Damn you, Nick Hornby!

I read the book of his I got, Polysyllabic Spree (if I spelt that right). And though I loved it, it vexes me for two reasons:

1) Now I want to read all the books he mentioned. Which is kind of why I picked it, to see if there was anything good in the world of non-fantasy/sci-fi fiction I might like but am currently ignorant of. BUT, I don't know if I can trust his opinion. The man's favorite author is Dickens. Dickens! And as I've mentioned before I loathe everything that Dickens ever wrote except for A Christmas Carol. Nick Hornby can sell Dickens to me until he's blue in the face, but I will never give Great Expectations another shot, let alone give David Copperfield, which is nearly twice as long, a first shot. It's just that simple. I still might give some of his mentions a try, though. One of them had actually been recommended to me before by someone else, and some of the quoted portions of others sound too good to resist.

2) Now I want to make a book blog! I should've realized this from before I cracked open the book, because a terrific book of essays on music he wrote pretty much inspired me to revive Alternatune/Karaoke Supernova. But I know no one wants to read my blatherings on books. I'm not clever about it like Hornby. It'd just be a collection of my tastes, which are probably unique to me and no good to anyone else. Hell, that's already what Karaoke Supernova is. I'm under no illusions that anyone reads that one other as a favor to me. Half my content would be gone if I took out the incoherant babblings about Ben Folds. But... I like doing KS. And I think I'd like doing a book one. Also, it might be nice to have a reserve of books I like and why I like them written down for Staff Picks/Morning Reccomends fodder for work. I'll have to muse on this. But damn. I really shouldn't. Because you KNOW then after that I'm going to start a movie one that would be yet another waste of cyberspace as well.

The Jacob Slichter/Semisonic one's going fairly well, though I'm sad for him because right where I'm at is when Closing Time is big and I know it can only go downhill. But I have to remind myself that obviously he writes now, so he's probably fairly contented and not homeless or anything present day.