Songbook - Hardcover

Nick Hornby is the author of six novels, the most recent of which is Juliet, Naked, and a memoir, Fever Pitch. He is a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award for music criticism, and editor of the short-story collection Speaking with the Angel. In 2010 Hornby's screenplay for An Education was nominated for an Academy Award. He lives in North London.

"A small, singular, delightful collection [about] the power of songs to bind people culturally and to reach deeply into the human spirit, bending the heart into new shapes with new potential." The New York Times Book Review

"When Hornby writes about his enthusiasms and how they intertwine with his life, he's amusing and inspiring." Rolling Stone

"That whole subculture, all those mournful guys to whom the sound of record-store bin dividers clicking by is almost music enough, should love Songbook, yet so should anyone interested in great essays, or in the delicate art of being funny, or in how to write about one's feelings in such a way that other people will actually care." San Francisco Chronicle

"Delivered in a hugely enjoyable, invisible prose that does in words what Hornby’s tunesmiths do with sound. He writes good." Time Out London

"Quintessentially Hornby: an idiosyncratic and charming exploration of the meaning of music and how it changes as we grow up and grow old." Seattle Weekly

"A book about the joy of listening to great pop songs, about the elusive genius of a catchy chorus . . . what shines most is Hornby himself his wry self-awareness, his disarming honesty. Effortlessly readable, every chapter reminds us how special an observer of human behavior Hornby is." Heat