If this blog had virtual literary parents (stick with me…), they would be two books by one of my very favourite authors, certainly the one who seems to know most about me when he picks up his pen (do authors still use pens?). Nick Hornby has written bestsellers about football and music. I do believe, like many others of my gender and age, that Fever Pitch (apart from the Arsenal thing) and High Fidelity (apart from the working in a record shop thing) were written from a vantage point inside my head. Obviously, High Fidelity is the first of his books that has an influence on iceblah – it’s a book about music, lists and music lists. OK, It’s much more than that – but you can see the relevance here.
Parent number 2, if you can ignore the implication that this blog has the same grandfather on both sides, is a piece of non-fiction called 31 Songs. This is Nick writing about erm, 31 songs – not necessarily his favourites, not in any order, just songs that are significant, that bring back memories and that he is passionate about. The wonder of this book is the enthusiasm, it is book about music that isn’t written by a music journalist but by a music fan. It has no pretension and no hidden agenda – it’s just honest about the joy of music. Everyone has slightly embarrassing songs they briefly love and listen to permanently (I’m Like A Bird in this case). I don’t by any means love every song he writes about (but I remember making it my business to hear them all) but I love the way they are written about. If I get asked what my favourite book ever is, this is a very likely answer – it is certainly in the "High Fidelity" style top 5.
Now, there’s no way I’m ever going to write here with the style of Nick Hornby, but if I can get across my passion for the songs and artists in the way he achieves in 31 Songs, I’ll be very very happy. He once said something along the lines of "I write books because I can’t write music" – think I’m with you there Mr Hornby.