Just what I need: a book about other books, and a book that will lead me to other books to read. My bookshelves can't handle it!!!

Not only is this a book which suggests more books, but I also love Nick Hornby's style. He's so poetic, and his writing is beautiful and brilliant. Ah, I wish I could write like he does.


A Christmas present from my wonderful friend Christine ;)

I've previously read and enjoyed Nick Hornby's first book of columns from The Believer, The Polysyllabic Spree, so I was looking forward to his new collection Housekeeping vs. The Dirt. I find his reviewing style refreshingly down to earth and persuasive. I think his writing about music is also first rate, see 31 Songs. I walked away from the first book with 10-12 titles that I wanted to read and all of them lived up to my expectations that were created by Hornby. I think we have similar tastes-he accepts a challenge to read a Science Fiction novel but quickly scraps the idea. There are certain genres that I stay away from as well, and Science Fiction is one of them-save J.G. Ballard who I think transcends the genre. This leaves nonfiction (essays, memoirs, history, music, etc...) and serious literature-every now and then I'll read a mystery-suspense type like John Burdett's novels. I generally know what I'm going to like. Based on one of his columns I read from last year I read Jon Ronson's entertaining Men Who Stare At Goats. Based on this book I'm on the lookout for Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation (there's an excerpt included as well and I read her book of essays, Take The Cannoli and Run, and enjoyed it), Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (I found a used copy at the bookstore last week), Citizen Vince by Jess Walters (there's an excerpt from this one as well-and it's set in Spokane-my old hometown-of all places, as a New Yorker on the Witness Protection Program who is being hunted by a someone from his past), Five Days in London 1940 by John Lukacs (history), What Good Are The Arts by John Carey(cultural studies), Running In The Family by Michael Ondaatje (memoir).

A great palette cleanser after too much fiction about damaged people. And I only added one book to my TBR list! (so far)
An entertaining read about Nick Hornby's reading life from his columns for the Believer. Many wonderful quotes as mentioned in other reviews of this book.

I ran across this at a library. It was on display and it basically jumped into my hands. Just like that. I didn’t even know I was looking for it. Thus is the power of libraries. Housekeeping vs. The Dirt is a delightfully engaging collection of Hornby’s book reviews for the Believer magazine which is run by a gaggle of overbearing editors Hornby calls the Polysyllabic Spree. Hornby’s angle for these reviews is unassuming and certainly not time sensitive which bodes well for me as I picked up this collection a good eight years after publication.

Hornby’s collection is “writing about reading, as opposed to writing about individual books.” This allows Hornby to engage the reader on a level closer to firm ground. He’s done the ‘book review’ gig before, now he wants us to join him in reading adventures, and he offers up books that he “wants to read.”

Each month Hornby presents two lists: books bought; books read. It’s a lovely way to go about it because that’s usually the way we go about it. We discover books, buy them, or check them out of libraries, put them on the pile and dive in, or we get sidelined. Inevitably our bought pile grows quicker than our read pile. And just like us, Hornby isn’t just buying front list “must reads of the day” but also tossing in recommendations from friends and books that fall off the shelves.

We’re offered up choice volumes from the latest Ian McEwan (for 2005) to C. K. Chesterton. What we get is how story and the reading experience are interconnected. We can see how a play by Michael Frayn relates to Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn. Hornby is adept at the book reviewer waltz but he’d rather rock with the rest of us in the mosh pit for this collection. And we get a wide swath of offerings.

I like a book that cuts across from Marilynn Robinson’s sublimely powerful Housekeeping which Hornby calls “a mystical work about the dead and how they haunt the living; if books can work as music then Housekeeping served as the soundtrack to the footage from New Orleans” while at the same time skewering the volumes of Philip Larkin’s letters which reminds you “forcibly that the ability to write fiction or poetry is not necessarily indicative of a particular refined intelligence, no matter what we’d like to believe; it’s a freakish talent.”

We also get to discover books we’d usually not bump into such as Jess Walter’s earlier books Citizen Vince and Over Tumbled Graves and we see why maybe it’s not such a good idea to re-release restored classics like Warren’s All the King’s Men. And anytime you get a paragraph that ties together a great poet’s letters and insipid pop tunes is time well spent. There’s a great riff by Hornby about buying a book from an Amazon penny seller and the implications of the seller and the author about said price. As Hornby strays afield we gladly tag along because he’s as funny as he is sharp. Ostensibly we enter book review collections to discover new books or authors and Hornby doesn’t disappoint and we get so much more than expected.

I've been in a book mental block for the past week, trying to choose the right book out of literally dozens of options. Choosing to read a book that compounded that problem, and gave me scores of new books to tbr, I read this unhelpful tome. If you conversely are in a book slump, definitely read Nick Hornby's "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns from Believer magazine. (It got me out of a book slump last December).

This collection differs from the last one I read, because it contains excerpts from some of the books he recommends, including "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi, "Citizen Vince" by Jess Walter, and "Ghosting" by Jennie Erdel. I did not like this addition, only because it meant less columns to read through. I also liked the last book better ("Less Baths, More Talking") because he read more, and the books were much more interesting and diverse in subject. Still, Hornby's writing always makes me chuckle, and I did buy two books he mentioned ("Candide" by Voltaire, and "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" by Anne Tyler) yesterday. Can you see why I have too much to read?

I wanted to like this book so much! I've had it on my To read shelf for forever and besides, it come highly recommended by Melissa! But, sadly, though there were a few laughable moments, I just felt like I was from the wrong generation to understand it. I didn't know 80% of the names he dropped. Anyway, I'm sure there were things I missed, but I was bummed.

Good & fun. A quick read and one that I feel slightly guilty at counting towards my goal of 30 books read by years end. Only slightly, which, fortunately for me is not enough.

Fourteen months of the author's essays on what books he bought and what books he read.

Good thing: The bit about "The Dirt" by Motley Crue actually made me snort/laugh. And no, I did not look for a magnifying glass.

Bad thing: Nick Hornby and I apparently have almost exact opposites in reading tastes so this isn't a book that helps me locate other books I want to read. But that's ok!

The author apparently never reads fantasy/science fiction and, on the basis of a recommendation from a friend, tries to dip a toe in those waters by picking up an Ian M. Banks' Culture book. And gives up several pages in. Science fiction lovers: when you have someone who does not read SF who is trying it for the first time, do not choose this type of hard science fiction for their first book - ease them in! We want more SF readers.

The second collection of Hornby's 'book reviews' for Believer Magazine. The introduction makes a fundamental point about reading that I really do love: It doesn't matter what you read, it matters THAT you read; and if everyone is too busy reading what they think they SHOULD be reading, then no one will enjoy it, and eventually, no one will read for pleasure anymore. When you have a bad book, you should put it down, the same way you change the channel when there's shit on TV.
Other than that, there's discussion of why a book was or wasn't enjoyed, excerpts from some of the faves, and on the whole, a great, quick way to get some Hornby reading in (150pgs). I also think I will check out some of the books, since if he enjoyed them and I enjoy nearly everything he wrote, then I will take the chance that I might enjoy his recommendations.

Very good. Especially if you already love Hornby.

Not quite as laugh-out-loud funny as The Polysyllabic Spree, these essays still felt like wee gifts to me. Honestly, there is little I would rather do more than read Nick Hornby writing about reading. We don't really have the same taste in books, much of the time, but I still managed to add quite a few of his picks to my to-read list (as if it needed to get any longer!). He even got me to consider picking up Gilead again, which is quite a feat. I love that he includes excerpts from book he's loves - particularly because they're often from books that I'd never read on my own. What really gets me about these essays is that they are vehicles for expressing how much Nick Hornby loves reading. He really loves it, and it kills him that so many people have been convinced that good literature has to be boring or a chore.

A friend was getting rid of this, so I plucked it from her. It's a collection of Hornby's writings in Believer magazine. Every month, Hornby wrote about the books he read, the books he bought but didn't read, or books he tried to read but ultimately gave up on. His writing is easy to read and often like a one-sided conversation, even with witty asides (like this one, see how I did that?). Also included are excerpts from some of his favorite books that he reviews, although if I thought there was much chance I'd eventually read the book, I skipped the excerpt. I generally like his criticism style and his perspective on reading and what it means to be well-read. Quite unpretentious and accessible; more like a collection of meta-infested blog posts than stuffy, pompous criticism.

Anyone who knows my reading habits knows how much I love reading books about books. It seems about the only way to read real thoughts on real literature instead of reading flippant gibberish found everywhere else. I say this because anyone willing to take the time to write about books usually has something interesting to say other than the humdrum.
Hornby makes a good point in saying we should not judge those who read pop fiction because we don'tknow if maybe that one crap book may be the gateway that will lead them on to something better in their reading repertoire. I've been down that crap road but I blame my travels on not having anyone guide me down a better path.
He says how "the world of books seems to be getting more bookish". Where the characters tend to be long dead authors or characters trying to be writers. He says we "can't all write literature about literature". I digress though because he has written at least three books just on this topic. Anyway, I love literature about literature. I absolutely love it when I smell the links that books make to one another. I love it when someone other than the used up Jane Austen show up in a very "bookish" novel for me to read. Ah, reminds me of Simmon's Drood where we get to hang out with Dickens and Wilkie Collins. Now that is the stuff that makes my mouth water.
Hornby claims that writing too bookishly may alienate readers. Maybe, but I don't really care. Those readers will come around eventually when they get off the crap highway. For me, bookish books have highlighted my reading habits in the best of ways. Since I didn't have a mentor versed in good vs bad books I've had to learn on my own and I thank great reviewers of the past and present to pique my interests.
I'm not competely convinced that we can trust all the best of the best reading lists anymore and my reasoning comes from the fact that most lists ty to be too politically correct. This politial correctness is probably one of the reasons people turn to crap literature. It's ruining our canon of study. Do you think I'm the only one with this opinion? The great Harold Bloom agrees with me.