I was fortunate enough to find out in time that my favorite author, Nick Hornby, was in town last night to read some excerpts from his new book, Juliet, Naked. The Cambridge-educated North Londoner, who's adapted screenplay An Education is in theaters this week, read a couple of chapters from the book, answered questions for about 30-40 minutes and finally signed books for the 300+ fans that showed up at the Skirball Center.
As the author opened his mouth to speak to the audience for the first time, my buddy and I both worried that his voice would not fit our idea of what Nick, or at least the narrator that we imagine in our heads as we read, would sound like. Thankfully Nick didn't disappoint us like I'm sure David Beckham did for most Americans the first time they heard him speak. (not exactly a soccer godlike voice). He spoke in a much deeper voice than I had imagined. I thought to myself, if someone asked me to describe it, I would have to go with either a codgy old dodger or a dodgy old codger. I'm not sure which is the correct version or if either are in fact actual sayings...nor do I know what they mean.
Juliet, Naked is about a 'reclusive 1980s rock star forced out of isolation when the re-release of his most famous album brings him into contact with some of his most passionate fans.' Much like High Fidelity and most of Hornby's works, music again plays a central role in the story (hence my appreciation for his writing). During the Q+A, Hornby spoke a bit about music. As most fans know, Nick is a huge Springsteen fan (recently took his young sons to see the Boss at Arsenal's stadium) but also loves the J. Geils Band. Oh yeah, he also said he loves the new Elvis Perkins.
After describing his usual daily schedule (which includes lots of procrastinating and lots of looking for music on the internet), he mentioned his love of music blogs and recommended one that I too have down as a favorite. I've followed the I Am Fuel, You Are Friends blog for a while now having shared a similar taste with its author (the blog is named after a PJ lyric) and am quite happy to know that my favorite author also read's Heather's posts.
More exciting music news (that I hadn't heard about) from Nick...he is currently writing lyrics to accompany some Ben Folds-penned music for a collaboration to be released in the near future. He's also doing some reggae-themed comedy thing for BBC apparently.
Check out Nick's NY Times 2008 Playlist
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