Nick Hornby: Ten Years In The Tub

Nick Hornby is a book critic for Believer Magazine, and this book collects ten years of his columns. He writes like an English eccentric, gravitating to books that he considers eccentric. For instance, his review of Jane Tomalin’s biography of Thomas Hardy focuses on Hardy’s heart (yes, the organ) and its burial, while the rest of the body was cremated and the ashes kept in Westminster Abbey.

In the same chapter he reviews Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning. Anyone who’s read it knows that it bears zero resemblance to anything to do with Thomas Hardy or English romanticism (more like a Wild West story) or eccentricity. Then again, you have colorful characters like Bella Abzug, Ed Koch, Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, and Mario Cuomo. Perhaps you could call Bella Abzug a bit of an eccentric?

Unfortunately, most of the reviews were not as interesting. Believer  Magazine is largely hit-or-miss; either you like it or you don’t. Unless you’re a longtime Nick Hornby fan, you might not like this book that much.