I am not enough of a football fan for this lol

OK, OK, it took me five months to read this book. Wait, I can explain.

I picked up a used copy for a buck at a library book sale. I started reading it during the last couple of weeks of my employment at the company where I'd worked for 19 years. So, it was a pretty heavy time. And during that last week.... I lost the book. Could not find it anywhere. Wasn't at the office; I'd packed up the office. But it wasn't at home. Did I leave it somewhere? That would be very unlike me. It would have to turn up. Or I could buy another copy? That seemed wrong; I'd only paid a dollar for it. But more importantly, it was, I don't know, symbolic. This was a major period of change for me and I want my mommy, uh, I mean, my BOOK.

A week later, it turned up in the apartment. Whew. We need some stability in our lives, after all.

And then, well, I had plenty of time to read, right? With the not-having-a-regular-job and all. I'm like Burgess Meredith on the Twilight Zone. Except, malaise was my broken glasses. Malaise and no routine. Because I would read a lot waiting for the train on my commute. And on the train. And now I wasn't taking the train so much.

And then a friend asked me to read his book, so that took precedence. And then I wanted to review a book for a friend's website so I read that. And then I was editing a book so I read that....

And maybe just maybe, Dr. Freud, part of me didn't want to finish Fever Pitch, as it was a connection to the old place.

Well... I finished it! In the New York Department of Labor office, for those who enjoy irony.

Oh, have I not reviewed the book yet? OK, there's a little more backstory required, sorry.

High Fidelity changed my life. Top 5 all-time books, you might say. My friend Nancy gave me a copy when I was fairly down in the dumps and I will always appreciate that gesture.

So of course I read About a Boy. And it... wasn't as good. It was good, just not... as good.

And I meant to read How to be Good but... didn't. Songbook, I read Songbook, another gift, that was solid, but didn't capture the High Fidelity magic. Juliet, Naked--that sounded like it might be a "return to form." But, I didn't get around to it either. So when I saw that copy of Fever Pitch, I snapped it up. Always meant to read that one. It would be like going back to an early album by a favorite musician who's now lost a step or two. Back to the hungry, early, passionate days.

I hadn't seen the Fever Pitch movie. The High Fidelity movie was terrific, I thought. (A very good job of Americanizing the story, in my opinion.) About a Boy was... eh. But Fever Pitch I was not going to see. Why? It was about the Red Sox! I hate the Red Sox. I'm not going to read a see a movie about them. (Though I did read John Updike's Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu, and it was absolutely perfect.)

Which is why the Fever Pitch book was ideal. It's not about the Red Sox. It's about Arsenal and soccer. Perfect! I mean, I like soccer--played it from 2nd through 7th grades. And i follow it a little. But... I don't have a rooting interest. So I could just enjoy the book for what it is. The equivalent of me watching a game between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros.

And it is a really good book. Not quite High Fidelity good, but, you can see it. The obsessive nature. The over-thinking. The sensitivity. The humor. The format is very clever: each "chapter" is a different game, excuse me, match, and we learn where he was (literally, but also, in his life). So there's family and school and lovers and jobs and triumphs and failures and celebrations and tragedies. And the game is always there for him. There's a brief window where he thinks the game will no longer be so important to him but--to our relief--it quickly passes.

Hornby really provides great insight into what it means to be a fan. (A much better look than that Joe Queenan thing I read many years back.) And along the way makes some great points, about economic classes, racism, hooliganism, fan safety, incorporating a lover into your obsessions, and more. Saddam Hussein even makes an appearance. We see Hornby go from boy to man, and the book ends with him just on the cusp of traditional "adulthood." (By the 1996 paperback edition I was reading of the 1992 book, he had a wife and a son.) I wonder how the last 20 years have gone. I like to think he's still at all the home matches, even if it's not at Highbury.

2.5*

Ho provato a scindere la storia e l'Hornby narratore, sempre gradevole e accattivante, ma niente: la prima ha avuto uil sopravvento sull'altra e non riesco a dare tre stelline :(
La verità vera è che sono l'antisportività (e l'anti-calcio) fatta persona. Cioè, quando veniva distribuita la pazienza, la calma e il buon senso, io ero lì ad attardarmi alla coda del "No Maria per me il calcio è no!", chiedendo anche un piccolo extra per cadere in catalessi di fronte a omini random che corrono dietro un pallone.. Ecco, è andata così.

So che sono ingiusta - il calcio mi annoia, perché leggere dunque un libro che ha questo tema come argomento? In fondo non ho iniziato il libro aspettandomi un trattato di astrofisica e restando ingannata con un'autobiografia di un fan sfegatato.. probabilmente Hornby non si meritava una lettrice così ingrata ma mia discolpa c'è da dire che forse mi aspettavo qualcosa di meno 'settoriale' e più godibile e accessibile anche a quelle persone che non saprebbero distinguere due squadre nemmeno se una delle due fosse aliena: prendiamo per esempio "Il resto della settimana" di De Giovanni: è un libro sul calcio ma mi ha trasmesso entusiasmo e gioia, mi ha fatto sentire parte di qualcosa (.... di cosa non lo so, ma fidatevi :D), mi ha divertito e intrattenuto.

Il libro di Hornby è positivo perché l'autore racconta la sua vita e ci regala un sacco di aneddoti (e poi a me la sua ironia piace da morire!).. Però per trovare queste piccole perle tocca soffrire con squadre e nomi, con partite che a me non dicono niente, con un Arsenal odiato e amato in egual misura..
Niente, mi è partito un sonno a volte!!!!

I admit it, I really liked it. I don't know whether I would have done if I hadn't been an ardent football supporter of my local club through my teenage years (yes it is possible to be a horse riding girl who is also into football). It gets 3 stars for the book it is and another because I'm glad it launched Hornby's career.

Fell in love with nick hornby, now strongly considering becoming a football fan. Was not reduced to tears but it was a close call, which is saying something considering it's a book about Arsenal

Already knew how much I’d love it - colin firth did the book justice i can confirm. However it cemented my football delusion and obsession

Just not my book

Påbegynt rett før og fullført på en fotballtur til blant annet San Siro. Som Jo Nesbø skrive i etterordet: ikke la deg lure, boka handler utelukkende om fotball; livet er bare det som skjer med deg innimellom kampene.

Enten skjønner du det, eller så gjør du ikke det.

Honestly the writing on a sentence level is some of the best I’ve ever read.

The story is mundane at times, but that is kind of the point.

And it’s great to step into a very different era of soccer than the one we are in now, and from the perspective of one fan growing up with the game.

Me cuesta mucho encontrar libros que me vuelen la cabeza y que logren que no los pueda dejar de leer; Fever Pitch fue uno de estos. Hornby logra entrelazar su vida personal con el fútbol de una forma tan irónica que es imposible no sentirse representado con lo que escribe. Si te gusta el deporte es una lectura obligatoria y sino también. Librazo.

Fun to read, but not really in the time that I knew Arsenal. Would love a sequel where you talk about the years with Bergkamp, Vieira, Henry and Van Persie.

“We do not lack imagination, nor have we had sad and barren lives; it is just that real life is paler, duller, and contains less potential for unexpected delirium.”