I enjoyed this, although not as much as I'd enjoyed High Fidelity & About a Boy. It was quite depressing really and I completely disagree with some of the critics quoted on the back who thought it was "breezily hilarious", "a hoot" and so on. Actually the critics themselves seemed to be quite divided about whether it was dark, funny or darkly funny themselves. And if you go in on the basis that it's not going to be as much of a feel-good book as Hornby's previous ones, and that's not what you're after, it's probably very enjoyable (I tend to alternate "easy" and "challenging" reads and was expecting a lighthearted easy read here!)

I started reading this while flying from Washington DC to Berlin for a friend's hen (bachelorette) party. I was sitting next to a man from southwestern USA who thought it was hilarious that I should be reading a book entitled "How to be Good" when I was off for a long weekend with a bunch of girls in Berlin, away from husband and children. I'm not sure whether he thought it was an instruction manual... Anyway, there's some interesting history for this particular copy of the book, for whoever it may belong to in the future!

To be sent to bluenoser as trade at the end of August...

Sent to bluenoser today - enjoy it!

Thanks so much for this one. It just arrived in the mail about 30 minutes ago, with 2 others! How am I ever going to get my living-room painted with such a lovely pile of books to read!
"The Horse Whisperer" is on its way to you - enjoy.

I'm moving this up the TBR pile. Promised to FizzyPig and will be mailed while I'm in England.
October 28th. - I finished reading this in Iceland. I agree with Kernow's review of this book. It was not hilariously funny. I wanted to shake the heroine and smack the self-righteous hero. It was a bit too preachy to me and dragged on to a rather inconclusive and unsatisfactory end. I'm glad Kernow preferred Nick Hornby's other books as I'm in a bookray for another.

Thank you very much for the book and postcard bluenoser!

They arrived in the post this morning (so didn't get entangled in the UK postal strike, hurrah). I don't usually notice how books smell (except new ones), but I think this book smells lovely, slightly floral.

Will journal again once read...

Hmm, I didn't really enjoy this book. A shame, as I'd been wanting to try this author for quite a while. I may try some of his other titles though, if they are a little more up-beat.

I thought that some of the ideas in the book were interesting and thought-provoking... What does it mean to "be good" - do you have to be doing things that are actually inconvenient to yourself for your goodness mean something? What if your spouse suddenly and dramatically changed? How would you cope if a nutter moved into your house?

There were a couple of amusing bits, but these were few and far between. Generally, I found the tone of the book a bit depressing. And not in a good way. (I can take a bit of depression in a good book; Tess of the D'Urbervilles used to be a favourite wallow).

The main problem was that I didn't really sympathise with any of the characters. Maybe I'm a glass-half-full kind of girl at heart, but I didn't really believe that an intelligent woman with two kids and a good job could be living such a love-free, self-pitying sort of life.

I shall offer this up as a rabck on the wish-list board. Maybe it'll find someone who loves it next!

Sent to fanclub this morning.

Came from a fellow BookCrosser...thanks for sharing!

Well, this book was well-written, and there were a couple of parts that amused me, but I found all of the characters incredibly unlikeable and the ending very unsatisfying. I'm not sure that I'd actually recommend this book to anyone. I haven't read any of Hornby's other books, but I have a couple on my shelf, and I hope that they are better than this...I've heard such good things about this author!

Released on Saturday, November 27, 2004 at about 12:00:00 PM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at CasualReader's BookRelay release in Postal Release, Hawaii USA.

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to AM10000 for the "Yet Another Reverse Wishlist Relay" on CasualReader's site...enjoy!

I just got this one in the mail today through a book relay at bookrelay.com.
Thank you so much!!

Thanks AM10000!