Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Tough Titles

Nick Hornby had what must be the best job in the universe -- writing a column about his reading life, the books he bought and the books he read. He didn't have to review them, just talk about whatever he wanted in the context of his reading. His joy in this assignment makes the essays comic and perceptive -- he cares about reading, takes it seriously, but doesn't take himself seriously. Reading them reminds me of why I love to read, although I don't write about it as elegantly or read as literary books as he does (and since he always jokes about how dim his reading is, I'm really glad that I'll never be near him in a book discussion).

Housekeeping Vs. the Dirt is the second collection of his Believer reviews, and it wasn't until I closed the book that I realized what the title referred to -- a real duh moment. Two book titles, and probably the two most dissimilar books in his reviews. Well done.

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