Whine & Cheese

Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt (#19)

Figured while I was away, this would be a good opportunity to catch up on my book reviews.  I have a feeling my current book is going to take me awhile (in a good way), so I might finally not be so behind.      

... and as you can see, the next book is Nick Hornby's Housekeeping vs. The Dirt... and honestly, I am going to have a hard time coming up with something to say about it... or should I say something "new" about it.

Earlier this year, I read Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree which was a collection of his monthly columns originally published in the literary magazine, Believer... and this is just Volume 2 of that series.

So it's more of the same... Hornby writing about reading. Each month's column starts with a list of "books bought" and "books read"... and more often than not, the two lists do not match up very well...  a phenomenon any chronic book buyer (like myself!) can relate to.

At least in this collection, I had read more of the same books that Hornby did... like I mentioned, in my Spree recap it is not required that you know the books that Hornby is writing about... but it is kind of fun when you do (or have).  I also had my first disappointment in that Hornby bought a book that I had read (The Tender Bar), but never got around to reading it.  It would have been cool to hear what he thought about that book... again it's just typical book-aholic behavior ... after all, I am reading a book right now that was sitting on my shelf for over two years!

As with Spree, it is an extremely quick ... in readability and the slimness of the book.  Despite being a successful author, Hornby is no book snob... here is some advice he offers up in the preface:

If reading books is to survive as a leisure activity -- and there are some statistics which show that this is by no means assured -- then we have to promote the joys of reading rather than the (dubious) benefits.  I would never attempt to dissuade anyone from reading a book.  But please, if you are reading a book that's killing you, put it down and read something else, just as you would reach for the remote if you weren't enjoying a TV program.  Your failure to enjoy a highly rated novel doesn't mean you're dim... It doesn't matter.  All I know is that you can get very little from a book that is making you weep with the effort of reading it.  You won't remember it, and you'll learn nothing from it, and you'll be less likely to choose a book over Big Brother next time you have a choice.

Some good advice... and I know that starting in July, I'll be picking up a book but only after I have finished watching Big Brother!

2007 10K Reading Challenge:  + 143 pages (Total Pages: 5537 pages) 

The Polysyllabic Spree (#7)

I'm back in catch-up mode with book re-caps.  Full disclosure (not that you could possibly care!), I read this one way back on February 19th and 20th (yes, just two days... but don't be impressed just yet).  While that might not seem that long ago, it was pre-Rocky... and the resulting reading momentum hiccup seem like eons ago. 

I always feel a bit silly at this point, announcing my reading selection.   I am assuming your eyes have were first drawn to the graphic on the left, but nevertheless it was Nick Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree.   I am a fan of Hornby's fiction... most recently A Long Way Down from my 2006 reading romp.  If you are not familiar with Hornby, you may be aware of the some of his works that have been made into movies ... High Fidelity, About A Boy, and Fever Pitch.

This one is a non-fiction... more specifically, a compilation of his monthly columns from the literary magazine The Believer from September 2003 thru November 2004 (a sequel of sorts, Housekeeping vs. the Dirt, was released late last year).

So what's this book about?  Well, let's just say I read a book about a guy reading books.  Pretty funny, huh?  It was pretty amusing to me... and any book addict will be quite entertained by Hornby's literary odyssey.  Each month, Hornby lists "Books Bought" and "Books Read" and the first list is usually quite longer than the second.  I have admitted that my love of buying books probably exceeds my love of reading them.. so I immediately felt a kindred spirit with Hornby when I read this passage in the very first essay:

I don't want anyone writing in to point out that I spend too much money on books, many of which I will never read.  I know that already. I certainly intend to read all of them, more or less.  My intentions are good. Anyway, it's my money. And I'll bet that you do it too.

Likewise, after a "heavy" book I have often saying I need something "quick and easy" (something that I experiencing right now)... Hornby eerily echoed this:

I'm beginning to see our appetite for books is the same as our appetite is for food, that our brain tell us when we need the literary equivalent of salads, or chocolate, or meat and potatoes.

Additionally, if you think a successful author like Hornby has problems "getting" a book every now and then... well he does... and don't we all: 

I just lost my grip on the book. Also, someone gets shot dead in the end, and I wasn't altogether sure why. That's a sure sign you haven't been paying the right kind of attention.  It should always be clear why someone gets shot. If I ever shoot you, I promise you there will be a really good explanation, one you will grasp immediately, should you live.

The collection of essays is filled with witty gems like these... I had a hard time deciding which ones I would share with you.  I should mention that I have not read (or, in some cases, have I even heard of) the books Hornby writes about... and at a quite skinny 127 pages (now see why it took me only 2 days to read!), you don't get a whole lot of bang for your reading buck... but it was a very enjoyable read and quite worth it for me... so much so that I am pretty confident I will buy (and read!) the next installment.

2007 10K Reading Challenge:  + 127 pages (Total Pages: 2105 pages)

A Long Way Down

My reading momentum continues...

The latest notch on my reading list is Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down.  Hornby is probably the king of Brit-Pop-Lit... offering up very palatable and entertaining novels.  Having read two of his previous works (High Fidelity & How To Be Good), he is someone I turn to when I am looking for something with a bit more substance but not serious literature.  If you've haven't read Hornby, you may have seen one of the big-screen adaptation...  the aforementioned High Fidelity along with About A Boy or Fever Pitch... and, although I didn't know it before starting this post, I guess it is no surprise that a movie version of this book is in the works.  Oddly enough, I haven't seen any of these movies!  Go figure?!

You can always count on Hornby being quite funny... so guess the subject matter of this novel... suicide!   Hurray!  Yes, quite a challenge to squeak out laughs on that subject, but Hornby manages to do it.  As the novel starts, we meet a washed-up morning television host as he is ready to take a leap of a popular suicide London rooftop... but before he can do it, he is interrupted not once, not twice... but three times!   The foursome end up talking... which pretty much distracts them from their intention to end it all... and ultimately take the "long way down" ... the stairs down the building.  So you can see the humor, right?!

We follow these four very different principal characters over the next 90 days as they form this odd little "club" as they come to terms what brought them all to the same rooftop.  So, it all gets semi-philosophical and utlimately life-affirming. The movie pitch probably was taken right from one of the blurbs on the back cover... "It's like The Breakfast Club rewritten by Samuel Beckett."

So I guess I'll leave it that.  I know not much of a review... but just a little taste if you are looking for something easy to read, different, and entertaining.