I wasn't even aware that Nick Hornby's Shakespeare Wrote For Money until I read his latest novel, Juliet, Naked. This is Hornby's third, and sadly final, collection of his writing about reading columns from "The Believer" magazine.
I had thoroughly enjoyed the first two collections and this one is no different, although I think you can sense that Hornby was starting to run out of steam. Alas, this is a problem I can certainly relate to with this very blog. Having survived the first wave (or two) of blog abandonment, I thought I would plunder on... but certainly finding it difficult to keep motivated about it these days particularly with outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, but you've heard that excuse / rationale from me before, so I will just move on.
That said, even this was the end of the road, I didn't find this any less enjoyable. Being a reading geek, once again I totally nerded out for yet another opportunity to read about reading. Hornby makes me feel sane-ish, when he scoffs at a friend who takes a day off between books to not suffocate the just-finished one, noting "Those of us who read neurotically read, however - to ward off boredom, and the fear of our own ignorance, and our impending deaths - can't afford the time."
The one good thing about this being the last of Hornby's reading recollections is that it will no longer add to my already mammoth to-be-read list! Though he did manage to add a few more (getting me slightly curious about young adult (YA) lit) and even got me read a "real," non-Kindle book as my read, long ago purchased by still sitting on the shelf, certainly something that Hornby himself could relate to. Always loved that he his monthly "books bought" and "books read" lists. As book lovers know, often those two lists overlap!
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