Housekeeping vs. the Dirt
If you need proof that Nick Hornby's literary status hasn't gone to his head, consider the unpretentious banner of his book review column in The Believer: "Stuff I've Been Reading." This second collection of "Stuff" columns follows his successful Polysyllabic Spree. Like its predecessor, Housekeeping vs. the Dirt doesn't dawdle over exquisite sentiments or arcane insights; it moves briskly through the monthly offerings, touching down on the significant or the simply sensational. To peruse this book is to share Nick Hornby's discoveries; a refreshing option, indeed. In this latest collection of essays following Housekeeping vs. the Dirt, critic and author Nick Hornby continues the feverish survey of his swollen bookshelves, offering funny, intelligent, and unblinkered account of the stuff he's been reading. Ranging from the middlebrow to the highbrow (with unrepenting dips into the lowbrow), Hornby's dispatches from his nightstand table serve as useful guides to the contemporary literary scene. Purchasing more books than he can read in the month allotted to him, Hornby nevertheless manages to speed through an impressive amount of material, and his choices often strike into deep, odd places. Hornby's book reviews are suffused with wit, ire, and loving insight. He can be trusted to point out which books are ridiculously unfunny, which books can be read incognito for their naughtiness, and most urgently, which books can bring themselves "all the way through the long march to your soul."
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