Books, Movies, Rhythm, Blues: Nick Hornby Discusses the Finer Things

The great thing about an essay collection is that it's easy to read when you're on the go. You can quickly read one essay on the bus, scan another at your desk between meetings, catch up on a few before bed. Unfortunately, if the writer happens to be Nick Hornby, you'll be so delighted with the tales he has to tell that you'll just read the entire collection from cover to cover in one sitting.

Books, Movies, Rhythm, Blues is a 2013 e-book that collects some of Hornby's best non-fiction pieces over the years. You can read collections of his brilliant "Stuff I've Been Reading" columns he wrote for the Believer (I read More Baths Less Talking recently and highly recommend it if you want intelligent and humorous commentary on literature and life, as well as a stack of book recommendations), but this collection spans more than just books. It includes musings on music, filmmaking, sports, and highly amusing autobiographical anecdotes. There's much to love here, and each reader will find their own favorite piece, so I'll just highlight some of my favorites. 

Naturally the essay about P.G. Wodehouse was a corker (I made my dad read it the instant I was finished). Hornby perfectly captures why we love Wodehouse - the complexity of language, the intricate plots, the chance to just unwind and enjoy the image of a daffy Earl doting on his prized pig. Hornby's essay about the process of adapting and making the movie, An Education (for which he received a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination), is a wonderful insight into the creative process and the challenges of screenwriting, producing, casting, schmoozing, and traipsing around film festivals. You'll want to re-watch the movie as soon as you're done reading about how it made the journey from his pen to theatres. If TV's your thing, there's an excellent essay about The West Wing, that serves as a loving ode to the show in particular, and a comparative critique of the merits of American and British TV in general. At the time of writing, Hornby seems to despair of British TV, contending that it has been beaten by the burgeoning quality of American television. I wonder what he would say today.

However, the essay that made me laugh loudest was a hysterical tale about Hornby's part-time job at the English branch of some well-known South Korean corporation. He started out as a weekend English tutor to help the Korean salesmen but slowly finagled a job that would let him work in the afternoon and write in the mornings. This supposedly cushy job quickly devolved into a series of weird scenarios where Hornby was subjects to the caprices of the company's South Korean chairman, who would announce in Seoul that he wanted to re-create Hampton Court or purchase an equestrian center to train the Olympic equestrian team, and these lofty demands would be filtered down to Hornby, who would have to research their practicality. A complete wastrel at heart, Hornby was astonished at how seriously his colleagues took these requests, requiring that equestrian centers be purchased within a week instead of waiting six months and forgetting all about it as he envisioned. It's a wonderful clash of cultures, work ethics, and personalities, and guaranteed to make you burst out laughing. 

As you may have noticed, I haven't singled out any music-related essays. Hornby is a music fanatic (this is the man who wrote High Fidelity after all) and his music essays are written with obsessive love. Unfortunately, music journalism is not my thing and I tended to skim those pieces. But if you love articulate, passionate critiques about songs, artists, and decades of musical change, you'll love what Hornby has to say. Books, Movies, Rhythm, Blues has enough material to whet the appetite of any reader, regardless of your interests. Some essays may be more relevant to you than others, but they are all equally insightful and hilarious.