POLYSYLLABIC SPREE

A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for his music criticism, Nick Hornby now turns his unerring gaze to books. Here, in his monthly accounts of what hes read - along with what he bought and may one day read - Nick Hornby ably explores everything from the classic to the graphic novel, as well as poems, plays, and sports-related exposes. And if he occasionally implores a biographer for brevity, or abandons a literary work in favor of an Arsenal soccer match, then all is not lost. His warm and riotous writing, full of all the joy and surprise and despair that books bring him, reveals why we still read, even when theres soccer on TV, a pram in the hall, and a good band playing at our local bar.