Rating: 
Summary: My 2nd Favorite Book
Review: This is a truely remarkable novel, which left me with about as much inspiration as any spirituality books. It has a great and down-to-earth message, that can be confusing if your not used to complicated reading. This is Hornby at his best, far surpassing High Fidelity (considered by many to be his best work). This is the first and only book that has ever caused me to laugh out loud once, let alone laugh out loud frequently. This is a great read for people a variety of ages, from my age (I'm 17) to someone who's pretty old, married or not. The dialogue is extreamly realistic and the family's life is very believable. READ THIS BOOK! It's really quite amazing.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic For Our Time
Review: Nick Hornby captured in a fun way much of what I wrestle with on an ongoing basis. I was hoping he would come up with an answer at the end of the book...solve the delimma that so many of us struggle with...I battle with my own desire to create a better world and the sarcasm and cynicism that does not help create that...but helps us cope. I think there are not answers, it's just what is. Maybe the best we can do is hold onto each other in the black empty space out there...
Rating: 
Summary: a good read for a long flight
Review: I bought this in Washington/Dulles airport during an extended layover in & had finished it long before we landed at LAX. It was perfect for a jet-lag-fogged brain in need of diversion for a few hours, but as a work of literature it's just average - albeit with much-better-than-average laugh-out-loud moments every fifty pages or so.It's a novel about spiritual struggles and spiritual awakenings which is timely and relevant (or should be) to pretty much everyone, and if anything is ripe for the kind of loving satire that Hornby is so good at, it's middle-class urban westerners who believe they've attained enlightenment. However - it feels like Hornby never quite made up his mind about where the heart of the novel lies, and the novel ends on a rather bleak and empty note of stoicism. Seems that Hornby doesn't buy either conventional or unconventional forms of spirituality, not completely, though maybe there's something to them, so what we're all left with is, life stinks, but you can get some love along the way and be virtuous enough to bear the rest. I had just hoped it was going somewhere deeper (or more completely satirical), and it didn't really go anywhere at all.
Rating:
Summary: Did his brain cramp up?
Review: After reading and enjoying High Fidelity, About a Boy, and his memoir, Fever Pitch before Nick Hornby hit the big screen, I looked forward to more of his work. Unfortunately, the ending of How to be Good left me disappointed. I finished reading asking myself, "That's it?" It seemed like he had backed the characters into a corner and then gave them (and himself) an easy and very abrupt out.
Rating:
Summary: A thought-provoking humorous read.
Review: I enjoyed the way Nick Hornby managed to get you to think about some important issues -- how do you manage to do good in the real world, which often frustrates your best efforts, or turns them in unexpected directions -- while managing to be laugh-out-loud funny at various points. I read most of this while relaxing outside this summer and it was perfect for that purpose.
Rating: 
Summary: Not that Notable
Review: The NY Times called this a notable book. Not able is a better match. Nick Hornby has devised a good plot with surgeon wife Katie having an affair after a falling out with husband David. It seems that David has recognized that he is basically a rotten S.O.B. and is going to change his life. In doing so David changes so much from the man that Katie married that she can no longer stand him. Mr. Hornby becomes too repetitive in his descriptions of Katie's dilemma. How many ways can you read that Katie is mad and wants out. Hornby fails to establish an emotional attachment with any of his characters. Hornby is quite humerous in many of his conversations and this is partly what kept me reading. Sentence structure and word flow is good. Plot is average and the story becomes boring because of the repitition. I think this book did reflect many of the feelings of those on the brink of divorce. If that's you, read and get some commiseration. If not, there are a lot of better books out there right now. Maybe put this on the shelf and get to it later.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny, Sad, Sweet, Thought-Provoking & Highly Recommended
Review: Just when you thought he would cash in on his name, Nick Hornby keeps getting better. I've always thought he was funny & able to hold my attention, but this book takes his writing to another level. He's actually provocative & disarmingly funny at the same time. A wonderful read that I highly recommend, especially to anyone over 35 in a long-term relationship. You'll love it.
Rating:
Summary: Both thought-provoking and laugh out loud
Review: I loved this book. I wont go into a synopsis of the plot, others have said it so much better, but it gave me so much to think about. The book centres on what being good means. Where does charity start - in the home or should we be looking outwards more? Or are we all just far too selfish to ever be good so all we can do is just do what we can and accept our limitations? Is being a little bit good enough or does it just end up being self-serving and hypocritical? How do we balance all the demands on us including our own? The book doesnt really answer these questions - I am not sure there is an answer and in the end the characters struggle to come to terms with their immediate problems with few resolutions but maybe more of a clear idea of where to start trying.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but well worth reading
Review: What is a good life? That is the question posed, but not answered, in this book. The story opens with Katie Carr - burnt out by her efforts to be a "good" doctor, mother, and wife - on the verge of divorce from her perpetually angry husband, David. But then David undergoes a spiritual transformation and begins to challenge everything Katie ever knew about how to be good. His newfound righteousness provides a bizarre and hilarious backdrop for Katie's own spiritual journey. Hornby's powers of observation and satiric wit are sharp as ever, but if you're expecting a light romantic comedy, you won't find it here. Rather, Hornby paints a portrait of a marriage poisoned by years of discord. Your enjoyment of this book will probably hinge on whether you find the character of Katie Carr to be sympathetic and believable. I found her efforts to maintain her moral compass while trying to regain a passion and sense of self lost in the demands of her daily life to be shockingly true. However, Katie's humorous musings eventually overwhelm the thin, rather confusing plot. The resolution of the story is not especially satisfying, and the contrived final image provides an equal measure of hope and despair.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but not Hornby's best
Review: Quick review: it had some funny moments but was more down and less upbeat than Hornby's previous novels. While Hornby addresses issues beyond relationships this time, he loses some of the spark that was in his other novels. Unfortunately Hornby seems to be better at humor than writing about social problems in G.B. and the Western world. On the other hand, there ARE quite a few parts that made me laugh and I smiled plenty of times- just not as much as I did while reading High Fidelity and About a Boy.
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