Have you read Fever Pitch?

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Yes. It left me underwhelmed frankly. But then when it came out I was 20 and now Im double that I may revisit it at some point.

 

[Mr Banana]

It's a great book.

He has written a string of really funny, well written books since despite your snobby dismissal.

They've very accessible. Sometimes I think of Hornby as the novelist equivalent of a tabloid newspaper. On re-read, Fever Pitch (and possibly High Fidelity) could be said to be the start of metrosexualism, or at least football becoming fashionable (or at least accessible) and therefore being part of the build-up to £4 pies and £30 tickets.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

They've very accessible. Sometimes I think of Hornby as the novelist equivalent of a tabloid newspaper. On re-read, Fever Pitch (and possibly High Fidelity) could be said to be the start of metrosexualism, or at least football becoming fashionable (or at least accessible) and therefore being part of the build-up to £4 pies and £30 tickets.

So it's Hornby's fault. Bastard.

I agree, his books are not deeply intellectual, but they're not tabloidesque either. Somewhere inbetween.

 

[Brovion]

They've very accessible. Sometimes I think of Hornby as the novelist equivalent of a tabloid newspaper. On re-read, Fever Pitch (and possibly High Fidelity) could be said to be the start of metrosexualism, or at least football becoming fashionable (or at least accessible) and therefore being part of the build-up to £4 pies and £30 tickets.

I was going to say something similar. To glibly summarise: 'Fever Pitch' was when the middle classes started thinking football was cool and not the sole preserve of white working class male racist thugs. Although I do remember having quite a good discussion with somebody once that the movement had already started and Hornby merely reflected it. I think the truth is between the two. Personally I blame "When Saturday Comes" (joke).

 

[Nick Jarvis]

Under 30 (just) and have read it. Very enjoyable. The bit that stands out for me was when his mum brought him a ticket in the wrong end for an away cup game (Reading away i think) and she couldnt see the issue with that. Just like something my mum would have does and I'd have been equally ungrateful!

 

[Hotchilidog]

I've read it and thought it was superb.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Great book, truly awful film.

 

[Simster]

The film was one of the worst films I've ever seen, and is NOTHING like the book. His "long suffering" girlfriend is a peripheral figure in the book. God knows why it all revolves round her in the film, as it really completely misses the point of the book!

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Strangely it's the only one of his books I haven't read, just never for round to it.

 

[The Large One]

Great book, truly awful film.

It's truly awful film if you think it's the film of the book. But it isn't.

There's a loose backdrop of life-story flashbacks and Arsenal winning the league in 1989. Aside from that, there's not a huge amount to compare the two.

If you didn't know the book, you might find the film a mildly amusing distraction, but certainly not truly awful.

 

[Norman Potting]

Bollocks.

It's AN explanation. The film wasn't shit, it just wasn't a representation of the book, as the book, in truth, was fundamentally unfilmable. It's an adaptation of a slice of Hornby's book.

The book, however, lifted the football-writing genre out of fantasy and into a kind of intelligent, reasoned way of describing emotions (even if the subject matter was a bit nerdy - but then there's plenty on here like that).

Quite - the film made a good attempt at putting the gist of the story onto celluloid. Enjoyed the book, enjoyed some of his other books.

 

[gripper stebson]

Just finisished reading 32 Programmes which is a really lovely football memoir.

Fever Pitch - Great book. Average movie.

 

[Easy 10]

Fever Pitch is a great book. But lets face it, its no Gullhanger.

 

[catfish]

There was an excellent stage adaptation starring Tom Watt. Saw it at the Connaught in Worthing back in the day.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

It's more a book about growing up, than a football book. Arsenal is the background to his adolescence, but it could just as easily have been about trainspotting

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

There was an excellent stage adaptation starring Tom Watt. Saw it at the Connaught in Worthing back in the day.

Or Steve North (Wearing an Albion shirt when taking curtain calls)

 

[house your seagull]

I read it when I was about 14 or so, it was quite important for me actually.

At that time it was rubbish being an Albion fan in Brighton (around 97-98) but FP made me realise that there was a kind of 'alternative' football fan, and that football was beautiful and poignant at times and it was alright to feel like that.

I suppose I was growing up around people like Steve North and Paul Hodson who were doing the stage version, so perhaps I'm just being nostalgic, but I was growing up supporting a crap football team in a town that was becoming very 'cultural' at that point. It was a great dynamic, it influenced me and my fanzine co-editor a lot as we were best mates even back then.

 

[Storer 68]

The book is alright but not enough ANGST of supporting a desperately poor team.

After all, in the book, Arseanal win the Title in the most dramatic fashion in front a packed stadium and a live nationwide TV audience. I'm more used to worrying about how we can scrape a draw at Torquay on a wet cold tuesday night in November.

 

[Storer 68]

It's more a book about growing up, than a football book. Arsenal is the background to his adolescence, but it could just as easily have been about trainspotting

No, that's a different film entirely

 

[Cheshire Cat]

No, that's a different film entirely

I thought it an apt comparison - both about a destructive addiction (ruined weekends after a wet and cold February afternoon loosing to Huddersfield).

You can't however really compare worrying about Arsenal winning the league, and BHA being kicked out of the football league altogether - ours is a far more intense angst.