High Fidelity

No surprise here, this is a fantastic read. I've come to expect that from Hornby. The story takes us through a crucial period of the protagonist's life: breaking up with his live in girlfriend and the crisis of life that follows. Rob (the protagonist) is a slacker, who is afraid of going forward in life. He grows throughout the story, but not so much as to compromise the character. I really...more

No surprise here, this is a fantastic read. I've come to expect that from Hornby. The story takes us through a crucial period of the protagonist's life: breaking up with his live in girlfriend and the crisis of life that follows. Rob (the protagonist) is a slacker, who is afraid of going forward in life. He grows throughout the story, but not so much as to compromise the character. I really identified with Rob, and I'm sure anyone who hasn't yet figured out the whole point of life will too. Also, this is one of the best film adaptations of a novel I have seen. Watch the movie too.   hide

I've read this book so many times that it's less of a novel and more like an echo in my mind... I know it's not Great Literature, but it's still one of my favourite books ever. When things are going wrong, when friends fail, when girlfriends leave... this is the book I have turned to over the last ten years to reaffirm my faith in life, love, and music. With a roomful of records myself, I get a...more

I've read this book so many times that it's less of a novel and more like an echo in my mind... I know it's not Great Literature, but it's still one of my favourite books ever. When things are going wrong, when friends fail, when girlfriends leave... this is the book I have turned to over the last ten years to reaffirm my faith in life, love, and music. With a roomful of records myself, I get a lot out of Hornby's wonderful turns of phrase and obscure references. Lve it.   hide

A funny read and I finally started seeing disturbing parallels. I enjoyed it

It took me a while after seeing the movie (one of my favourite films) to figure out that it was also a book, written by Nick Hornby no less (I loved About a Boy when I read it in high school). Knowing the movie off by heart made reading the book a little strange, as many snippets of dialogue are the same, but the Englishness (the movie's set in...Chicago, right?) made it a completely...more

It took me a while after seeing the movie (one of my favourite films) to figure out that it was also a book, written by Nick Hornby no less (I loved About a Boy when I read it in high school). Knowing the movie off by heart made reading the book a little strange, as many snippets of dialogue are the same, but the Englishness (the movie's set in...Chicago, right?) made it a completely different experience (even though throughout I pictured John Cusak trying to pull off an English accent). Great book, especially for music geeks/people who have had relationships (oh wait - that's most people. I sustain my statement anyways.).   hide

for all the melancholic boys that has ever fallen in love with someone... heartbreaked... and still think of her sometimes when like hell you don't want to OR in love with bands and singers they look up to and umm likes to geek out with their music collection until their lives depend on it OR both, this is the perfect book for you =) "Some of my favourite songs: 'Only Love Can Break Your...more

for all the melancholic boys that has ever fallen in love with someone... heartbreaked... and still think of her sometimes when like hell you don't want to OR in love with bands and singers they look up to and umm likes to geek out with their music collection until their lives depend on it OR both, this is the perfect book for you =) "Some of my favourite songs: 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' by Neil Young; 'Last Night I Dreamed That Somebody Loved Me' by the Smiths; 'Call Me' by Aretha Fanklin; 'I Don't Want to Talk About It' by anybody. And then there's 'Love Hurts' and 'When Love Breaks Down' and 'How Can You Mend a Broken Heart' and 'The Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness' and 'She's Gone' and 'I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself' and ... some of these songs I have listened to around once a week, on average (three hundred times in the first month, every now and again thereafter), since I was sixteen or nineteen or twenty-one. How can that not leave you bruised somewhere? How can that not turn you into the sort of person liable to break into little bits when your first love goes all wrong? What came first, the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?" - Rob Fleming   hide

Timeless, universally true, hilarious.

Laugh-out-loud funny. A classic tale of a hopeless romantic, who for once just happens to be male. The self deprecating humour ensures that you hang in there through the more tiresome 'relationship' periods. Whilst in general the suburban cum cosmopolitan story and characters are so immediately familiar you can’t help following after ever turn in the road. On a more personal note; this...more

Laugh-out-loud funny. A classic tale of a hopeless romantic, who for once just happens to be male. The self deprecating humour ensures that you hang in there through the more tiresome 'relationship' periods. Whilst in general the suburban cum cosmopolitan story and characters are so immediately familiar you can’t help following after ever turn in the road. On a more personal note; this is the perfect read for anyone recently heartbroken. Its relatively contemporary and inherently unpretentious account, of love won and lost and the people left to come to terms with it, serves as a comforting mirror for the readers own experience. At least that’s how it works for me. This book is my perfect remedy, to each and every one of my least satisfying break-ups.   hide

This book had an odd effect on me (although I suspect not a *unique* effect on me: not an effect others won't have, and not an effect I wouldn't expect from other books). I found myself finding in tunes I used to like having new meaning. Tunes I somehow and for some reason either memorized all the words, or just somehow picked up on the lyrics over time (or in some cases, remembered a girl I...more

This book had an odd effect on me (although I suspect not a *unique* effect on me: not an effect others won't have, and not an effect I wouldn't expect from other books). I found myself finding in tunes I used to like having new meaning. Tunes I somehow and for some reason either memorized all the words, or just somehow picked up on the lyrics over time (or in some cases, remembered a girl I used to like, and recalled the said girl singing the said lyrics). That's really odd, I think. Not recalling what the girl ever said to me, or recalling how said girl made me feel or think about her, but recalling said girl looking at me, in my eyes even, and singing the lyrics ... and yet, not singing the lyrics to me, but rather singing the lyrics to a brick wall cleverly disguised as me. And why didn't I kiss her, or talk to her, or strike up a conversation or even a prelude to a relationship with this girl? Because I didn't care for the song, that's why. And that's odd. Really odd. This book explains all these oddities and others, as well, I think. It's because some tunes are best kept for relationships gone bad, or gone incomplete, gone with hopes or expectations out the window, or just plain gone. But we have those tunes, be they on records or mix tapes, or now, buried on an iPod. It's why some tunes are best kept under three minutes long.   hide

Dumb unless you are an audiophile.