Housekeeping vs. The Dirt ~Nick Hornby

–2006, Believer Books
–153 pages
–4.25/5 stars

It was with equal parts joy and sadness that I set out to read the second in Nick Hornby’s trilogy of books collecting his columns from Believer magazine. The sadness came from the fact that this was the remaining book of the three that I had not read and once it was over there would be no more. Had I harbored any intentions of savoring this and making it last (and believe me, I didn’t), those intentions would have been swept out the door as with a flood upon reading Hornby’s preface. In it he takes to task the idea of ‘proper’ vs. ‘improper’ reading. This book would have been worth reading just for this section alone.

“One of the problems, it seems to me, is that we have got it into our heads that books should be hard work, and that unless they’re hard work, they’re not doing us any good. I recently had conversations with two friends, both of whom were reading a very long political biography that had appeared in many of 2005’s ‘Books of the Year’ lists. They were struggling. Both of these people are parents–they each, coincidentally, have three children–and both have demanding full-time jobs. And each night, in the few minutes they allowed themselves to read before sleep, they plowed gamely through a few paragraphs about the (very) early years of a major twentieth-century world figure. At the rate of progress they were describing, it would take them many, many months before they finished the book, possibly even decades…The truth is, of course, that neither one of them will ever finish it–or at least, not in this phase of their lives. In the process, though, they will have reinforced a learned association of books with struggle.”

Hornby goes on to say:

“If reading is to survive as a leisure activity…then we have to promote the joys of reading rather than the (dubious) benefits…please, if you’re reading a book that’s killing you, put it down and read something else… All I know is that you can get very little from a book that is making you weep with the effort of reading it. You won’t remember it, and you’ll learn nothing from it, and you’ll be less likely to choose a book over Big Brother next time you have a choice.”

Many of us have made similar arguments about books and reading before, but I must admit that I get an extra shot of pleasure whenever a published author expounds upon the joys of reading and puts a fork in the overdone idea that there is a ‘right’ and a ‘wrong’ kind of reading.

Fear not, the serious tone of the preface doesn’t pervade the book, Hornby’s trademark humor is there in spades.

My chuckling began in earnest during the second chapter (although the last line in the first chapter is pretty funny!), where Hornby name drops Sarah Vowell frequently and shares a story about reading a book to his son that any parent (who has had to read the same book over and over and over and over again) can relate to. This second chapter also ends with a selection from Sarah Vowell’s book Assassination Vacation, that had me immediately pulling up the library website to place it on hold. Those 4 featured pages were fascinating.

Like the other two volumes in this collection, Nick Hornby reads a variety of nonfiction and fiction books that, more often than not, are well outside the range of what I find myself carrying out of my local library or bookstore. Frankly that is part of the appeal. Nick Hornby’s commentary rises above the subject matter of any particular volume and cuts right to the heart of what makes the average reader tick, and in doing so creates an environment that binds us together with our fellow readers. And despite his reading whims being so divergent from my own, I have managed to list several books that he makes sound interesting enough for me to want to read them. And thus far I have been very pleased with his recommendations.

Like you and I, Hornby has months in which he struggles with finding anything to read that is particularly appealing. In one chapter Hornby laments the siren call of a book that he chose not to pick up about a subject that he has never had any particular interest in. While his reading seems stale, the lure of this book haunts him. Hornby’s conversational style puts these common experiences into words that feel like they are the manuscript of our own thoughts. He is such a pleasure to read.

During one month Hornby looked like he was going to come close to alienating this new fan when he attempted to go outside of his comfort zone and read science fiction. It does not take. But even on this occasion Hornby manages to convey his own issues with the genre in a way that does not wound and instead becomes the perfect outline by which any person could describe their dislike of a genre without offending those who are its fans.

Included also are the requisite mentions of football, rants against the establishment of Believer magazine, and more books purchased than read. There is a very fun, tongue-in-cheek chapter in which Hornby attempts to shed light on his many accusations against the Polysyllabic Spree. Just like with his first and third books, there are volumes listed in the ‘Books Bought’ list that do not make it into the ‘Books Read’ column that ultimately disappoint me simply because they are books that I have either read or heard of and would love Hornby’s take on them. I was thrilled to see that he read The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton. Though I would have had him expound more on this novel, had he not read it and merely listed it as a purchase, I’m not sure my heart could have handled the disappointment.

Housekeeping vs. The Dirt was the perfect book to read early on into the 24 Hour Read-a-thon. It set the tone with its humor and its propensity to make my to-read list grow! I added Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov to that list after Hornby’s description of it made me laugh out loud:

“I think I’d sort of presumed that the eponymous penguin was metaphorical, like both the squid and the whale in The Squid and the Whale; my antipathy to the animal kingdom is such that even animal metaphors tend to have a deterrent effect. (What kind of person thinks in animal metaphors? In this day and age?) Imagine my horror, then, when I learned during Kurkov’s reading…that the penguin in Death and the Penguin is not like the squid or the whale, but, like, and actual penguin. The penguin is a character, who–pull yourself together, man, which–has moods and feelings, and has an integral part in the story, and so on. And, as if the author actually wanted me to hate his novel, it’s a cute penguin too. ‘It will be a hard-hearted reader who is not touched by Viktor’s relationship with his unusual pet,’ says one of the quotes on the back. (Why not just find a blurb saying ‘Don’t Buy This Book’?)”

Hornby later writes:

“Misha [the penguin], however, turns out to be as depressed as Viktor, and it just sort of wanders about, and occasionally disappears off to its bedroom, like a homesick teenager on a foreign exchange program.”

He goes on to describe the book as funny and clever and so on, but those above statements, for whatever reason, had me giggling out loud.

Near the end Hornby reviews the book Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth by Andrew Smith. I have heard others talk about this book before and it always sounded like a ‘must read’, and for a science fiction fan who just happens to also be a fan of the real space program and the fantastic universe that spreads across the night sky, this was a particular treat to (nearly) finish the book with.

Through three books: The Polysyllabic Spree, Housekeeping vs. The Dirt, and Shakespeare Wrote for Money, Nick Hornby has entertained me, added books to my ‘to read’ pile that never would have shown up on my radar if not for his witty and insightful commentary, and has proven himself a kindred spirit to those who simply love to read. I cannot recommend these books any more highly than to say that, even if you are currently madly in love with reading, they will help you fall in love with reading all over again.