Along with possibly Charles Dickens, Nick Hornby may well be the patron saint of this blog. Shortly before starting this site, I had read the two previous collections of his "Stuff I've Been Reading" column for The Believer magazine, and I admit that I've patterned some of what you see here on this column. This is the latest, and unfortunately, the last collection. In each monthly column, Hornby begins with a list of Books Bought and Books Read. That they are often so different reveals how we all read. You buy something in the bookstore and then it often sits in a pile for several months. Occasionally, by the time, you get around to it, you no longer even remember why you buy it.
Like I try to do on this blog, this collection is as much about the experience of reading as about the books themselves. It helps that Hornby can make just about anything interesting.Frankly, it seems a little too meta to review a book about book reviews, so instead I'll just list a few books he mentions that piqued my interest. You may or may not see these here in the future.
The Ghost - Robert Harris
The Abstinence Teacher - Tom Perrotta
The World Made Straight - Ron Rash
Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences - Lawrence Weschler
Skellig - David Almond
Leave a comment