Works by
Nick Hornby
(Writer)
[April 17, 1957 - ]

Books

As Editor

• Otherwise Pandemonium (2005, US,  UK )

• Speaking with the Angel (2000, US UK )

• The Picador Book of Sportswriting (1996, US UK )

• My Favourite Year: A Collection of Football Writing (1993, US UK )

Fiction

• An Education (October 6, 2009 release, US UK )

• Juliet, Naked (2009 release, US UK )
  Annie loves Duncan-or thinks she does. Duncan loves Annie, but then, all of a sudden, he doesn't. Duncan really loves Tucker Crowe, a reclusive Dylanish singer-songwriter who stopped making music ten years ago. Annie stops loving Duncan, and starts getting her own life.
  
  In doing so, she initiates an e-mail correspondence with Tucker, and a connection is forged between two lonely people who are looking for more out of what they've got. Tucker's been languishing (and he's unnervingly aware of it), living in rural Pennsylvania with what he sees as his one hope for redemption amid a life of emotional and artistic ruin-his young son, Jackson. But then there's also the new material he's about to release to the world: an acoustic, stripped-down version of his greatest album, Juliet-entitled, Juliet, Naked.
  
  What happens when a washed-up musician looks for another chance? And miles away, a restless, childless woman looks for a change? Juliet, Naked is a powerfully engrossing, humblingly humorous novel about music, love, loneliness, and the struggle to live up to one's promise.

• Slam (2007, US UK)
  For 16-year-old Sam, life is about to get extremely complicated. He and his girlfriend—make that ex-girlfriend— Alicia have gotten themselves into a bit of trouble. Sam is suddenly forced to grow up and struggle with the familiar fears and inclinations that haunt us all.
  
  Nick Hornby’s poignant and witty novel shows a rare and impressive understanding of human relationships and what it really means to be a man.

• A Long Way Down (2005, US UK)

• How to Be Good (2001, US UK)
  Katie Carr is a good person. She recycles. She's against racism. She's a good doctor, a good mom, a good wife....well, maybe not that last one, considering she's having an affair and has just requested a divorce via cell phone. But who could blame her? For years her husband's been selfish, sarcastic, and underemployed, writing the "Angriest Man in Holloway" column for their local paper.
  
  But now David's changed. He's become a good person, too-really good. He's found a spiritual leader. He has become kind, soft-spoken, and earnest. He's even got a homeless kid set up in the spare room. Katie isn't sure if this is a deeply-felt conversion, a brain tumor-or David's most brilliantly vicious manipulation yet. Because she's finding it more and more difficult to live with David-and with herself.

• About a Boy (1998, US UK)
  Will Behr lives on his own and does not want children, but he does see the point of single mothers, especially if they look like Julie Christie. Then he meets Marcus, whose parents have split up and who is being persecuted by bullies. Marcus discovers that Will has a lot to teach him about life.

• High Fidelity (1995, US UK)
  Is it possible to share your life with someone whose record collection is incompatible with your own? Can people have terrible taste and still be worth knowing? Do songs about broken hearts and misery and loneliness mess up your life if consumed in excess? For Rob Fleming, thirty-five years old, a pop addict and owner of a failing record shop, these are the sort of questions that need an answer, and soon. His girlfriend has just left him. Can he really go on living in a poky flat surrounded by vinyl and CDs or should he get a real home, a real family and a real job? Perhaps most difficult of all, will he ever be able to stop thinking about life in terms of the All Time Top Five bands, books, films, songs - even now that he's been dumped again, the top five break-ups. Memorable, sad and very, very funny, this is the truest book you will ever read about the things that really matter.

Non-fiction

• Shakespeare Wrote for Money (2008, US UK)
  With an affectionate introduction by Sarah Vowell, this is the third and final collection of columns by celebrated novelist Nick Hornby from The Believer magazine. Hornby's monthly reading diary is unlike any arts column in any other publication; it discusses cultural artifacts the way they actually exist in people's lives. Hornby is a voracious and unapologetic reader, and his notes on books — highbrow and otherwise — are always accessible and hilarious.

• Housekeeping vs. the Dirt (2006, US UK)
  In this latest collection of essays following The Polysyllabic Spree, critic and author Nick Hornby continues the feverish survey of his swollen bookshelves, offering a 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 contemporary letters, with revelations on contemporary culture, the intellectual scene, and English football, in equal measure.

• The Polysyllabic Spree (2004, The Polysyllabic Spree UK)
  The Polysyllabic Spree collects a year's worth of Hornby’s riotous and informative "Stuff I’ve Been Reading" columns from the Believer, in which Hornby lists the books he’s read, along with what he bought and may one day read. He ably explores everything from the classic to the graphic novel, as well as poems, plays, and sports-related exposés. 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 there's soccer on TV, a pram in the hall, and a good band playing at our local bar.
  
  All proceeds from the book will be split between 826NYC, a writing center in Brooklyn offering free classes to students between the ages of 8 and 18, and Treehouse, a London-based charity for kids with autism.

• 31 Songs (2003, US  UK )
  Aka Songbook.  (US UK )
  What interests Nick Hornby? Songs, songwriters, everything, compulsively, passionately. Here is his ultimate list of 31 all-time favorite songs. And here are his smart, funny, and very personal essays about them, written with all the love and care of a perfectly mastered mixed tape...

• Fever Pitch (1992, US UK)
  Chronicles Nick Hornby's obsession with British football, and his extraordinary devotion to one team, Arsenal.

• High Fidelity: The Musical (2006), David Lindsay-Abaire, book; Amanda Green. lyrics; Tom Kitt, music.

• An Education (2008)
  Lone Scherfig, director; screenplay by Nick Hornby.

• Fever Pitch (2005)
  Bob and Peter Farrelly, directors with Drew Barrymore, Jack Kehler, Jason Spevack, and Jimmy Fallon DVD  VHS

• About a Boy (2002)
  Chris and Paul Weitz, directors with Hugh Grant, Madison Cook, Nicholas Hoult, and Sharon Small.  DVD VHS

• High Fidelity (2000)
  Stephen Frears, director with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Iben Hjejle, Jack Black, and John Cusack.  DVD VHS

• Fever Pitch (1997)
  David Evans, director with Colin Firth; screenplay by Nick Hornby.  DVD VHS

• Biography: Nick Hornby (2007, US)
  An article from: Contemporary Authors Online by Gale Reference Team (Digital - HTML)