Book review entries

My all time top five…

Okay, my all time top five favourite books that made me laugh, in the order I read them, are:

1. Judy Blume – Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
2. Perry McCarthy – Flat Out, Flat Broke: Formula 1 the Hard Way
3. JK Rowling – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (c'mon, the stuff about the Yule Ball's absolutely hilarious)
4. Tim Moore – French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France
5. Nick Hornby – High Fidelity

For anyone who hasn't even seen the film, High Fidelity is about Rob: recently split from his girlfriend – Laura . The story centres on how he copes with Laura leaving him and tries to figure out why his love life always leads him to rejection.

Its a brilliantly funny book that literally makes you laugh out loud. The rejections Hornby creates for Rob are universal, inspite of his flaws I challenge anyone to not find sympathy with him somewhere.

The true strength of the book, as with just about everything Hornby writes, is that it draws you in and you feel like you're friends with the main character. Its a bit like reading a letter, which makes it very pleasureable and easy to read.

Where the book lacks a little is towards the end when the pace slows down. If like me you've seen the film then the start is hard work, largely because you're waiting for the introduction of Barry (Jack Black's character in the film), but after that the book goes at a relentless pace, it's completely breathless. Unfortunately the momentum wanes slightly towards the end, and the book sort of disappears into nothing.

Nevertheless it's well worth reading. It won't challenge you in your thoughts about life and love, but it's great as a book to relax with after a long day's lectures. What's more is that it's nice to read about someone who's in their mid-thirties and miserable, it makes the pains of being twenty-one seem like a walk in the park!

: 03 Feb 2005 19:44 |  Tags: Books High Fidelity Nick Hornby |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem