (i libri "necessari", "imperdibili", che solo la critica capisce e apprezza e che il lettore si sente scemo se non vuole leggere);

- Il fastidio nel leggere letteratura che tratta solo di personaggi comodamente borghesi:
"Trattare solo di personaggi colti ed eloquenti.. be', non è un po' una truffa? ... si ha come la sensazione che con loro McEwan sia sprecato. Non hanno bisogno del suo aiuto. Quello che ho sempre amato nella narrativa è che può essere intelligente parlando di persone che di per sé non lo sono, o almeno non dispongono sempre delle risorse atte a descrivere i propri stati emotivi. Questa era l'abilità di Twain, e anche di Dickens ... a me sembra una virtù più importante che far dire cose coltissime a persone altrettanto colte"

- Sul perché alcuni romanzi sono semplicemente bellissimi, e si fanno amare nonostante l'apparente complessità (in questo caso, Le cure domestiche di M. Robinson - che anche io avevo letto e amato):
"Ma a volte un libro non può proprio fare a meno di essere alta letteratura; è impotente contro le proprie complicazioni, perché le idee che contiene mettono alle corde la semplicità espressiva. Ci ho impegato una vita a leggere [Le cure domestiche], ma non si può leggere questo breve libro premendo sull'acceleratore, perché è pieno di dossi artificiali: la prosa in stile Antico Testamento, che è il linguaggio perfetto per le immagini strazianti e profetiche della Robinson"

- Sul piacere di leggere più lentamente alcuni libri rispetto ad altri (ancora sulla Robinson):
"E sono anche contento di non essere riuscito a farne un sol boccone, dato che il tempo trascorso in sua compagnia significa che vive ancora dentro di me ... un po' di strusciamento deve esserci se vogliamo che un libro ci cambi"

Insomma, NH mi ha insegnato tante cose sulla lettura, sul leggere e sul perché amo certi libri. Da notare che non avevo letto praticamente nessuno dei libri letti o comprati dall'autore.

[Vio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a joy!

I have to congratulate myself for reading it, I laughed a lot, unexpectedly, I might think now I quite like the humorous art in which Nick Hornby writes (non fiction, at least). (On a side note, I have to add that I only read one of his novels, which was mostly a struggle, but then again I was quite at the beginning of my journey of reading books in English, so this is the only explanation I can think of now. (finished in January 2016))

I added only one book for my unfathomable long reading list, yay, again kudos to me! :) (Julie Orringer, How to Breathe Underwater: Stories)

I also learned a lot of interesting stuff, trivia about Richard Yates and Seinfeld, for instance, or what the difference is between paperback and hardcover (except the obvious one). LE Or what it means when a book is out of print. Could be a book to come back later to. I am considering reading another non fiction book I own by Nick Hornby. And the rest of his novels. :))) Thank goodness, I am *so* young!

At times, I like to read with a voice in my head. I also like to observe the differences between British and American English. Since I was (am?) on my Scottish McCall Smith trip a lot this year, I think I think (!!) more British now, but again, no problem if this is all in my head. Anyways, voices: the one I heard at times was Monty Don, my gardener friend.

Also, for those of you following my ”currently reading” journey anxiously, rest assured that I broke the spell and yeah, for the first time in ages I could mark the current book as read.

PS I do not know a synonym for journey who would work in this review. Bear with me.

Probably 4,5*.

[Lavinia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm holding Mr. Hornby accountable for many of the books I added on the to-read shelf in the past few weeks. And if you see me reading David Copperfield it's entirely his fault. But if I'll be listening to the audio book it'll be because, well, Richard Armitage.

[Lucy H-W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been an all-round joy to read, and has made me genuinely laugh out loud in a way books don’t normally do. Nick’s writing style is so fantastic, and yet again I walk away from one of his books feeling like he’s a friend to me.
This book has also taught me a lot of things; primarily that my vocabulary is worse than I thought. So in true Nick fashion, I have made a list (except in my case, it’s a list of words rather than books). Every time I didn’t know the meaning of a word, I noted it down, and I truly have all the best intentions of learning them and integrating them into my vocabulary… but I suppose if I have learnt anything from Nick and his ‘books bought’ lists, perhaps those intentions will not come to fruition…

Words to learn from Nick:
Philistinism
Augury
Astringent
Deposition
Erudite
Portentously
Demotic
Penury
Assiduous
Quotidian
Vicissitudes
Pedant
Discursive
Cessation
Superlative
Recalcitrant
Truculent
Engendered
Oeuvre
Au courant
Malaise
Scrupulous
Frisson
Begat
Interpolate
Acuity
Dissipation
Indolence
Dissolution
Laconic
Remaindered
Incorrigible
Impudent
Raillery
Feckless
Admonitory
Prosaic
Galling
Aperçu
Oblique
Epigram
Propulsive
Enigmatically
Cabal
Laudable
Exhortation
Uxorious
Castigate
Traduce
Probity
Tawdry
Bravura
Vertiginous
Inimitable
Bravura
Torpor
Aggrandizing
Axiom
Insularity
Jocular
Florid
Circumlocution
Enervating
Puerile
Demagogic
Caveat emptor
Fractious
Revile
Inclement
Paucity
Fatuous

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Nick Hornby is best known for his fiction that includes books like High Fidelity and About a Boy, some maybe familiar with his column in The Believer called Stuff I’ve Been Reading. The Complete Polysyllabic Spree is the combination of two U.S. titles from his column, The Polysyllabic Spree and Housekeeping vs. the Dirt. The title is a reference to the Dallas choral rock band The Polyphonic Spree, a group with over twenty members in it. Hornby often describes the works of The Believer in this way; “all dressed in white robes and smiling maniacally, sort of like a literary equivalent of The Polyphonic Spree.”

In fact, The Believer is a literary magazine created by Dave Eggers and part of the McSweeney’s company; it also focuses on other forms of the arts and general culture. It started in 2003 and releases nine issues a year; this book takes Hornsby’s column from September 2003 to mid-2006. Each article follows the same basic format, first listing books he bought that month, and then the books he read. However due to The Believers guidelines all books he hated must be listed as untitled. This is followed by an essay talking about these books and future reading plans, often between 500 to 2000 words.

What I thought was interesting is the fact that Nick Hornby took a very simple formula and worked within the confines of it successfully. As stated in a previous What I Think about When I’m Not Blogging post, this has inspired me to write more personal essays. However I have to say, I was a little disappointed by this book, simply because he kept to the same formula and never grew or evolved as a reader or writer. I like the idea but I would have liked to see some growth or experimentation; I also think if you don’t mention the books you don’t like can’t really give a true representation of your reading life, but I do understand their policy.

I have to also mention that Nick Hornby has a strong aversion to literary fiction and will actively poke at it. The idea that people only read literary fiction to become literary snobs felt a little off colour; I embrace my pretentious nature but I read literary fiction because I love the proses. His reading tastes are very narrow and focus mainly on popular fiction; this type of article would be far more interesting if the writer was interested in exploring all types of literature. I am fascinated by books about books and learning about someone’s reading journey but this was like watching someone run in the same spot. There was no risk-taking and no changes from article to article; to make matters worse I did not add a single book to my TBR as a result of reading this.

This review originally appeared on my blog: http://literary-exploration.com/2014/...

[Lord Beardsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

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's (magazines so painfully self-contious and leaking with hipster cum that I have been afraid to touch them in fear I may become pregnant with swoop-haired EMO devil babies). Apparently, he's not allowed to "slag" books by name. Now, I can see the point of this. If he was to fully slag a book and someone who may possibly enjoy it happened to read it and then decided not to...well...I see the point. But I feel that this also really impedes honesty. If something is revolting, say so! It's a bit of a let-down in that respect.

A random good quote from Mr. Hornby:

'Is the phrase 'Deliciously politically incorrect' used with the same gay abandon in the US? You come across it all the time here, and usually it means, quite simply, that a book or a movie or a TV programme is racist and/or sexist and/or homophobic; there is a certain kind of cultural commentator who mysteriously associates these prejudices with a Golden Age during which we were allowed to do lots of things that we are not allowed to do now. (The truth is that there's no one stopping them from doing anything. What they really object to is being recognized as the antisocial pigs they really are.)

Thank you, Mr. Hornby. I will pull this quote out the next time some swine tells me how much they like the show 'Weeds'.

[Roberta · Rating 5 out of 5]

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. Quando Nick viene infastidito da un libro che non apprezza, lo lancia attraverso la stanza rischiando di cecchinare uno dei suoi figli, mentre se tenta di leggere un libro incomprensibile (categoria nella quale raduna l'intero genere della fantascienza) comincia a piangere incontrollabilmente fino a quando l'alluvione di lacrime gli impedisce fisicamente di vedere il testo. Un approccio poco letterario forse, ma molto pragmatico ed infinitamente divertente. Hornby ci affascina aprendo una finestra sulla sua mente nell'atto di elaborare una lettura, e l'intero processo non può che avvincere. Inoltre il saggio è strutturato in modo da presentare svariati elenchi di libri letti o comprati, recensioni o citazioni di sfuggita: una vera miniera di informazione per i lettori patologici. L'unico neo è che la maggioranza di questi libri non sono nemmeno tradotti in italiano, e svariati dei romanzi e degli autori tradotti sono scarsamente conosciuti qui da noi, rovinandoci un po' la festa. Nonostante questo, è una lettura che consiglio decisamente.

[Nick Davies · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up cheaply from a charity shop recently, having vague recollections of having read it a decade or so ago in a small park near the library from where I borrowed it. It was alas a disappointment and hence will be recycled back to a different charity shop.

This is a gathering-together of Hornby's columns of book reviews for what seems to be an odd kind of American literary magazine. In it, the author attempts to talk in more general terms about the experience of reading (as opposed to just reviewing the books he has read) in a similar manner to how he talks about the experience of listening to music and having important/favourite records in his similar book '31 Songs'. I just felt that this idea worked a lot less well when applied to books due to the lesser accessibility of these compare to songs (and it's a lot easier to see a reference to a song you don't know, listen to it, then read and 'get something' from what Hornby has said about it.. than it is about the books he speaks of). In addition, I found the set-up slightly contrived and the imposed rules about not bad-mouthing books he didn't enjoy all a bit tedious, as was the repeated quaint Englishness and name-dropping of his author friends.

For a relatively short (~240pp) book, there was a lot of it that I skimmed a little, as much of it seemed of little relevance to my interests and Hornby's efforts to engage me didn't have the required strength.

[Núria · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 satisfacción que produce leer pero también de las decepciones que nos llevamos, de comprar libros compulsivamente aunque sabemos que probablemente no los leeremos nunca, de como unos libros nos llevan a otros, de como nos gustaría tener unos gustos lectores amplios pero como casi siempre acabamos leyendo el mismo tipo de libros, etc. Y en todo momento consigue transmitir toda la pasión que siente por los libros. Y, como es Nick Hornby, lo hace con una ironía deliciosa que nunca llega al sarcasmo gratuito. Y, como es Nick Hornby, nunca se muerde la lengua, y tanto puede decir que no soporta el libro de moda como el clásico de turno. Y, aunque a veces no esté de acuerdo con él (¡cómo no puede haberle gustado el 'Cándido'!), siempre disfruto enormemente leyéndolo, porque siempre es divertido y nunca cae en los fuegos artificiales. Y me he dado cuenta que es un trozo de pan y que es la típica persona de la que me gustaría ser amiga.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Com Alta Fidelidade, romance sobre as agruras emocionais de um trintão fã de música, o inglês Nick Hornby moldou parte do panorama cultural dos anos 2000, tornando populares citações da cultura pop e listas arbitrárias de "cinco melhores". O novo livro de Hornby, Frenesi Polissilábico (tradução de Antônio E. de Moura Filho, Rocco, 264 páginas, R$ 33) promove o encontro entre o estilo leve e descompromissado do autor e um terreno normalmente encarado como “mais nobre”: a crítica literária.

Frenesi Polissilábico (o título original, Polysyllabic Spree, faz uma brincadeira com a banda texana Polyphonic Spree, um grupo de "rock coral sinfônico" com mais de 20 integrantes) é um diário de leitura no qual Hornby conta o que leu e que circunstâncias interferiram na leitura (livro lido nos intervalos das mamadeiras do filho recém-nascido, o livro era escrito por um amigo, e assim por diante). O volume reúne 29 textos publicados entre setembro de 2003 e junho de 2006 na The Believer – revista americana de literatura idealizada por escritores, entre eles o elogiado Dave Eggers, e que tinha como política editorial a proibição de críticas negativas. O modo como Hornby exercita seu humor debatendo-se contra essa norma e sacaneando o corpo editorial da publicação é uma atração por si só. Uma imposição, contudo, que o próprio Hornby aponta como educativa – passou a abandonar os livros que não gostava e eleger obras que teria maior possibilidade de apreciar.

Ao falar de livros, Hornby não é um escritor/crítico aos moldes de Mario Vargas Llosa, John Updike ou Martin Amis. Ele comporta-se mais como a voz do leitor comum – e por "comum" aqui entenda-se o leitor medianamente instruído de classe média (comum na Europa, mas talvez presente em número menor no Brasil da falência educacional). Ele é arrebatado pelo sentimentalismo de Dickens em David Copperfield, incomoda-se com o cerebralismo ensaístico e autorreferente de Philip Roth em Complô contra a América, decepciona-se com o Cândido, de Voltaire, por ser a base de um sentimento pessimista que é a tônica na contemporaneidade.

Hornby defende que a leitura deve ser divertida, uma proposição que talvez possa ser polêmica – mas ao menos o escritor é coerente consigo mesmo. Seu livro é lido com prazer e graça.

[gardienne_du_feu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bestsellerautor Nick Hornby hat nicht nur Romane geschrieben, sondern auch monatliche Kolumnen über sein Leseleben verfasst. In diesem Buch finden sich Texte aus den Jahren 2004 bis 2006, jeder Monat startet mit zwei Listen, die uns Büchernerds bekann vorkommen dürften: eine Liste der gekauften und eine Liste der gelesenen Bücher. Meist ist erstere länger als letztere, oft sogar ziemlich deutlich, und wie im richtigen Leben gibt es Monate, in denen viel gelesen wird und andere, in denen das wahre Leben in die Quere kommt, Bücher, für die er ewig braucht und Bücher, die er vorzeitig abbrechen muss.

Inhaltlich sind die Kolumnen ein bunter Mix aus Meinungen über das Gelesene, Betrachtungen über die literarische Welt und auch Erlebnisse aus Hornbys Leben, die mit Bücher gar nichts zu tun haben, vom Fußballspiel bis zur Geburt eines Kindes. Mit literarischem Snobismus kann Hornby nichts anfangen und bricht eine Lanze für das Motto "Lesen und lesen lassen", was mir gut gefallen hat.

Weniger anfangen konnte ich mit dem satirischen Element, entweder war es nicht mein Humor oder ich habe manche Anspielungen nicht verstanden. Die kurzen Auszüge aus einigen Büchern, die er in seinen Kolumnen bespricht, fand ich nur teilweise interessant, teilweise haben sie mich eher genervt, weil ich sie nicht reizvoll fand, und auch die Texte selbst haben mich sehr unterschiedlich stark angesprochen (an manchen Stellen habe ich zugegebenermaßen quergelesen).

Aber spannend war, wie Hornby einige Bücher wahrgenommen hat, die ich ebenfalls gelesen habe. Unser Urteil und unser Lesegeschmack sind nur teilweise deckungsgleich, aber trotzdem werde ich das Buch noch mal durchschauen und mir einige Tips rausschreiben. Mal schauen, wie es mir dann damit geht.

Insgesamt ging es mir mit diesem Buch genauso wie mit "31 Songs": ich habe es am Stück gelesen, finde aber, dass es sich besser zum Häppchen-Lesen eignet.

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in Believer installments to do each month justice. My favourite parts were the mentions of The Polysyllabic Spree. I loved how their membership levels changed quite often. I just wish I had read the same books. I'd read a few but not enough, and no I'm not an avid 'The da Vinci Code' reader. I loved the movie instead.
Great idea. Makes me think of the massive amounts of books I have collected and not read yet. I purposely stay away from the recommendations and donations of friends (unless said book is on my Wishlist - and yeah, I have a monumental wishlist too).
Thanks Nick - looking forward to reading much more!

[edie!! · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was very funny and very honest, definitely not the most interesting as it’s a bunch of book reviews but i still really enjoyed hornby’s humour and style of writing, so overall a light and easy read.

[Um mar de fogueirinhas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Por um lado, humor delicioso e paixão autêntica pelos livros. Por outro, varias referencias pra mim totalmente obscuras ...

[Helene Fonnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Koselig, men snakker om mye littertaur som ikke er allmennkunnskap for ikke-engelske lesere

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The funniest book I ever read about books I've never read.

[MBP]

I like the idea of this book - an author sharing his reading choices and reflecting on them - but it's a bit tedious, and Nick Hornby seems to be trying too hard to be witty here.

[Ahmed Hossam · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writer offers his readers a journey through books with a special touch of his own taste, and criticism without any sort of alienation.
I was totally enthralled by the exquisite concept that was illustrated at the beginning, which is how people approach reading from different aspects, in addition, he provides a great advice "Reading for enjoyment is what we should all be doing", but the more I go deeper, the more I become reluctant to continue reading.

[Anthony Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I imagined this book - a book about books - would be pretty good fun, and it was in places and not just when it referred to books I knew and hated or books I knew and enjoyed; but overall it boils down to a collection of book reviews and I didn't work out the circumstances under which it would be interesting to read them. So I ended up just belting through them and stopping to read the occasional paragraph. I also never worked out if the Believer and the Polysyllabic Spree were real, and, if they were, what they really were, and, if they weren't, what they might represent; so I found the constant references to them frustrating.

I've not read any Nick Hornby apart from this, and I'm pleased to say it hasn't put me off wanting to give him a go. Clearly it would be unfair to judge a novelist simply by his reviews of other people's books. His style in The Polysyllabic Spree is engagingly colloquial and medium-dryly ironic: I enjoyed them. And I enjoyed also his words of wisdom - well, plain good sense, really - about not finishing a book if you didn't like it, so he will, perhaps, excuse me having skim-read quite a lot of this one.

There were two gems in it for me, however. One was his having read A Man Without a Country. So have I, and I was under the illusion that no one else would have, so I was glad to see that the pleasure I derive from reading Vonnegut is one that is not so rare after all. Vonnegut does not always hit the nail on the head for me, in the same was as another of my favourite authors, George Mackay Brown, doesn't either: but I still find their ways of looking at the world ones that chime with me.

The other gem was his quoting an Amazon review of The Diary of a Country Priest by a reader who had loathed it and whose life had been changed by it as it resulted in an A Level grade that was too low for him (?) to study French at university and forced him (?) to take a course in business studies 'thus changing the course of my life' (presumably in a way that has been deeply resented for years). I was given a copy of this revered novel by my best friend (along with a copy of The Sponger by Jules Renard). I eventually read the former last year and found it unutterably dull. If I wanted Catholic angst, I would have found someone suffering from agonising about suffering, I guess: I had no idea what the narrator was talking about as the theology was beyond me and consequently of no interest. For the same reason, I find Sartre's plays dull dull dull: if I watch a play, I want something at least to happen, I don't want to watch a philosophical discussion. (For the same reason, swathes of Troilus and Cressida are lost to me - fine if you are declaiming them to yourself as they sound terrific, but pretty dull to listen to unless you have a cracker of an actor and director.) So: I very warmly thank Nick Hornby for allowing me to think that, although I do have a deep interest in serious novels and what makes them classics and, more widely, what makes a novel recognizably 'good', it's okay to put the thing down if reading it 'come[s] to seem a little more like a duty, and Pop Idol starts to look a little more attractive.'

So, though The Polysyllabic Spree may not have hit the mark for me, I look forward to picking up a copy of 'Fever Pitch' somewhere soon.

As an afterthought, and as a homage to Mr H:

Books Bought But Not Read - 12th February 2015

Portrait in a Mirror - Charles Morgan
Love and War in the Apennines - Eric Newby
Famous Roads of the World - E.F. Carter
The Practical Criticism of Poetry: a textbook - C.B. Cox and A.E. Dyson
Heroic Adventure - Schweinfurth, Prejavalsky, Markham, Vambery, Serpa Pinto, J. Leslie