Rating: 
Summary: Listmania
Review: Loved the movie and heard the book was better. John Cusack and Jack Black are great. Can't say I have a preference, only that I'm glad I experienced both.Michael Duranko, Bootism: a shoe religion
Rating: 
Summary: Story of what's wrong with men today.
Review: This main charecter in this book, Rob, made me want to go out and hang myself. You know why this guy couldn't get a woman to stay with him? He's a loser. Fellas, listen! Women want a MAN. And that, by default, implies that you can not be more over-run with your emotions than your mate is. My guess is--Rob's mother raised him to be the oversensitive blok (That's British for Loser), that he is. This guy Rob is so self defeating you almost wish he'd take up heroin injecting to make himself more interesting. This MAN (Insert laugh-track), is as sappy as the love songs that he quotes to death--over and over and over again. You see, Rob owns a record shop that, like the book, goes nowhere, and half way through, you wonder why you're still reading; and the answer is that it's an editor's trick. There's not a lot of words and there's lots of space between the lines, so get you an "airy" sensation in your mind, and are thus dupped into finishing a book that, like all pop songs, is just one bad, repeating chorus after another. I can't imagine ANY woman worth her weight in gold haning out with this guy, or the writer, who is obviously talking about himself in this story. Not all of Nick Hornby's novels are bad. "How to be Good" was terrific enough to scare anyone away from marriage and for that, he should be given the Pulizter. But if you want a story about a guy who can't figure it out, who has no guts, and who has nothing interesting to say, by all means just go out and watch the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Marvellous!
Review: Rob Fleming is the owner of a failing record store and has just been left by his girlfriend. His whole life is a mess due to his obsession with music and him wasting his time with rather unimportant things, for example rearranging his huge record collection every now and again. He is thirty-five years old, single and worried about how his whole life might turn out. Rob wades in depression for a few weeks, but soon discovers what really makes his life worth living.
Most of the characters in "High Fidelity" have got very intense personalities and can make the reader laugh out loud and feel sorry for them at the same time. They all differ from one another, but nevertheless the characters fit together brilliantly.
The author has got his own, very compulsive but also contemporary style of writing and uses a funny language, which he enriches with some of his own expressions (e.g. the "ooh-I-shouldn't-really-but-I-quite-fancy-a-pint sort of weakness" (p. 166, ll.17-18)).
Hornby has created a very flowing and intersting story, which reflects every-day life in such a true and comprehensive way, that the reader can just simply nod in agreement. It confronts you with your own fears and doubts and brings back into mind the repressed difficulties of our relationships.
The film to the novel, which is also called "High Fidelity", plays in Chicago instead of London and parts of the setting, like the record store "Championship Vinyl", deeply disappointed me. Reading the novel I could just perfectly imagine what the shop would look like, had the story been set in London.
The brilliant cast, great acting and especially the truth, that also lies in the film, manage to make up for the fact, that the story does not take place in one of those familiarly uncrowded back streets of London.
Comparing the film to the novel, I must admit that I much prefer the novel, but I think it is pretty much impossoble to make a film that is good enough to be better than the novel.
Nick Hornby has my deepest respect for the creation of such a beautiful and true story. Marvellous!
Rating:
Summary: top 5 reasons to buy this book (rumors of list exaggerated)
Review: I read this book because a friend of mine told me that if I'd seen the movie, then I had to read the book as well. He was absolutely right. I couldn't put this book down and found myself walking up and down stairs and eating dinner while reading this book. If you liked the movie, you'll love the book. It wasn't hard to make the mental leap to place Rob in London instead of Chicago, despite all the British colloquialisms. And John Cusack kept up the running narration in my head, despite Rob being English, because I think he was cast perfectly as Rob in the movie and is more or less my image of him. The book is the life of a thirtysomething, not-too-successful man, who collects records, makes top 5 lists about everything (Cheers episodes, songs, records, jobs, worst breakups of his life, etc), owns a failing record store with two part-time employees who never left and when his girlfriend leaves him for the guy upstairs, he embarks on a 'what does it all mean?' review of his life and his past relationships. Hornby has perfected the male confessional style of writing and anyone who's read Hornby's other books will recognize that he's written himself very much into this book, but not to the extent in Fever Pitch, his book about his long devotion to the English football team, Arsenal. Read the book. Even if you can't find something of yourself or your life in it, it's humorous and interesting enough to keep you reading.
Rating: 
Summary: record store maven
Review: maybe its because i read this book in 2003 and it was written in 1995 when the references to different bands just doesnt hold up as much anymore or maybe its that i saw the movie first and the movie takes place in america but i didnt feel this book carries the stigma of being as great as i heard it was. i felt it dragging too much
Rating:
Summary: High Quality
Review: Nick Hornby is rapidly becoming one of my favorite writers. This is the story of a mid 30's guy in early 90's London coming to terms with his inability to commit to relationships. The internal monologue is so well written, and rings so true. If you are a woman and want to know how guys think - READ THIS BOOK. If you are a guy and CANNOT relate to this book - well, we can't hang out. If you can't relate to the musical references - we can't hang out. GREAT READ!!!
Rating:
Summary: High Fidelity
Review: This is the first Nick Hornby book I read and since then I read all of his work. He manages to write each book with a unique writing style and this is no different. The story is about a small record store owner and his coming to grips with love. The book is full of his top 5 lists from top five songs to the top 5 breakups. All which help play an important role and help develop the character. This is a truly wonderful book and comes highly recomended from along with his other works.
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Summary: Mix tapes and foolish pride
Review: Sadly, I saw the movie first. But the movie was great and I can't say that it ruined my experience of reading the book. Nick Hornby is a delightful writer and his books often carry an air of "this is the story of my life". As a female I'm left hoping that men think the way Hornby writes while hoping that at the same time, they don't. A self-centered music guru owns his own record shop and has been dating this girl for a long time. They have problems. She wants to leave. He wants to make her mixtapes of songs she doesn't even like and he thinks it's "what you like" and not "what you're like" that makes a person 'cool.' Hornby takes us on a journey through introspection and the reader will form an ambivalent relationship with the main Rob as they realize he is a child in his early thirties suffering from post high school adolescence. Rob is a jerk sometimes. Simple enough. But beneath his pretentious and obsessive nature, he's forming a human being. The book is a love story sometimes, a coming of age story at others. But most enjoyably, it is a trip down musical lane. Rob's store sells vinyl records and its employees drive away anyone seeking mainstream music. Each one is childish and highly judgemental but well learned in music and the arguments about music pass the days and book along hilariuosly. Rob has an obsession with lists that at first seems tiresome but later becomes interesting and helpful to any music fan. Also notable are the rules of the mix tape which hold true. This is a geekster sort of novel passing itself off as chic. But no worries; the pretense and comedy are mature and moving. The love isn't mushy at all (maybe part of the problem..) but it's somehow more real than all that fantastical stuff. Hornby's first novel is quite enjoyable and a good foundation for his career. And hey, if it seems like his books are written to be movies, I assure you that it doesn't devalue the books at all. The movies complement the books rather than disgrace them as say in the case of Stephen King.
Rating:
Summary: A Music Lover's Favorite!
Review: Nick Hornby takes the "geek-ishness" of avid music lovers and weaves a funny story of loves lost and the soundtrack to life. Each new character is described by the movies and music they love, which makes perfect sense to pop-culture junkies.
It reads quickly and fluidly once you find the character's voices. The London vernacular and slang take a few pages to get used to, but once I read the book with an "English accent", the characters took immediate shape and depth.
I would describe it as the man's take on Bridget Jones.
Rating: 
Summary: As Hip as a Cool Soundtrack
Review: This book was hilarious, with tight, sharp dialogue between characters that everyone has met (unless you live under a rock and have never ventured into a quirky record (or comics, videos, cards, hobby, etc.) store). The interplay between Barry (the jaded know-it-all), Dick (the caring introvert) and painfully over-analytical Rob, is priceless. Hi Fidelity reads like an afternoon spent hanging out in a record store, shooting the breeze and ragging on one another, all to a cool soundtrack. Everything important to Rob gets reduced to a spot on a series of ever-changing lists, many of which appear in the book (and even dictate its flow in parts). He waxes nerdily philosophical about his love life, just as the rest of us do, except he does it according to a priority list he keeps close to his heart. The story in part is about his efforts to revisit women on his list of girlfriends, to see what insight he gleans about himself in the process of recalling what they found attractive about him back in the day. Interesting plot, great execution. The music in Hi Fidelity is spot-on, and it's clear that Hornby knows what he is talking about. Who among us doesn't know a guy or two that is a little too much into music, to the point where he can't stop talking about it, and chooses his friends and love interests more or less according to the films and albums they are interested in? Hi Fidelity- joyfully, hysterically- is a story about one of those guys. If you saw this movie first, as I did, you will not be able to read the dialogue without visualizing John Cusack and Jack Black- the film was so great and so true to the book, and the actors so-well cast. Whether that's a good thing or bad, you be the judge; if you liked one, you'll love the other.
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