This slight book contains fourteen of Nick Hornby's monthly columns from The Believer magazine. In each article, Hornby starts off by listing the books he bought and the ones he read during the past month (as it is with many book lovers, the former list is often quite longer than the latter). Hornby goes on to describe the highlights from each month of reading, much in the way you might chat with a friend over a cup of coffee. The result is conversational, entertaining, and oddly satisfying. The only real downside is that Hornby was prevented by the editors of The Believer from writing anything negative about the books he's read, so several books are referred to only as "Unnamed Literary Novel". I give it three stars only because it's more of an appetizer than a meal.

Hmm. Writing colloquial reactions to books you've read shortly after reading them. Not a bad idea.