Nick Hornby

Dr Cox's Ego

Does anyone else think he's a bit under rated? Ive just finished his latest ("long way down") and I thought it was good to very good.

Sleepy

I don't think he's exactly under-rated, just that a lot of the litterati wouldn't rate his stuff on principle because he's so popular.

Personally, High Fidelity is one of my all time favourites, though that could be just because I see so much of myself in Rob.

eclectichoney

the new one is quite good, certainly some very good bits, a few bits were a bit annoying. def worth a read, and i'm not a fan of his other stuff.

cashback

Fever Pitch is one of my favourite books, and not just cos I'm an Arsenal fan! I just think he nailed the absurdities of being a football fan and I found myself saying 'that's me!' quite a lot.
I've read his others too (apart from the new one) and think they're very good. About a Boy was very funny I thought as was High Fidelity.

vibrant

Hmm, don't know if I agree with you about him being over-rated... he is a great dialogue writer, but I find I never buy the whole *plot* thing in his books ("How To Be Good", for example). I enjoyed "High Fidelity" though.

sanvean

I enjoyed High Fidelity too. I think he can be funny and he really seems to get a particular personality. As long as you're not expecting too much from him (maybe: chicklit for men, but with a bit more intelligent writing) it's fine.

grumpytrousers

The amount of fever pitch that I read, I thought was great. High Fidelity gave me the heebee-jeebies - especially the bit where yer man rearranges his music collection after being dumped...too scary! Good overall..

About a Boy - it was alright I suppose, but unfortunately it seemed to give Tony Parsons an excuse to write the same kind of rubbish.

How to be Good; what an inappropriate title - but I suppose if they called it 'How to be unmitigated sh!te' would have damaged sales...However, either way, having read it 3 years ago, I still lament the fact that it's a few hours of my life I will never have back...

Bateman

Thought "Fever Pitch" presented a world of football that was completely unrealistic to anyone who actually goes to football every week, but it was funny in parts. High Fidelity was a genuinely decent novel, but Long Way Down had cardboard characters, and I didn't find it very enjoyable at all.

eclectichoney

yeah the whole

party downstairs in starbucks part

in long way down really annoyed me so much that i alsmot chucked the book in the bin without finishing it. was rather unbelievable as well tbh, but still had a few good paragraphs here and there if i recall that made it worth a read when killing a few hours waiting on a bus/doctor etc!

Nimrod's Son

How To Be Good was a big pile of crap. Fever Pitch is vastly overrated (and I'm a devout football fan). About A Boy and High Fidelity are enjoyable enough. I wouldn't relate to either book much though. There's an air of detached reality about them yet they're quite funny.
Won't go out of my way to read the latest one.

Velvet Vocals

Well I loved High Fidelity and About a boy. Great writing makes for a great read!

Bateman

Just re-read High Fidelity in one sitting the other evening, and everyhting about it makes it his best book IMO, the character development of the minor characters was much better than the latest one.