Rating: 
Summary: Not as brilliant as HiFi/AboutABoy, but truly worth reading
Review: Nick Hornby is really a very clever man. He knows that he would hardly write something as good as "Hi Fidelity" if he tried to do something similar to it. So, he is looking for inspiration in his own maturity, and his writing shows it clearly.
If "About A Boy" still had a "thirty-something-but-somewhat-teenage" protagonist (just like Hi-Fi), "How To Be Good" is a clear transition to a more "forty-something-middle-class-problems" world.
Further, Hornby dares to use the voice of a woman (the doctor and wife with personality crisis Kate Karr) to tell the story. Moreover, "How to be good" contains themes as diverse and uneasy as depression, racism, cultural criticism, alternative medicine and the homeless.
Although he unexpectally did a very good work with his new universe, its difficult for him to handle it as well as he have done with the male universe of music, soccer and unwillingness to grow older. Maybe it's gonna take a couple of books for him to be as secure and precise as before.
Rating:
Summary: I'd give it 3 and a half if I could...
Review: My girlfriend and I did a swap - she read the Sorrows of Young Werther, by Goethe, one of my favourite books, and I read this. She got the better deal.Not that this is a bad book, far from it. It strikes me as the sort of book that preceeds something truly great. Perhaps Hornby's next will be something special. Anyway, on to the book. I don't think it's a laugh-out-loud kind of book, rather a sardonic-chuckle satire, mostly about how we all want to do good, just as long as it doesn't inconvenience us too much or we don't have to go without, and then how we rationalise that. But like most good satire, it's not just attacking one thing, but rather anything and everything it notices. Geniune do-gooders are satirised too, for their insufferable smugness. As a criticism I might say that I didn't find David or GoodNews (a vaguely Socratic figure - he doesn't believe in beds), the two main do-gooders, to be as smug as the other characters made them out to be, which could be considered a flaw if it wasn't for the nagging feeling I have that Hornby was well aware of that. It would be a good point if it was intentional - a common defense against do-gooders is that they are horribly smug even when they are not. It makes the complacent feel better to see a flaw, whether it's a creation of their own minds or not. The needy are also satirised, as Hornby takes pains to point out that you can only help those who want to help themselves. And religion is too, or at least the sort of joyless organised church religion that prevails in the west. But the satire takes first place in this novel, and the characters and plot are often sacrificed to it. I didn't get any real sense of who any of the characters were, except for the main one. The plot would have benefitted if we had seen just a bit more of the old cynical David before seeing his conversion. And the ending, while it could be seen as a clever remark on life, really comes off more as that Hornby couldn't decide how to finish so just stopped writing one day. Still, it's worth a read, particularly since it's not very long.
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.
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