Rosamond Lehmann in Vegas

by Nick Hornby, Daniel Gumbiner (editor)

Genres: Books About Books, Nonfiction, Essays

161 pages, Paperback

Published October 29, 2024

About the author

Nicholas Peter John Hornby is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir Fever Pitch (1992) and novels High Fidelity and About a Boy, all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists. His books have sold more than 5 million copies worldwide as of 2018. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Hornby was named the 29th most influential person in British culture. He has received two Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for An Education (2009), and Brooklyn (2015).

Reviews

[Concha Moreno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pues esta semana, por razones inconscientes que eluden mi lucidez, acabé leyendo sobre el Holocausto judío durante la WWII. Aclaro porque podemos hablar de un nuevo Holocausto en Gaza, judío en este caso porque es perpetrado por Israel. Así que leí sobre cosas como el destino de los 2000 niños del gueto de Bialystok (vayan a Wikipedia si quieren deprimirse). Acabé ponchadísima. Mi único antiveneno: Nick Hornby. Lo que nos lleva a "Rosamond Lehmann in Vegas", la más reciente colección de las reseñas literarias de Hornby.

Mi relación con Hornby es larga. Llevo veinte años leyendo sus novelas con la boca abierta (solo una, How to be Good, me ha parecido mala). Las amo como se ama el lugar favorito para leer o el recuerdo de las mejores vacaciones de la infancia. Su prosa es ligera, flexible, hasta acróbata, si entendemos la acrobacia como una forma sencilla de hacer movimientos increíblemente complicados.

Nick Hornby como crítico es igual de seductor. No sé si seductor sea la palabra; Hornby es el cuate que liga siendo un nerd. Sus reseñas, publicadas mensualmente en la revista Believer, me hacen feliz. Sí, muy feliz. Me devoro cada palabra y quiero leer cada libro del que escribe. "Rosamond Lehmann in Vegas" es una charla en la que no quieres intervenir: cuéntame más, por favor cuéntame más.

Leyendo a Hornby siento que vale la pena. Todo, la vida, leer, conversar y seguir escribiendo. A pesar de los genocidios, la pandemia (muchas de las reseñas de "Rosamond" fueron escritas en plena emergencia por la covid), el lastimado estado del mundo, hay razones para seguir pensando y creando. ¿No es esa la mejor manera de recibir un abrazo?

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hornby's What I Read columns in The Believer are always insightful and cleverly written. It's not often that I have already read something that he has purchased & read, but I HAD read Trouble Boys (about The Replacements) at the time it was published, and I agreed with Hornby's assessment of the band (who literally set fire to their career when they would burn their per diems).

Within this collection, Hornby frequently brings up the ideas of wanting to read everything by authors AND wanting those authors to continually produce (at one point, he notes the difference between this and Harper Lee's approach).

My wife got me this collection along with some cartoon great authors' sticky flags, and it was great using the Oscar Wilde flags in Hornby's review of how Oscar Wilde became the Oscar Wilde that people think of today.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hornby has been writing a column in Believer Magazine on "Stuff I've Been Reading" since 2003. This is a collection of his columns from October of 2017 to January of 2022. The title refers to the fact that the magazine was sold to an Institute at UNLV in 2017. The change in ownership doesn't seem to have had any effect on his column.

These columns, which I have been reading from the start, are not review columns, they are a reader's diary. Hornby enjoys talking about books. He does not feel the need to deliver a definitive judgment on every book he reads, and he is willing to share his enthusiasms.

Hornby is three years younger than I am. He is willing to share his old guy concerns. He says that "there is a pill that men are forced to swallow on the last day they are fifty-nine that makes them less interested in new fiction" I don't remember it, but I definitely took the pill. I have to force myself to read the new hot literary fiction sensations.

Similarly, he says that "nobody of my age can be trusted to tell you about the classic albums of the 1970s and how much better they were than anything that's come since, because we never listened as hard to anything ever again". Also true for me, and I don't even try to keep up with popular music.

Hornby is enthusiastic about what he reads. He does appreciate Sally Rooney, a new voice. He has an appreciation of Larry McMurtry. He is surprised about how much he enjoys "Lonesome Dove". He is a fan of books about popular music. He enjoys books on modern history.

I enjoy his enthusiasm. I have been introduced to several favorite authors by him. I think he got me going on Muriel Spark years ago.

He is a clever and smart author who writes intelligent commentary on books. What more do you want?

[Books I'm Not Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

This just wasn't as funny as the previous books in the series, but given what was taking place in the world - I get it.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nick Hornby writes a column for The Believer called "Stuff I've Been Reading," and periodically those columns are collected and released in book form. This is the second of these books that I've read, and it definitely makes want to go back to the beginning and read the ones that I missed. The pieces in this book are dated September 2017 to December 2021, and they're mostly about books (though there's one about the great albums of 2020) and they're all excellent. They're not formal reviews so much as a record of Nick Hornby's reading life (with glimpses of his life in general and larger world events), and I love the tone of these pieces, the way they capture Hornby's enthusiasms, the way they're interesting and smart and generous.

I've read only five of the books he discusses (The Lonely City, The Line Becomes a River, Conversations with Friends, Crudo, and Normal People) but that did not detract from my enjoyment at all. Indeed, part of the fun of reading this book is the fun of discovering books I've never heard of that I now want to read, or being reminded of books I've been meaning to read but haven't yet. I like what Hornby shares about his approach to reading, too, a lot of which resonates with me. He talks about having decided, at some point, to start reading "only books that looked as though they were going to serve my needs and tastes as a reader"; he talks about "the hundreds of unread books" he owns (and also includes a list of books he's bought recently at the start of every column); he talks about looking on his shelves for the right book to read next, "without having a clue what that book should be about, what tone it should have, how many pages it should be, whether the words should rhyme, what language it should be in." I love how he describes the delight of reading as a hobby: "I can't wait to start whatever it is I'm reading next, and finishing it, and starting the book after that. And so on, and on." In short: this book is a delight.

[Justin McFarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Hornby's first collection of his fantastic columns from "The Believer" magazine since his 2012 "More Baths, Less Talking" and it's a banger! He's so damn good at writing these brief but brilliant book reviews, that also delve into Hornby's psyche, as well as comment on the times in which he's writing - this collection covers a considerable amount of the pandemic, and what our relationship to books and reading was during that confusing and bleak period.

If you haven't read his other collections, they are all excellent - "The Polysyllabic Spree," "Housekeeping vs. the Dirt" and "Shakespeare Wrote for Money."

I had the extreme privilege and joy to see Nick signing this book at Book Soup in L.A. on Nov. 2, 2024, just days after the book was released. He was so friendly and energetic, and spoke for nearly an hour (with fellow writer Sarah Manguso) about books and music and the internet and his boys and the adaptations of his books, and so much more. Even got to tell him how much I loved "High Fidelity" and the other 4 Believer books. What an absolute treat that was!

Life is just a little bit sweeter with Hornby's literary voice out there in the world. A terrific writer and a genuinely good bloke!

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

After seeing someone else on Instagram who had recently read Ten Years in the Tub, I was left feeling a yearning to take another trip through Nick Hornby Believer musings, and I was delighted to realize that I had the still as yet unread Rosamond Lehmann in Vegas awaiting me on my shelves. This book collects Hornby’s Believer writings from during the pandemic, and it’s just as much of a delight as previous volumes. Reading Hornby writing about books makes me want to be friends with Nick Hornby. His taste in books is just as eclectic if not more so than my own, and I love the charming wit he brings to each of his entries. Definitely the sort of thing I could revisit over and over.

[Chris Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would have been best read in the magazine, a few months apart. I made the decision the next best way to read it would be full steam ahead, let the book recommendations wash over me. Update the goodreads list and maybe get to some of the books eventually. To stop and read every book Nick Hornby talks up would take years. He has a conversational tone talking about the books, he's not exactly recommending them to you, hes just talking about what he liked. He has a way of making even the type of boring literary books I normally avoid sound worth reading. Fun book. Great marketing for the magazine too, I subscribed.

[Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series of books by Hornby. This latest installment includes his columns from October 2017 through January 2022. As always, you get some great book recommendations, but more meaningfully you get Hornby’s observations on life, relationships, writing, music, America and the UK, and so much more. This latest collection overlaps with the Covid pandemic, so you get his thoughts on that unique time in our history as well. While I have enjoyed many of Hornby’s novels, it’s his non-fiction writing, like this, that I find most enjoyable.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adding to Nick Hornby's awesomeness, he apparently writes quarterly columns for a magazine in which he writes about the books he read that month/quarter. The rule is no snark. This compilation covers 2017 to 2021. It's fun to see the books that he read that I've read, ones he read that I had thought about reading (and now will track down in earnest), and books he has read that I would have never thought about it but now consider. It's the joy of a good friend gushing about books. This was a fun kickoff to a vacation reading spree.

[andrew y · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I was fortunate to find a new book or two to read, I find myself more often than not reminded that I do not think like Nick Hornby and thus cannot connect with the idea that reading about the linkage between some band and some other band in multiple books is rewarding.
For some people I am sure it is. But I think those people were also born in the fifties.

[Dick Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some really excellent collections of columns written by various authors, people such as Stephen Jay Gould, Chesterton, and various others. Hornby's columns, focusing principally on books but with a strong infusion of music, are always entertaining and well worth reading. In addition, you can get some excellent ideas of future books to read.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars if you like Hornby's book meditations (which I do! This is volume 5 and I've been reading them for so many years!), but probably not as much if you're not into the idea of him musing on the books he happens to be reading. As usual, I added some books to my "to-read" pile and had a good time while doing so.

[Mariya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never not a joy to read Nick Hornby, especially on his enthusiasm for other writers and their work.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a comfort read because Hornby's column is my favorite part of The Believer! These aren't book reviews. These are columns on books that Hornby reads mostly based on vibes. I love it!

[Ben Rosen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read most of the things Hornby reviewed here, but still really enjoyed almost every chapter/review. Funny!