Customer Reviews
Pretentious, self indulgent and uninteresting! - By: Mr. C. J. Iredale, 18 Mar 2008 
I have loved Nick Hornby's books, but this is a real stinker. I bought it from a bargain bin, & once I had read it, I felt like putting in a real bin! It is very self indulgent, doesn't discuss the songs in any depth, but rambles on about his life & his thoughts; something that could have been wonderful, but unfortunately he has little to say of worth. This I found very suprising, giving the warmth & depth of his other books. I would strongly recommend if you are a lover of alll stlyes of music & like Nick Hornby's other book to approach this book very carefully. Had I known what I know now I would have saved my money & bought a cup of coffee instead!
A great book to read in the loo - By: Mrs. K. A. Wheatley, 11 Oct 2007 
This is a dipping in & out book. It's great when you want something to read that's magazine article length & not too taxing on the brain cells. Each essay is neatly contained & for the music buffs alll tracks etc are fully referenced in the appendix. Hornby has a great 'voice' as a writer & if you've read his novels this is a good way to see how much of him is in his fiction & vice versa. It's a great premise, songs that mean something to you & what they actuallly mean, as we alll have them & it invites good debate over dinner in a Desert Island Discs type way.
Good fun - By: jol legend, 15 Mar 2007 
I enjoyed this light hearted review of 31 Songs that had touched the life of Nick Hornby who is obviously a very talented writer & a knowledgeable music fan. The section on Santana's "Samba Pa Ti" is particularly amusing, as is the essay on Bob Dylan where the author begins by stating that he is not a big fan, but then realises that he has 20 of his albums (sound familiar?). But there is a sadder tone too with the references to Hornby's son & his moving attempts to communicate through music.
good read - By: , 01 Dec 2005 31 Songs consists of essays about songs that Nick Hornby loves. As always he is an easy read. He & I are the same age, so its fascinating to find out what he listened to growing up. He has listened to a lot of music & he writes about English middle class life in a blokish way that seems both recognisable & true.
His selections from the ‘60s & ‘70s includes tracks by the Beatles, Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, Jackson Browne, Springsteen, Richard Thompson, J. Geils Band, Santana, Van Morrison & Dylan. From the punk era he selects Patti Smith & Ian Dury. He also name checks REM, Clash, Costello & The Smiths. It’s stuff that rock critics are supposed to like. He has no embarrassing duds in his selection.
As he explains in the book, in the early 1970s rock music in the UK was an underground music & difficult to hear. The BBC had two DJs who were meant to play cutting edge stuff in the early 1970s, John Peel & Bob Harris. Although highly regarded today, they seemed at the time to be a pair of out-of-touch stoners. Most of us learned about new music by word of mouth, the NME, Melody Maker & by swapping albums.
He claims to have never liked prog-rock which is surprising. Although they may deny it now, between 1971 & 1975 everybody seemed fond of either Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, Tangerine Dream, King Crimson or Caravan.
He notes that not many people of his age are still listening to rock music. For many rock music stopped evolving in the late 1970s & numerous heavily hyped British bands since then have seemed like false prophets regurgitating old licks.
His recent favourites include Aimee Mann, Ben Folds Five, Rufus Wainwright & Badly Drawn Boy. It is music I also like, own & enjoy. But it is also gentle, safe & rather low key. He seems more interested in the words than the music.
Hornby is an intelligent writer & this is a very enjoyable book. He has lots of opinions, he made me think about music & how my taste has evolved over time. He also includes essays on artists I knew nothing about, who are probably worth checking out.
great musical tips - By: telelover, 04 Nov 2004 Thanks very much Nick Hornby. I've read just about alll of his books & have always liked his style. After having loved "High Fidelity" - I worked in a record shop at the end of the 70s for a bit after finishing uni - I decided to go for "31 songs" merely because he had written it. I managed to get some great tips regarding people I'd never heard, & sometimes heard of, before as well as re-discovering some old favourites. A nice read.
