Nick Hornby's Polysyllabic Spree

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Summary: It works
Review: As a book lover I found this thought provoking and so very very interesting and inspirational

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Summary: Soccer, Music, and Now Books--Hornby Completes His Hat Trick
Review: As I wrote in my review of "Songbook", I suppose I should admit up front that I'm one of those people who would buy the phone book if Hornby wrote it. Like many guys of my generation and ilk, I consider "High Fidelity" to be close to the perfect novel. That said, I'm starting to wonder if maybe Hornby might actually be a better writer of non-fiction than fiction. His debut, Fever Pitch explains being a diehard soccer fan with more eloquence and depth than anything before or since. His second nonfiction work, Songbook, was not only some of the best music writing I've read, but perfectly captured the essence of being a pop music fan. Here, he completes the hat trick with an excellent collection about being a book fanatic.

This handsomely produced paperback consists of fourteen articles he wrote for the uberhip lit magazine The Believer, chronicling his monthly reading habits from September 2003 to November 2004. Each essay begins with a list of books purchased and books actually read -- and as most avid readers will suspect, titles from the two rarely overlap in the same month. Interspersed are also a five excerpts from books he read (by Chekhov, Dickens, Patrick Hamilton, Tony Hoagland, and Charlotte Moore), evidently intended to break things up and get one "in the mood." As in Fever Pitch and Songbook, one doesn't have to be in sync with Hornby's taste in order to enjoy the essays. That's because he is surprisingly erudite on whatever he's writing about, while being consistently entertaining at the same time. This is probably because he's not reading "for" anyone, he's reading for himself. And with license to read and write on whatever he wants, the result is an excellent window into the sometimes strange motives and obscure links that drive what we read. But it's not just about what he reads, but also how, and about how life intrudes on reading time (during soccer season, his reading declines).

Which is not to say he doesn't talk about the books. For example, praising the forgotten novels of an obscure writer, or the poetry of another, or plowing through various thick biographies. If nothing else, he's probably going to make you think about picking up a Dickens book in the near future. Hornby's most impassioned and forceful writing is reserved for scoffing at the notion that reading for fun and reading for enrichment are two separate things. In other words, the divide between literature and fiction. He's a firm believer that the distinction is a false one, and fortunately the last decade has seen the world of publishing and bookselling slowly agree, as genre distinctions are no longer as rigidly enforced, and works of crime and science-fiction are sometimes permitted to leave their ghettos and be shelved with the general fiction. Another fine bit occurs in August 2004, when he stumbles across Dennis Lehane's Mystic River and is blown away by its combination of gripping plot and masterful writing (I've not read it). This leads him to wonder why so many people have been telling him to read Allan Hollinghurst's The Line of beauty (which went on to win the Booker Prize), but no one had ever pushed Lehane on him. A third bit which went down a treat is his plea for biographers to edit themselves and not include every detail in their 1,000-page definitive biographies of people who are probably only worth around 250 pages. This is just a sample of the kind of stuff dispensed in the essays.

The one nit I have to pick with the book is that Hornby was editorially restrained from naming books that he didn't like. This is a reviewing policy I have always disliked, and is probably why I tend to prefer British reviewers, who are renown for their skewering reviews. For, while I certainly like to read about books that reviewers enjoyed, it's just as much a service to be warned away from books that are dreck. I would really like to know what the various "Unnamed Literary Novels" are that he started and didn't finish. Also, in writing in his chatty style for The Believer, Hornby probably makes a few other sweeping statements that he might have thought a little more carefully on. But these are very minor flaws in what is otherwise a fantastic book by a bookhound for fellow bookhounds. Incisive, witty, and brief, the perfect book for the person who has piles of unread books around them! One can only wonder what other obsession is left for him to write about. Fatherhood perhaps?

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Summary: hornby hits another home run
Review: first, i suppose i must point out that writing an amazon review is something that hornby is clearly against, as he states in this book that he hates amazon reviewers. of course, this only makes me like the guy even more.

in the same way he always does, nick hornby makes you believe he's your friend in the polysyllabic spree. you respect him for his honesty and you identify with him in his reasons for choosing/liking/disliking books. he's you. only, he's a best-selling author who could probably give a crap about you. but you still love him. and you'll go buy his next book when it comes out.

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Summary: Hornby is magnificent, again.
Review: I always anticipate a new book arrival from Nick Hornby. He is, without a doubt, the best and most clever contemporary British author. While reading this book I often thought back to one of his prior books, Songbook, because he records and recollects his own personal thoughts about the Arts. The part I found most enjoyable was when Hornby compared books to other genres of the Arts. This is a great read as are all of his other writings.

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Summary: You can't not like him
Review: I am attracted to books that discuss the author's reading and ideas about it and inevitably I get so far and wonder, why aren't I out there reading for myself instead of holding this person's hand? Not so with this, which is over far too soon. Hornby, riffing about his own reading, his life, his outlook, is holding the reader's hand.

The title would suggest a word riot, which THE POLYSYLLABIC SPREE is, but it is also the name Hornby puts to the murkily protean powers that be at "The Believer Magazine" where the book was born in monthly columns. Each month's chapter begins like an entry in Bridget Jones's Diary, books bought, books actually read, then leaps off into what happened, what he actually read, what he thought about it, how it connects (and sometimes does not, like when one's football team is on the television) to life. Hornby is very funny, and also very serious. He is also full of contagious, unabashed wonder. He is quick to skewer pretension or gratuitous content. His style is highly caffeinated and raspy from nicotine, hilariously hyperbolic one moment, piercingly specific the next. He is willing to say he is wrong or doesn't know. He keeps it all about our mutual love of reading, but divulges other insights along the way, like what it's like to be the dad of an autistic child, to become a father for the third time, to try unsuccessfully to quit smoking, to be a writer amongst all the reading, the parenting and everything else going on.

The proceeds of this book go to charity. How can you not like this guy?



Rating:
Summary: Put The Polysyllabic Spree in the Books Read Column
Review: I liked this book because it made me realize that other people do read the way I do. My husband complains that I have a book habit. I no longer feel so guilty about the everexpanding pile of unread books on my nightstand table. I had read one of Nick Hornby's books before, How to Be Good,(which I liked although I confess I barely remember it) but none of his others. I did see the movies.

It was interesting to see another person's reading habits, how one book leads to another. I might actually go back and tackle Dickens again.

By the time I finished this book I was under the impression that he had made up Believer magazine as he had made up the Polysyllabic Spree. Even going to their website www.believermag.com didn't quite convince me that it was real, but since you can subscribe to the magazine on Amazon --

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Summary: Multiple, Audible Laughs
Review: I was surprised at how surprised I was at how FUNNY Nick Hornby is. I read High Fidelty back in the day and remember enjoying it, but I don't remember laughing out loud or grinning for extended periods of time at the page like I did with this one. It's not a subtle, hoity-toity literary humor that you arch an eyebrow at, either -- there are real jokes in here, right from the beginning, and they're killer.

A book like this has so many opportunities for the author to digress into sentimental "Oh how sacred is the printed word" type musings -- but every time Hornby starts veering towards the sentimental or the overly intellectual, you're instantly riddled with multiple snorts and guffaws.

Kudos! & 5 stars

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Summary: Spree de Bookishness!
Review: Like Hornby I end up buying more books than I read - a lot more. And every time I see those shelves of unread books I'm hit with two emotions simultaneously. First, I admire the condition and selection of my books and then I feel like a deadbeat parent who's long neglected one's children. I suppose joy and sorrow have never meshed so well in a unified whole.

And Hornby presents similar feelings not too mysterious regarding his lack of discipline in consuming his books. He writes, "I certainly 'intend' to read all of them, more or less. My 'intentions' are good. Anyway, it's my money. And I'll bet you do it, too."

Additionally, I like the fact that Hornby is a discerning reader who searches for the `mesmerizing books'. These are the ones Hornby finds worthy of the hunt - those that will make you "walk into a lamp-post" while reading them.

Hornby's wit and caustic humor make this an entertaining read for the bibliophile, or for anyone aspiring to own more books than days left to live.


Rating:
Summary: Bibliophiles rejoice!
Review: Nick Hornby's "The Polysyllabic Spree" is an entertaining collection of essays about why Hornby buys so many books, reads some of them, and fails to read or finish others. Hornby gives his "varnished" opinion about what he has read. Why? It is part of the creed of "The Believer," the publication for which he writes, that he is not allowed to be too snarky. Therefore, he cannot give his unvarnished opinion lest he be called to task, or even worse, fired. This is an intensely personal book that feels as if Hornby is sitting on our living room couch and conversing with us. It is hilarious, thoughtful, and delightfully tongue-in-cheek.

"The Polysyllabic Spree" is a slim book that you can knock off in a day. The essays are divided by month. In each chapter, Hornby lists the books he has purchased and completed that month. He then proceeds to explain his choices and he gives a quick critique of what he has read. In a few cases, Hornby includes excerpts from his readings. To say that his literary tastes are eclectic is a huge understatement. He includes not only fiction and poetry, but also a book about the economics of putting together a winning baseball team, a sociological study of two women living in the Bronx, a best-seller about punctuation, and a book about how to quit smoking.

Hornby gives the reader a glimpse into his family life, as well; he describes the ups and downs of living with an autistic son. (He includes several books about autism in his readings.) Although I did not entirely agree with his criticism of Zoe Heller's "What was She Thinking?" or Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," I was in total agreement with Hornby on Dennis Lehane's "Mystic River," which he and I both adored. Whether or not you and Hornby are on the same page as far as literary criticism is concerned, if you are a bibliophile, you'll most likely find something in this book to amuse or divert you. As an added incentive, all proceeds of the book go to two worthy charities.

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Summary: Totally biased plug on my part
Review: Okay, until the end of January, (I know, only a few more days) you can subscribe to the totally hip literary zine, The Believer, and get a copy of The Polysyllabic Spree for free. The deal of the century! I devoured my free copy of TPS last night. Hornby's discussion of David Copperfield is not to be missed (there is still something new to be said about Dickens). Like many readers, I keep lists of books read and unread and love dishing here and elsewhere about their power, relevance, and lack thereof. I wish more of us (Amazonians) were as entertaining as Hornby. I'm assuming this column will continue in The Believer, so if you like TPS, you'll have to subscribe to The Believer anyway. What fun!