Okay, I
know you’re married and not available (yeah, I’m married, too, but I bet if I
told my husband I was going to run off with you he might not mind too much –
he’s a big fan of High Fidelity). And we'd have a good time together. I'd compliment you on your writing, bring you tea, learn to like bangers and mash. Say "gobsmacked" all the time.
But I’m not
really in love with Nick Hornby. I do love his books very much (Juliet, Naked - what a delicious read). When a friend
told me in December about Mr. Hornby’s latest novel, Funny Girl, I couldn’t wait to read
it.
Uh-oh. Big problem. It wasn’t available yet in the U.S. Thank goodness for Amazon.co.uk. (Plus how cool is it to get a book that costs £ 8.90?) My copy of Funny Girl came before
Christmas. Ah, and it's glorious. Mr. Hornby's prose is deceptively simple and accessible. His words don’t get in the
way, his writing isn’t self-conscious. And
there’s a realness and relatability (is that really a word?) to his characters
– you know these people. You might
actually be like these people.
Funny Girl is about a woman in the ‘60s who dreams of becoming a TV star, like her idol,
Lucille Ball. It’s funny, it’s moving, you will fall in love with Barbara Parker/Sophie Straw and the people around her. And you'll have a grand time in the '60s.
(By the way, my last blog post was about a neglected TV show, It Takes a Choir - if you haven't checked it out, please do. I'm not kidding about how good it is. Available on Amazon.)
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