Songbook

Rating:
Summary: Great book, decent CD.
Review: The accompanying CD for this book of song essays, for I don't know what else to call them, is really good, but I wish that all the songs featured on the disc had been included on the CD. I understand that's not the fault of the publisher, for McSweeney's is a great company. (Licensing is probably the key factor keeping this book from having a complete CD.) But I don't want to have to go through the book, downloading the songs I'm unfamiliar with, just to better understand the book.

The essays are personal and quirky, like a lot of Hornby's other work, particularly his pieces in the SPEAKING WITH THE ANGEL compilation. Good stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Will delight music-loving audiences
Review: This collection of personal insights on pop music provides a series of essays and reflections on what makes good music, and what attracts listeners to music. Sprinkled within this first-person observational are reflections on the art of music and the appreciation of various pop artists and styles which will delight music-loving audiences.

Rating:
Summary: not really about the songs, but about life
Review: This is a fantastic collection of Hornby's essays about music. I think the greatest thing about this book, is that the essays all start off being about a particular song, but end up being about life itself. This is not really a book of essays about his favorite songs, but more of a book of essays about songs that hold an important place in his memories. We all have songs like that in our lives, maybe its some cheesy love song that we don't really like, but that was playing when we had the first dance with a significant other. Or a song in which the lyrics somehow gave us an epiphany about life or love. This is a book about those music inspired moments that are hard to put into words, but Nick Hornby does it very well. Also, they are written in such a way that you don't really need to have ever heard the song he's talking about in order to understand the essay (although you want to hear them after reading the essay). Nick Hornby writes in such a way that we, the readers, quickly understand what he's talking about and can easily relate his situations to our own lives. This is a great collection of essays and I recommend it to anyone who loves music and the inspirational powers that it holds.

Rating:
Summary: Lovely
Review: This is a wonderful little book. Though I didn't agree with all of Mr. Hornby's "picks," I thouroughly enjoyed reading his thoughtful, intimate and heartfelt reasons for loving them. This book, though slight in size, celebrates why we love music...why we love to hear it and rhapsodize about it and never tire of doing both. His concise prose left me wishing for more. Do buy this book; you won't be let down.

Rating:
Summary: Great read for music buffs
Review: To be honest, I have not read the work of Nick Hornby but have seen the great films made of his work ("About A Boy", "High Fidelity"). I had read a review of the book when it was released and picked it up just recently and it was hard to put down. As a devoted music collector, this book was right up my alley and turned me on to some music that I never really listened to all that closely (Teenage Fanclub being the most significant example). The book is filled with entertaining essays on certain music that Hornby finds essential. I don't agree with him on some of it but he opens a forum for record shop conversation that one won't usually find at their local chain record store such as FYE. I highly recomend it to music buffs like myself who enjoy good dialogue about quality music. I would love to see Hornby write a follow up to this.

Rating:
Summary: Great read for music buffs
Review: To be honest, I have not read the work of Nick Hornby but have seen the great films made of his work ("About A Boy", "High Fidelity"). I had read a review of the book when it was released and picked it up just recently and it was hard to put down. As a devoted music collector, this book was right up my alley and turned me on to some music that I never really listened to all that closely (Teenage Fanclub being the most significant example). The book is filled with entertaining essays on certain music that Hornby finds essential. I don't agree with him on some of it but he opens a forum for record shop conversation that one won't usually find at their local chain record store such as FYE. I highly recomend it to music buffs like myself who enjoy good dialogue about quality music. I would love to see Hornby write a follow up to this.

Rating:
Summary: Gentle, astute reflections on music and taste
Review: What makes a person like a song? What makes a person love a song? Nick Hornby's reflections on songs he's loved, and why he's loved them, became, for me, one of those works of art that makes me think as much about my own experiences as the author's. He got me considering what music I've loved and why, giving his book a deeper meaning and greater enjoyment than you'd expect to find on its surface.

Sure, this isn't great literature. I wouldn't expect him to rake in the literary awards for "Songbook". But reading it was a quietly enjoyable experience, like sitting down for coffee with a good friend and talking about life, love, and art. Hornby's writing style is, as always, deceptively casual. Accessible, astute, and precise, but not self-satisfied or self-concious. I envy that.

I won't disagree with the critics here who were disappointed that the included CD only contains a few of the selections Hornby describes. But I give you this: Most of the selections on the CD are songs I'd never heard of and wouldn't have been able to find easily. Others that aren't included on the disc, like, say, "Thunder Road", a person might already own. Or could find somewhere, quickly. Given the market pressures that I'm sure shaped the CD selection I'm pretty satisfied with what we've been given. These songs, though, form a nice, mellow soundtrack to read by. I like, too, that they all seem to have the same sort of rhythm to them, and similar lyrical styles. They made me feel like I was getting yet another peek into Hornby's mind, on a more personal level than through his words alone.

Rating:
Summary: Why can't there be more stuff like this
Review: You know what I loved about High Fidelity? It thanked me for being as interested in music as I am. Even when he said Stiff Little Fingers sounded like Green Day and I yelled out at the TV screen (I've read the book too) "YOU'RE WRONG!" I still felt so cool for even knowing. It makes the piece so much more intimate, like how you would feel attached to a main character if she had the same name as your girlfriend.

So I expected Songbook to be exactly that. No story, just commentary on music which was just dandy to me. Sure, I'd only heard a couple of the songs, but where better to learn?

Well it turns out that it's much different than I thought. It should be stated that YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW THE SONGS though it's a nice bonus if you do. You see, these essays aren't about the songs but more about what they mean to him and what they mean about music, and there's so many times where us audiophiles will smile and nod. Not only that, but it's so telling about the author himself - what he cares to write about, his autistic son, and of course his tastes.

It's easy reading; In fact, it's an excellent bathroom reader. I wish mine came with this CD everybody's talking about