Being an Arsenal supporter, this has special significance, but the beauty of this book about the all-consuming nature of supporting a football team is that it speaks to anyone who's experienced the agonies and ecstasies of following the beautiful game, no matter what team or division you follow. This oft-quoted excerpt sums up the spirit of both the book and its subject: I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it.
A book that many a football fan can, no doubt, relate too. Hornby tells the story of his fanatical love of football from the age of 11. The amazing recall of every match, every player, every goal, every touch of the ball that some fans manage to have Nick Hornby certainly has. It’s a miracle he manages to find time to write his fiction!
Chronicled from the perspective of a fanatical youngster, through disillusioned adolescence, to an adult "who should know better", the author - an Arsenal fan - examines the absurdities and traumas of everyday life and football. Combines anecdote with a wider commentary on the state of the game.
Nick Hornby was born in 1957, and is the author of Fever Pitch, High Fidelity, About a Boy and How to be Good. He also edited the collection of short stories Speaking With the Angel. He is the pop music critic for the New Yorker. In 1999, he was awarded the E.M.Forster award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives and works in Highbury, North London.
