Este es un libro, para mí, importante. Habla y reflexiona de canciones de rock y música popular. Y lo hace relajado, sin pontificar y nombrando muchos grupos y músicos que no conozco (otros que sí). ¿Qué mejor?

Le prime (due) cose da dire su 31 canzoni è che è un libro in parte “reazionario”: 1) perché parla di una cosa che l’autore ama, “cosa di per sé difficile, perché uno ha molte più cose da dire su ciò che non va” e 2) perché è un prodotto “uscito così”, spontaneo (“senza forzature né imbottiture”), senza troppi piani studiati a tavolino (struttura, conta delle battute, etc), proprio come dovrebbe essere l’ascolto della musica che ci piace.
Parla delle canzoni che l’autore considera le sue preferite (magari quelle che gli sono venute in mente nel periodo in cui l’ha scritto): alcune perchè ispirate da ricordi personali, altre semplicemente perché gli piacciono. Se dovessi attribuire una parola a questo specifico prodotto di Hornby è quindi quella già detta poche righe più su: spontaneità, quella che dall’ascolto passa alla scrittura.
Non ci sono “ascolti della vergogna” che tengano: ogni brano a modo suo può lasciarci addosso qualcosa di prezioso. È così per i pezzi pop “usa e getta” che ci fanno scoprire, al di là della loro banale semplicità tecnica, che viviamo tutti nello stesso mondo e godiamo tutti delle stesse piccole cose (e se non è già un piccolo miracolo questo!). È così per il rock/metal chiassoso che si ascolta da giovani perché quando non si conosce ancora i propri gusti è più facile “non scegliere” e coprire tutto col rumore. È così per i pezzi che ti tirano fuori una spiritualità inaspettata se sei il tipo che non crede in Dio: quei pezzi da brividi lungo la schiena (ognuno ha i propri) che ti fanno sentire e vedere cose che non ci sono e che non possono essere viste e ti confermano l’esistenza di una “immortalità dell’anima o, come minimo, (di) una coscienza umana che ci unisce tutti”, pezzi che ci confermano che “la vita è breve ma ha un senso”.
Da lettrice e appassionata di musica l’ho apprezzato particolarmente nei passaggi in cui Nick Hornby ragiona sul rapporto che abbiamo con la musica (e con l’arte in generale): come ci rapportiamo ad essa, come reagiamo e cosa da lei ci aspettiamo.
Interessante anche per scovare qualche perla poco conosciuta e farne propria la storia.

favourite quote: - “the best music connects to the soul, not the brain.”

turns out i don't give a shit what nick hornby's favorite songs are.

I really didn't know what to expect from this one, considering looking at the contents, I recognised precisely one of the songs written about in this book. Yet I think Hornby put it best himself when he said (and I'm paraphrasing here) that this book is less about explaining the songs or making people think of them in the same way, and more about making people think about their own favourite songs in a new way. While I couldn't relate to what Hornby was saying about these particular songs, I certainly got where he was coming from when he talked about music in such a way, and it helped me to put words to my own appreciation of the songs and albums that have stuck with me and grown alongside me over years and decades.

I have a lot of opinions about music -- not very polished ones, I'll admit, but I love music and I find it difficult to articulate what experiencing music looks like and feels like to me. It was very exciting, therefore, to see strains of this same feeling within this book. Not exactly the same, of course, because I doubt it's ever the same for two different people, but just the language and the acknowledgment of experiencing music in this way. It's certainly given me a lot to think about, and also enabled me to put some feelings into words that actually make sense.

'but the truly great songs, the ones that age and golden-oldies radio stations cannot wither, are about our romantic feelings. and this is not because songwriters have anything to add to the subject; it's just that romance, with its dips and turns and glooms and highs, its swoops and swoons and blues, is a natural metaphor for music itself.'

Ik had dit boek al eens eerder gelezen maar dit keer beluisterde ik de songs erbij, wat het toch nog wel beter maakt. Voor de rest blijft dit een prachtig boek van iemand die zijn liefde voor muziek wil delen, net zoals hij dat in "Fever pitch" ook al deed met voetbal en het supporter-zijn van Arsenal.
Pluspunt is bovendien dat het boek eindigt met "Pissing in a river" van Patti Smith, één van mijn all time favorieten. Ik leerde het nummer kennen uit de film "All over me" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118586/) en hoe de song gebruikt wordt in een sleutelscène, illustreert perfect de emotionele impact van het nummer.

Nick Hornby's songs are not my songs, but he has a lot of interesting things to say about music that you can apply to the music I do like. After reading this, I really felt like listening to music and thinking about it.

The chapter about Led Zep's Heartbreaker struck a particular chord with me in that it describes exactly my journey from believing that if it wasn't 'heavy' then it didn't matter to the point where I'll now listen to virtually anything and find something to appreciate in it, so it's nice to know that I'm not the only one to realise how daft I'd been.

While not being familiar with most of the songs included I understand the way they've made their way beneath Nick's skin and taken root there. This is how it works when a song seems perfect for a particular time or experience or sensation and his feelings of connection with certain songs at certain times will ring a bell with many people.

At no point are we told that we ought to feel the same way as Nick toward these tracks and that might just be the book's main strength. It waxes lyrical but without preaching and makes for a pleasant, easy read that you might go through in one long sitting.

If the author has tempted you to listen to the titles mentioned or inspired you to go back to rediscover the dusty, furthest recesses of your collection then that'll probably do for him.

Now, go and find you own 31 Songs.

I'm having trouble choosing between four and five stars for this one. Parts of it are fantastic, but it's a little uneven. Granted, I went into it with really high expectations based on my music geekiness and my love of Nick Hornby. High Fidelity is one of my favorite books ever, and I love non-fiction and music criticism. For some reason, it took me years to get around to this, but that still did not diminish my sky-high expectations.
It's a fun and breezy read, and I appreciate that each chapter can be read in about the length of the song being discussed. Also, it's a great book for the streaming age. Thanks to the previous readers who created Songbook playlists for me on Google Play.
Songbook is really affecting where Hornby intersects the personal and the musical, as when he describes the way a Badly Drawn Boy song connected with him on a deeper level than his own book regarding his autistic son.
I also greatly appreciate the way he really elevates and glorifies some under-appreciated gems, such as Ani DiFranco's "You Had Time" while also cutting some overrated tracks such as "Thunder Road." To be sure, I am a huge fan of Springsteen and (early) DiFranco, but both tracks are nothing more or less than great pop songs. Ironically, in writing a short chapter about each song, he manages to cut back the undue praise for the former and bestow it deservingly on the latter.

It is not really this book’s fault that I hated it because it really is not my thing. However, I like to give every book that comes my way a chance so I gave it a go.

This is a book about Nick Hornby’s favourite songs. My problems were that I don’t know who Nick Hornby is, I don’t care what he thinks about certain songs, and we clearly have different tastes in music.

I tried to read it carefully but after the first few songs, I just skimmed through it.

Not for me at all.

Loved the music discussion, listened to each song while reading the chapter. Each of our perfect playlists are so personal - it doesn't matter if you are famous or not, geekily into music or not - my playlist is going to be totally different to yours. And that's OK.