Nick Hornby - Author
Nick Hornby was born in 1957, and is the author of Fever Pitch, High Fidelity, About a Boy and How to be Good. He also edited the collection of short stories Speaking With the Angel. He is the pop music critic for the New Yorker. In 1999, he was awarded the E.M.Forster award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives and works in Highbury, North London.
May 2015 Book of the Month. I would like to say ‘classic’ Hornby but the thing I most like about his writing is that the stories are all different, so one can hardly say ‘classic’. But it is all one would expect. Light but entertaining, a story about people. It’s about an inspiring actress-cum-comedian from Blackpool who wins a beauty contest but really doesn’t want to spend a year opening supermarkets! We are in the early 1960s. She gives back her crown and flees to London. We follow her through early struggles and on into falling on her feet in a ‘ground breaking’ series for the BBC. A Lancashire accent, a working-class character and dealing with man/woman becoming husband/wife and eventually baby issues. Years later, at the 50 year celebration, a young producer gets the idea of putting on a play about “what happened next”. We, of course, have followed the main players all the way through in a clever slice of cultural history. Utterly enthralling and highly recommended. ~ Sarah Broadhurst One of our Books of the Year 2014.
One of our Books of the Year 2014. November 2014 MEGA Book of the Month. I would like to say ‘classic’ Hornby but the thing I most like about his writing is that the stories are all different, so one can hardly say ‘classic’. But it is all one would expect. Light but entertaining, a story about people. It’s about an inspiring actress-cum-comedian from Blackpool who wins a beauty contest but really doesn’t want to spend a year opening supermarkets! We are in the early 1960s. She gives back her crown and flees to London. We follow her through early struggles and on into falling on her feet in a ‘ground breaking’ series for the BBC. A Lancashire accent, a working-class character and dealing with man/woman becoming husband/wife and eventually baby issues. Years later, at the 50 year celebration, a young producer gets the idea of putting on a play about “what happened next”. We, of course, have followed the main players all the way through in a clever slice of cultural history. Utterly enthralling and highly recommended.
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby's hilarious bestseller now a major motion picture starring Pierce Brosnan. ' Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?' For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: he has, in his own words, 'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve he's going to end it all ...but not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons. Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices if cold pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living? Shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, A Long Way Down is a darkly hilarious and moving novel by bestselling author Nick Hornby. If you like Jonathan Coe, David Sedaris and David Nicholls, you will love this book. A page-turning plot and rich, funny characters with several big laughs on every page...Hornby's best yet . (Literary Review). Hornby's best novel to date, impossible to put down...how can an examination of four people's anguish be so enthralling? (Ruth Rendell, Guardian). Masterful...some of the finest writing, and some of the most outstanding characters I've ever had the pleasure of reading . (Johnny Depp). Nick Hornby has captivated readers and achieved widespread critical acclaim for his comic, well-observed novels About a Boy, How to be Good, Juliet, Naked, Slam and High Fidelity. His three works of non-fiction, 31 Songs (shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award), Fever Pitch (winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award) and The Complete Polysyllabic Spree are also available from Penguin.
A book that many a football fan can, no doubt, relate too. Hornby tells the story of his fanatical love of football from the age of 11. The amazing recall of every match, every player, every goal, every touch of the ball that some fans manage to have Nick Hornby certainly has. It’s a miracle he manages to find time to write his fiction!
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 7 February 2010. As you would expect in a book about relationships revolving around a music obsession Nick Hornby manages to get in his musical references and loves in to the pages throughout this book. The story is about a relationship where the characters are facing middle age and wondering if they have wasted years not really achieving anything in their lives. If it sounds a little bit depressing don’t worry, as always, Hornby injects his humour throughout the story and creates interesting and memorable characters.
Gripping and funny this novel will appeal to all those who have ever picked up a skateboard and even those who haven't. From the author who brought you High Fidelity and Fever Pitch comes a new novel written for the teenage audience.
From the author who brought you ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘Fever Pitch’ comes a new novel written for the teenage audience. It is gripping, funny and will appeal to all those who have ever picked up a skateboard.
Shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award. Narrated in turns by Martin, Maureen, Jess and JJ, four strangers with absolutely nothing in common - save where they end up that night - Nick Hornby’s A Long Way Down is a funny, sad and deeply moving new novel which asks some of the big questions: about life and death, strangers and friendship, love and pain, and whether a group of losers, and pizza, can really see you through a long, dark night of the soul.
Juliet, Naked is bestselling author Nick Hornby's moving, funny account of life's second chances Annie's put fifteen years into safe, slightly obsessive Duncan, and now she'd like her money back, please. It's time to move on. But she lives in Gooleness, the north's answer to a question nobody asked. Is she really going to find real, proper, feel-it-deep-down-in-your-boots love on a damp and windy seafront? Or perhaps she should follow her heart and pursue Tucker, the reclusive American rock star, who keeps emailing her his smart advice. But between Annie and her second chance lie a few obstacles. There's Malcolm, the world's most judgemental therapist, and Barnesy, the north's most extrovert dancer. There's what men and women will do and won't do for love. And, of course, there's Tucker. . .
Nick Hornby's internationally bestselling first novel, available as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Do you know your desert-island, all-time, top five most memorable split-ups? Rob does. He keeps a list, in fact. But Laura isn't on it - even though she's just become his latest ex. He's got his life back, you see. He can just do what he wants when he wants: like listen to whatever music he likes, look up the girls that are on his list, and generally behave as if Laura never mattered. But Rob finds he can't move on. He's stuck in a really deep groove - and it's called Laura. Soon, he's asking himself some big questions: about love, about life - and about why we choose to share ours with the people we do. A million-copy bestseller, and adapted into a 2000 film starring John Cusack, High Fidelity explores the world of break-ups, make-ups and what it is to be in love. This astutely observed and wickedly funny book will be enjoyed by readers of David Nicholls and William Boyd, and by generations of readers to come. 'It will give enormous pleasure at the same time as expanding in a small but worthwhile way, the range of English literature' Independent on Sunday 'Leaves you believing not only in the redemptive power of music but above all the redemptive power of love. Funny and wise, sweet and true' Independent 'A triumphant first novel. True to life, very funny and moving' Financial Times
The Complete Polysyllabic Spree is Nick Hornby's wickedly funny journey through reading This is not a book of reviews. This not a book that sneers at other books. This is a book about reading - about enjoying books wherever and however you find them. Nick Hornby, author of the bestsellers About a Boy and Fever Pitch - takes us on a hilarious and perceptive tour through the books he bought, the books he read and his thoughts on literature. He is first and foremost a reader and he approaches books like the rest of us: hoping to pick up one he can't put down. The Complete Polysyllabic Spree is a diary of sorts, charting his reading life over two years. It is a celebration of why we read - its pleasures, its disappointments and its surprises. And above all, it is for you - the ever hopeful reader. For fans of Bill Bryson and Stephen Fry, and for bookworms eveywhere, this witty, passionate book will make you cherish the world of letters anew. 'An engaged and engaging ramble around one reader's mind' The Times 'Not only does it make you want to read more but, like all great books, it's also terrific company' Metro 'For anyone whose idea of a good time is arguing with friends about their favourite books...amusing and contagiously enthusiastic' Big Issue
'Read what you enjoy, not what bores you,' Nick Hornby tells us. And in this new collection of his columns from the Believer magazine he shows us how it's done. From historical tomes to comic books, literary novels to children's stories, political thrillers to travel writing, Stuff I've Been Reading details Nick's thoughts and experiences on books by George Orwell, J.M. Barrie, Muriel Spark, Claire Tomalin, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Jennifer Egan, Ian McEwan, Cormac McCarthy and many, many more. This wonderfully entertaining journey in reading differs from all other reviews or critical appreciations - it takes into account the role that books actually play in our lives.
In his monthly accounts of what he's read - along with what he may one day read - Nick Hornby brilliantly explores everything from the classic to the graphic novel, as well as poems, plays, sports books and other kinds of non-fiction. If he occasionally implores a biographer for brevity, or abandons a literary work in favour of an Arsenal match, then all is not lost. His writing, full of all the joy and surprise and despair that books bring him, reveals why we still read, even when there's football on TV, a pram in the hall or a good band playing at our local pub.
Stuff I've Been Reading by Nick Hornby - the bestselling novelist's rich, witty and inspiring reading diary 'Read what you enjoy, not what bores you,' Nick Hornby tells us. And in this new collection of his columns from the Believer magazine he shows us how it's done. From historical tomes to comic books, literary novels to children's stories, political thrillers to travel writing, Stuff I've Been Reading details Nick's thoughts and experiences on books by George Orwell, J.M. Barrie, Muriel Spark, Claire Tomalin, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Jennifer Egan, Ian McEwan, Cormac McCarthy and many, many more. This wonderfully entertaining journey in reading differs from all other reviews or critical appreciations - it takes into account the role that books actually play in our lives. This book, which is classic Hornby, confirms the novelist's status as one of the world's most exciting curators of culture. It will be loved by fans of About a Boy and High Fidelity, as well as readers of Will Self, Zadie Smith, Stewart Lee and Charlie Brooker.
Funny Girl - the latest novel from Nick Hornby, the million-copy bestselling author of About a Boy Make them laugh, and they're yours forever . . . Barbara Parker is Miss Blackpool of 1964, but she doesn't want to be a beauty queen. She only wants to make people laugh. So she leaves her hometown behind, takes herself off to London, and lands a life-changing audition for a new BBC comedy series. Overnight she becomes Sophie Straw: charming, gorgeous, destined to win the nation's hearts. Funny Girl is the story of a smash-hit TV show and the people behind the scenes: the writers, Tony and Bill, friends since national service and comedy obsessives; producer Dennis, Oxbridge educated, clever, mild and not-so-secretly devoted to his star actress Sophie; and dashing male lead Clive, who firmly believes he's destined for better things. The show's success continues rocketing and the cast and crew are having the time of their lives. But when the script begins to get a bit too close to home, and life starts imitating art, they all face a choice. How long can they keep going before it's time to change the channel? Nick Hornby's novel is about popular culture and the swinging sixties. Sophie Straw is learning about youth and old age, fame and hard work, class and collaboration. Funny Girl offers a captivating portrait of youthful exuberance and freedom at a time when Britain itself was experiencing one of its most enduring creative bursts. Hornby fans will love his latest book, as will readers of David Nicholls, Mark Haddon and William Boyd. 'Fans won't be disappointed by this new story... endearing, humorous and touching, full of spot-on period detail, all brought to vivid life by a cast of very human characters. Hugely enjoyable' Sunday Mirror 'Resolutely, winningly light-hearted' Observer 'Nick Hornby's funny, winningly perceptive novel is a pleasure to read' Telegraph 'If you devoured About a Boy and whizzed through High Fidelity you're going to love Nick Hornby's brilliant new novel. Hilarious and captivating, this is a fabulous read' Take a Break 'There is something about Hornby's writing that is so simple, so easy-to-read and yet so sensitive and profound at the same time, that anything he writes turns out very special. The premise of Funny Girl is like a lot of Nick Hornby's irritatingly genius ideas: something so obvious you can't believe no one thought of it before.' Independent 'Everything he writes is addictively readable and clever, but with this one he just surpasses himself' Red 'Effortlessly engaging... Hornby's writing is so fluid, he has a great knack for capturing atmosphere and skewering a character with a killer phrase' - Evening Standard
May 2015 Book of the Month. I would like to say ‘classic’ Hornby but the thing I most like about his writing is that the stories are all different, so one can hardly say ‘classic’. But it is all one would expect. Light but entertaining, a story about people. It’s about an inspiring actress-cum-comedian from Blackpool who wins a beauty contest but really doesn’t want to spend a year opening supermarkets! We are in the early 1960s. She gives back her crown and flees to London. We follow her through early struggles and on into falling on her feet in a ‘ground breaking’ series for the BBC. A Lancashire accent, a working-class character and dealing with man/woman becoming husband/wife and eventually baby issues. Years later, at the 50 year celebration, a young producer gets the idea of putting on a play about “what happened next”. We, of course, have followed the main players all the way through in a clever slice of cultural history. Utterly enthralling and highly recommended. ~ Sarah Broadhurst One of our Books of the Year 2014.
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby's hilarious bestseller now a major motion picture starring Pierce Brosnan. ' Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?' For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: he has, in his own words, 'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve he's going to end it all ...but not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons. Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices if cold pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living? Shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, A Long Way Down is a darkly hilarious and moving novel by bestselling author Nick Hornby. If you like Jonathan Coe, David Sedaris and David Nicholls, you will love this book. A page-turning plot and rich, funny characters with several big laughs on every page...Hornby's best yet . (Literary Review). Hornby's best novel to date, impossible to put down...how can an examination of four people's anguish be so enthralling? (Ruth Rendell, Guardian). Masterful...some of the finest writing, and some of the most outstanding characters I've ever had the pleasure of reading . (Johnny Depp). Nick Hornby has captivated readers and achieved widespread critical acclaim for his comic, well-observed novels About a Boy, How to be Good, Juliet, Naked, Slam and High Fidelity. His three works of non-fiction, 31 Songs (shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award), Fever Pitch (winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award) and The Complete Polysyllabic Spree are also available from Penguin.
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby is a tragicomic tale of strangers and secrets 'Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?' For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: he has, in his own words, 'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve he's going to end it all . . . but not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons. Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices if cold pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living? Shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, A Long Way Down is a darkly hilarious and moving novel by bestselling author Nick Hornby. If you like Jonathan Coe, David Sedaris and David Nicholls, you will love this book. 'A page-turning plot and rich, funny characters with several big laughs on every page. . . Hornby's best yet' Literary Review 'Hornby's best novel to date, impossible to put down. . . how can an examination of four people's anguish be so enthralling?' Ruth Rendell, Guardian 'Masterful. . . some of the finest writing, and some of the most outstanding characters I've ever had the pleasure of reading' Johnny Depp
Nick Hornby's second bestselling novel is about sex, manliness and fatherhood. Will is thirty-six, comfortable and child-free. And he's discovered a brilliant new way of meeting women - through single-parent groups. Marcus is twelve and a little bitnerdish: he's got the kind of mother who made him listen to Joni Mitchell rather than Nirvana. Perhaps they can help each other out a little bit, and both can start to act their age.
About a Boy is Nick Hornby's comic and heart-warming million-copy bestseller 'How cool was Will Freeman?' Too cool! At thirty-six, he's as hip as a teenager. He's single, child-free, goes to the right clubs and knows which trainers to wear. He's also found a great way to score with women: attend single parents' groups full of available (and grateful) mothers, all hoping to meet a Nice Guy. Which is how Will meets Marcus, the oldest twelve-year-old on the planet. Marcus is a bit strange: he listens to Joni Mitchell and Mozart, looks after his mum and has never owned a pair of trainers. But Marcus latches on to Will - and won't let go. Can Will teach Marcus how to grow up cool? And can Marcus help Will just to grow up? This astonishing novel, now a modern classic, was adapted for the acclaimed 2002 film About A Boy, starring Hugh Grant and Nicholas Hoult. Fans of One Day by David Nicholls and Any Human Heart by William Boyd will devour this book, as will lovers of fiction everywhere. 'A stunner of a novel. Utterly read-in-one-day, forget-where-you-are-on-the-tube-gripping' Marie Claire 'About the awful, hilarious, embarrassing places where children and adults meet, and Hornby has captured it with delightful precision' Irish Times 'It takes a writer with real talent to make this work, and Hornby has it - in buckets' Literary Review
Gripping and funny this novel will appeal to all those who have ever picked up a skateboard and even those who haven't. From the author who brought you High Fidelity and Fever Pitch comes a new novel written for the teenage audience.
'There was this time when everything seemed to have come together. And so obviously it was time to go and screw it all up.' Sam is sixteen and a skater. Just so there are no terrible misunderstandings: skating = skateboarding. There's no ice. Life is ticking along nicely for Sam: his mum's got rid of her rubbish boyfriend, he's thinking about college and he's met someone. Alicia. Then a little accident happens. One with big consequences for someone just finding his way in life. Sam can't run (let alone skate) away from this one. He's a boy facing a man's problems and the question is - has he got what it takes to confront them?
A book that many a football fan can, no doubt, relate too. Hornby tells the story of his fanatical love of football from the age of 11. The amazing recall of every match, every player, every goal, every touch of the ball that some fans manage to have Nick Hornby certainly has. It’s a miracle he manages to find time to write his fiction!
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 7 February 2010. As you would expect in a book about relationships revolving around a music obsession Nick Hornby manages to get in his musical references and loves in to the pages throughout this book. The story is about a relationship where the characters are facing middle age and wondering if they have wasted years not really achieving anything in their lives. If it sounds a little bit depressing don’t worry, as always, Hornby injects his humour throughout the story and creates interesting and memorable characters.
High Fidelity is Nick Hornby's hilarious and heart-breaking first novel bestseller Do you know your desert-island, all-time, top five most memorable split-ups? Rob does. He keeps a list, in fact. But Laura isn't on it - even though she's just become his latest ex. He's got his life back, you see. He can just do what he wants when he wants: like listen to whatever music he likes, look up the girls that are on his list, and generally behave as if Laura never mattered. But Rob finds he can't move on. He's stuck in a really deep groove - and it's called Laura. Soon, he's asking himself some big questions: about love, about life - and about why we choose to share ours with the people we do. A million-copy bestseller, and adapted into a 2000 film starring John Cusack, High Fidelity explores the world of break-ups, make-ups and what it is to be in love. This astutely observed and wickedly funny book will be enjoyed by readers of David Nicholls and William Boyd, and by generations of readers to come. 'It will give enormous pleasure at the same time as expanding in a small but worthwhile way, the range of English literature' Independent on Sunday 'Leaves you believing not only in the redemptive power of music but above all the redemptive power of love. Funny and wise, sweet and true' Independent 'A triumphant first novel. True to life, very funny and moving' Financial Times
'I decided that I wanted to write a little book of essays about songs I loved ... Songs are what I listen to, almost to the exclusion of everything else.'In his first non-fiction work since Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby writes about 31 songs that either have some great significance in his life - or are just songs that he loves. He discusses, among other things, guitar solos and losing your virginity to a Rod Stewart song and singers whose teeth whistle and the sort of music you hear in Body Shop.'The soundtrack to his life ... a revealing insight into one of Britain's most popular writers' Evening Standard
How to be Good is Nick Hornby's hilarious bestselling novel on life, love and charity 'I am in a car park in Leeds when I tell my husband I don't want to be married to him any more. . . ' London GP Katie Carr always thought she was a good person. With her husband David making a living as 'The Angriest Man in Holloway', she figured she could put up with anything. Until, that is, David meets DJ Goodnews and becomes a good person too. A far-too-good person who starts committing crimes of charity like taking in the homeless and giving their kids' toys away. Suddenly Katie's feeling very bad about herself, and thinking that if charity begins at home, then maybe its time to move. . . This laugh-out-loud novel, from the bestselling author of About a Boy and High Fidelity, will have you gripped from start to finish and will appeal to fans of David Nicholls and Jonathan Coe, as well as readers in need of a moral compass everywhere. 'Pins you in your armchair ad won't let go . . . How to be Good? How to be bloody marvellous, more like' Mail on Sunday 'It does exactly what it says on the cover. Hornby's prose is artful and effortless, his spiky wit as razored as a number-two cut' Independent 'The writing is so funny, and the set-pieces so brilliant...Hornby's best book since Fever Pitch' Lynn Truss, The Times
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby's hilarious bestseller about strangers and secrets 'Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?' For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: he has, in his own words, 'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve he's going to end it all . . . but not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons. Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices if cold pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living? Shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, A Long Way Down is a darkly hilarious and moving novel by bestselling author Nick Hornby. If you like Jonathan Coe, David Sedaris and David Nicholls, you will love this book. 'A page-turning plot and rich, funny characters with several big laughs on every page. . . Hornby's best yet' Literary Review 'Hornby's best novel to date, impossible to put down. . . how can an examination of four people's anguish be so enthralling?' Ruth Rendell, Guardian 'Masterful. . . some of the finest writing, and some of the most outstanding characters I've ever had the pleasure of reading' Johnny Depp
Is it possible to share your life with someone whose record collection is incompatible with your own? Can people have terrible taste and still be worth knowing? Do songs about broken hearts and misery and loneliness mess up your life if consumed in excess? For Rob Fleming, thirty-five years old, a pop addict and owner of a failing record shop, these are the sort of questions that need an answer, and soon. His girlfriend has just left him. Can he really go on living in a poky flat surrounded by vinyl and CDs or should he get a real home, a real family and a real job? Perhaps most difficult of all, will he ever be able to stop thinking about life in terms of the All Time Top Five bands, books, films, songs - even now that he's been dumped again, the top five break-ups? Memorable, sad and very, very funny, this is the truest book you will ever read about the things that really matter.
A famous account of growing up to be a fanatical football supporter. Told through a series of match reports, FEVER PITCH has enjoyed enormous critical and commercial success since it was first published in 1992. It has helped to create a new kind ofsports writing, and established Hornby as one of the finest writers of his generation.
Books, Movies, Rhythm, Blues is the companion volume to Fan Mail, Nick Hornby's collection of writings on football. This second collection brings together the best of his other non-fiction pieces, on film and tv, writers and painters and music, and including one exceptional fragment of autobiography. With subject matter ranging from the Sundance Festival to Abbey Road Studios, from P.G. Wodehouse to The West Wing, these are pieces that 'were written for fun, or because I felt I had things to say and time to say them, or because the commissions were unusual and imaginative, or because ... I was being asked to go somewhere I had never been before.'
A new collection of nonfiction writing on culturefrom the bestselling author of High Fidelity.Books, Movies, Rhythm, Blues brings together the best of Nick Hornby's non-fiction pieces on film and tv, writers and painters and music, and including one exceptional fragment of autobiography. With subject matter ranging from the Sundance Festival to Abbey Road Studios, from P.G. Wodehouse to The West Wing, these are pieces that were written for fun, or because I felt I had things to say and time to say them, or because the commissions were unusual and imaginative, or because I was being asked to go somewhere I had never been before.
Fan Mail: Twenty Years of Writing about Football by Nick Hornby, the bestselling author of Fever PitchAfter the phenomenal success of Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby tried to avoid writing about football, for fear that he'd be writing about it forever. But occasionally over the years he's found it impossible to turn down a particularly enticing assignment or, in the case of the 2012-13 Premier League, just unable to resist writing about that most spectacular of seasons.Fortunately for those who love great writing about football, all these fugitive pieces are collected in Fan Mail. You can follow the fortunes, as Hornby did, of a hopelessly out-of-their-depth Cambridge United in the old Second Division, discover why Perry Groves was an unlikely hero among Arsenal fans, enjoy Hornby trying to explain the World Cup to Americans, and share with him the pain of watching our national team.This Penguin Special, available exclusively as an ebook, can be read in two hours or less. It will be loved by readers of The Secret Footballer and Inverting the Pyramid, as well as fans of Hornby everywhere.'Fever Pitch is the best football book ever written' Nick Lezard, GQ
A new collection of soccer writing bythe bestselling author of Fever Pitch.After the phenomenal success ofFever Pitch, Nick Hornby tried to avoid writing about soccer, for fear that he'd be writing about it forever. But occasionally over the years hes found it impossible to turn down a particularly enticing assignment or, in the case of the 2012-13 Premier League, just unable to resist writing about that most spectacular of seasons.Fortunately for those who love great writing about soccer, all these fugitive pieces are collected inFan Mail. You can follow the fortunes, as Hornby did, of a hopelessly out-of-their-depth Cambridge United in the old Second Division, discover why Perry Groves was an unlikely hero among Arsenal fans, enjoy Hornby trying to explain the World Cup to Americans, and share with him the pain of watching his national team.
The Twentieth Anniversary Edition As a young boy, growing up in London and watching his parents' marriage fall apart, Nick Hornby - author of High Fidelity, About a Boy and The Complete Polysyllabic Spree - had little sense of home. Then his dad took him to Highbury. Arsenal's football ground would become the source of many of the strongest feelings he'd ever have: joy, humiliation, heartbreak, frustration and hope. In this hilarious, moving and now-classic book, he vividly depicts his childhood life, his time as a teacher, and his first loves (after football), all through the prism of the game, as he insightfully and brilliantly explores obsession, and the way it can shape a life.
'That is why there is NOTHING better than sport' Kevin PietersenThe 2011-12 Premier League season finished on an afternoon so extraordinary that it prompted Kevin Pietersen's tweet. Yet this was just the climax of an incredible season. By May fans of most clubs had been enthralled, appalled, depressed, elated, shocked and enraged. Along the way football had somehow managed to encompass politics, high finance, the law and matters of life and death. In Pray Nick Hornby, author of the classic Fever Pitch, offers an entertaining and typically insightful account of this most extraordinary of seasons. Beginning with the weekend of 28 August when the Man Utd demolition of Arsenal 8-2 and the Man City demolition of Spurs 5-1 showed what was to come, he concentrates on a number of games whose significance went beyond the immediate result: the October games with alleged rascist incidents, the fairy-tale return of Thierry Henry, the collapse of Fabrice Muamba, the Carling Cup Final where Liverpool's victory only served to point up the club's problems, the unusual (but increasingly more common) 4-4 draw between Man Utd and Everton...It was a season of tumultuous incident and enormous entertainment, a season more glorious than most. Read all about it, and relive it, here.
A dozen of the most successful and popular writers today including: Helen Fielding, Robert Harris, Patrick Marber, Zadie Smith, John O'Farrell, Roddy Doyle, Melissa Bank and Irvine Welsh have written 6000-word fictional monologues along the lines of Alan Bennet's Talking Heads. And Colin Firth makes his debut as a fiction writer. The result is a book of completely original stories that have heart, soul and wit. All the writers have given their work free, and Penguin is giving GBP1 per copy sold to the TreeHouse Trust, a charity which is setting up a unique school for autistic children
'How cool was Will Freeman?' Too cool! At thirty-six, he's hip as a teenager. He's single, child-free, goes to the right clubs and knows which trainers to wear. He's also found a great way to score with women: attend single parents' groups full of available mothers, all hoping to meet a Nice Guy. And that is how Will meets Marcus, the oldest twelve-year-old on the planet. Marcus is a bit strange: he listens to Joni Mitchell and Mozart, looks after his mum and has never owned a pair of trainers. But Marcus latches on to Will and won't let go. Can Will teach Marcus how to grow up cool? And can Marcus help Will just to grow up?
The script for major new film An Education, the story of the bizarre relationship between 1960s teenager Jenny (played by Carey Mulligan) and older man David (Peter Sarsgaard), after she accepts a lift on her way home from music practice one day. Based on Observer journalist Lynn Barber's real-life experience as recounted in her book An Education, the film won the Audience Award for best film at the Sundance Film Festival and tremendous acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival too. It will be released in the UK in October 2009 and promises to be the season's Slumdog Millionaire. Hornby's charming script is included in An Education: The Screenplay, along with stills from the film and a long introduction in which he wittily describes the process of converting someone's very personal memoir into a hit film.
About a Boy is Nick Hornby's comic and heart-warming million-copy bestseller 'How cool was Will Freeman?' Too cool! At thirty-six, he's as hip as a teenager. He's single, child-free, goes to the right clubs and knows which trainers to wear. He's also found a great way to score with women: attend single parents' groups full of available (and grateful) mothers, all hoping to meet a Nice Guy. Which is how Will meets Marcus, the oldest twelve-year-old on the planet. Marcus is a bit strange: he listens to Joni Mitchell and Mozart, looks after his mum and has never owned a pair of trainers. But Marcus latches on to Will - and won't let go. Can Will teach Marcus how to grow up cool? And can Marcus help Will just to grow up? This astonishing novel, now a modern classic, was adapted for the acclaimed 2002 film About A Boy, starring Hugh Grant and Nicholas Hoult. Fans of One Day by David Nicholls and Any Human Heart by William Boyd will devour this book, as will lovers of fiction everywhere. 'A stunner of a novel. Utterly read-in-one-day, forget-where-you-are-on-the-tube-gripping' Marie Claire 'About the awful, hilarious, embarrassing places where children and adults meet, and Hornby has captured it with delightful precision' Irish Times 'It takes a writer with real talent to make this work, and Hornby has it - in buckets' Literary Review
