That is another chamber of my heart that shows no electrical activity - the chamber that used to flicker into life when I saw a film that moved me, or read a book that inspired me, or listened to music that made me want to cry. I closed that chamber myself, for all the usual reasons. And now I seem to have made a pact with some philistine devil: if I don't attempt to re-open it, I will be allowed just enough energy and optimism to get through a working day without wanting to hang myself.
Nick HornbyShe thought I was...soulful, by which I think she means that I don't say much and I always look vaguely pissed off.
Nick HornbyNo time spent with a book is ever entirely wasted, even if the experience is not a happy one: thereโs always something to be learned. Itโs just that, every now and again, you can hit a patch of reading that makes you feel as if youโre pootling about. [...] But what can you do about it? We donโt choose to waste our reading time; it just happens. The books let us down.
Nick HornbyI lost the plot for a while then. And I lost the subplot, the script, the soundtrack, the intermission, my popcorn, the credits, and the exit sign.
Nick HornbyBut then, that was the trouble with relationships generally. They had their own temperature and there was no thermostat.
Nick HornbyIt's no good looking to writers for definitions of what constitutes proper writing, because you will drive yourself crazy, and you won't find anything that you can build into a coherent whole.
Nick HornbyI have learned things from the game. Much of my knowledge of locations in Britain and Europe comes not from school, but from away games or the sports pages, and hooliganism has given me both a taste for sociology and a degree of fieldwork experience. I have learned the value of investing time and emotion in things I cannot control, and of belonging to a community whose aspirations I share completely and uncritically.
Nick Hornby