On 20 June, I had to work late. Not too late. Six o'clock late. And having walked past A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books several times (daily. twice daily.) I noted the Nick Hornby reading scheduled for seven that night and thought "Hm, I can easily stop by on my way home." Over a hundred other people decided to stop by too.
A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books is clean, well-lighted, and contains many books, but it's not ideal for a reading. (It also doesn't have any nooks and crannies to burrow into with that book you want to read but don't have the money to buy when someone is refusing to return the library's only copy...) The best bookstores, though, aren't designed for readings; they're designed to hold the maximum number of books. (Dog Eared Books, on Valencia. City Lights, in North Beach.) But in general, ACWLP is a nice independent bookstore on my path between work and home.
I arrived shortly after six and the couple dozen seats were already taken. The city's summer days had reached a peak that week, so I was bit sweaty and the crowded, standing room only area only fueled my discomfort. I browsed some interesting new paperbacks while I waited, but nothing held my attention long enough to spur a purchase.
The talk around me of course was books books books. Having only read Hornby's High Fidelity and some of his lighter non-fiction articles, I had no idea what the book he was promoting entailed until he started reading.
Fortunately, book lovers like to have things start on time. (After being reminded for the third time that the reading was going to be recorded for a radio show and that all cell phones needed to be turned completely off. Thank you.)
He began by reading excerpts from A Long Way Down. A morbid tale of four lost souls who meet right before their own planned demise. Hornby pops into the head of each protagonist giving us a humorous look into what each of them is thinking (and at the reading funny voices). It was enough to spark my interest. A Long Way Down has landed on my list of books to read.
Powell's has a great interview with Nick Hornby that will give you a better idea of the contents of the reading.
The Q & A at the end is always dismal. It's always aspiring writers asking about the writing process. And the writers always respond with "I don't have a process." Hornby responded with something like: I smoke and drink coffee and sit in my flat and write a few words and then check e-mail. Except he's a writer and from England so add many more syllables and a British accent to that.
He did mention the band Magic Numbers as his favorite band of the moment (well, that moment several days ago).
