A fantastic book. Wry, ironic, hysterical, poignant, and thoughtful. It seems like some other reviewers were disappointed based on their expectations of this not comparing to Hornby's other books, although as someone reading him for the first time I must say they might be over-analyzing it just a touch. Not since Bill Bryson have I laughed out loud while reading. Hornby writes in a simple conversational style that grabs the reader. Although it is 464 pages, it reads fast and was a delight every time I picked it up. Above all he is to be prized for his honesty in admitting his own failures and in his necessarily oblique reviews of some books as to not run afoul of his employers in San Francisco and their white robes! If you are a voracious reader who loves books you will love this.
How often do you begin reading a book that makes you—immediately, urgently, desperately—want to read more books?” (Booklist). Nick Hornby has managed to write just such a book in this hilarious, insightful, and infectious volume. Ten Years in the Tub chronicles Hornby's journey through a decade’s worth of books, as related in his wildly popular Believer column “Stuff I’ve Been Reading.”
Ten Years in the Tub is a one-way ticket into the mind of one of the most beloved contemporary writers on his favorite pastime, but it's also a meditation on what Celine Dion can teach us about ourselves, a warning about how John Updike can ruin our sex lives, and a recommendation for the way Body Shop Vanilla Shower Gel can add excitement to our days. This "decade-long addiction for many... makes standing in line at the bank a blessed interval for snorting another page.
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