Merry Wanderer of the Night + TIME

The Polysyllabic Spree

I have been obsessed with Nick Hornby since I was fifteen years old. High Fidelity was one of my favorite books in high school, and when my English teacher saw me toting other Hornby books around he asked me if I read Hornby's column in the Believer. I had never even heard of The Believer before but luckily he had a few issues on hand for me to read. I gobbled up the columns he did have and was hungry for more. Anyone who reads the Believer knows how expensive it is though, so it wasn't until last year that I got a subscription and at the point I did, Hornby was no longer writing his column (this has recently changed). Along with my Believer subscription I got Hornby's three collections The Polysyllabic Spree, Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt, and Shakespeare Wrote For Money. I've read The Polysyllabic Spree

and I am pleased.

The column is about what books he has purchased and what books he has read- the two lists always completely opposite in length. Like most book lovers, Hornby buys more books than he reads. The first column from September 2003 shows him buying 10 books and reading 6. Been there, done that. Some months it's much worse and some months it's much better. It was really interesting for me to read this book as a blogger, because he talks about some things, like abandoning books, that I see in a much different way since I've become a blogger. In addition to his thoughts on what he has read and what he has bought sometimes there are excerpts from books he really enjoyed thrown in.

I haven't read, or heard, of most of the books Hornby is reading, but that just shows that this book is really great because I enjoyed reading about all of them anyway. I did come away with a few recommendations. For instance, I need to read the remaining Salinger books, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and Mystic River. My one complaint about the column is that Hornby isn't allowed to say anything really bad about books. If he really hated a book he can't even mention the title. I think this is a bit unfair, you can dislike a book and give an explanation why you didn't like it. It might work for someone else who doesn't care about your reasons.

I give this an A.

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The Polysyllabic Spree + TIME