Songbook (Paperback, Annotated edition)

From the New York Times bestselling author of High Fidelity, About a Boy, and
How to be Good

"All I have to say about these songs is that I love them, and want to sing along to them, and force other people to listen to them, and get cross when these other people don't like them as much as I do"
-Nick Hornby

What interests Nick Hornby? Songs, songwriters, everything, compulsively, passionately. Here is his ultimate list of 31 all-time favorite songs. And here are his smart, funny, and very personal essays about them, written with all the love and care of a perfectly mastered mixed tape...

"That whole subculture, all those mournful guys to whom the sound of record-store bin dividers clicking by is almost music enough, should love Songbook, yet so should anyone interested in great essays, or in the delicate art of being funny, or in how to write about one's feelings in such a way that other people will actually care."

The San Francisco Chronicle

 

"Delivered in a hugely enjoyable, invisible prose that does in words what Hornby’s tunesmiths do with sound. He writes good."

Time Out London

 

"Quintessentially Hornby: an idiosyncratic and charming exploration of the meaning of music and how it changes as we grow up and grow old."

SeattleWeekley.com

 

"A book about the joy of listening to great pop songs, about the elusive genius of a catchy chorus … what shines most is Hornby himself—his wry self-awareness, his disarming honesty.  Effortlessly readable, every chapter reminds us how special an observer of human behavior Hornby is"

Heat

 

“A small, singular, delightful collection [about] the power of songs to bind people culturally and to reach deeply into the human spirit, bending the heart into new shapes with new potential.”

New York Times Book Review

 

"When Hornby writes about his enthusiasms and how they intertwine with his life, he's amusing and inspiring."

Rolling Stone