BOOKS BOUGHT:
- Robert Lowell: A Biography—Ian Hamilton
- Collected Poems—Robert Lowell
- Against Oblivion: Some of the Lives of the 20th-Century Poets—Ian Hamilton
- In Search of J.D. Salinger—Ian Hamilton
- Nine Stories—J. D. Salinger
- Franny and Zooey—J. D. Salinger
- Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters/Seymour: An Introduction—J. D. Salinger
- The Ern Malley Affair—Michael Heyward
- Something Happened—Joseph Heller
- Penguin Modern Poets 5—Corso/Ferlinghetti/Ginsberg
BOOKS READ:
- All the Salingers
- In Search of Salinger and Lowell
- Some of Against Oblivion
- Pompeii by Robert Harris (not bought)
So this is supposed to be about the how, and when, and why, and what of reading—about the way that, when reading is going well, one book leads to another and to another, a paper trail of theme and meaning; and how, when it’s going badly, when books don’t stick or take, when your mood and the mood of the book are fighting like cats, you’d rather do anything but attempt the next paragraph, or reread the last one for the tenth time. “We talked about books,” says a character in Charles Baxter’s wonderful Feast of Love, “how boring they were to read, but how you loved them anyway.” Anyone who hasn’t felt like that isn’t owning up.
But first, some ground rules:
1) 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 you do it too.
2) Similarly, I don’t want anyone pointing out that certain books I write about in this column are by friends—or, in the case of Pompeii, by brothers-in-law. A lot of my friends are writers, and so some of my reading time is, inevitably, spent on their books. I won’t attempt to disguise the connections, if that makes anyone feel better. Anyway, it’s been five years since my brother-in-law, the author of Fatherland and Enigma, produced a book, so the chances are that I’ll have been fired from this magazine before he comes up with another one. (I may have been fired even before this one is published, in September.)
3) And don’t waste your breath trying to tell me that I’m showing off. This month, maybe, I’m showing off a little. (Or am I? Shouldn’t I have read some of these books decades ago? Franny and...
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contributor
contributor
Nick Hornby is the bestselling author of eight novels, including High Fidelity, About a Boy, and, most recently, Just Like You. He has also published several works of nonfiction including his ground-breaking debut, Fever Pitch, and has written numerous award-winning screenplays for film and television including Brooklyn, Wild, and State of the Union.
