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I actually like a number of the songs Hornby highlights in his book about the influence of pop music on his life--but I should never have listened to the accompanying CD, which I found to be mostly dreadful. It definitely colored my reading of the book.

I like Rufus Wainwright, but "One Man Guy" is far from his best song. The only other song that seemed worthy of the book was Ani DiFranco's "You Had Time".

The writing itself covers a much broader canvas, and even if you aren't that familiar with, or don't like, some of Hornby's greatest hits, you can appreciate the connections he makes between age, life events and experience, and the way music can keep you company while soothing and supporting. Hornby can be a bit overbearing with his particular approvals and dismissals, and has an aura of superiority about his taste which can annoy--but still, the book is entertaining and got me thinking, even if I was just arguing with him in my head.

The best chapter for me was "Gregory Isaacs--Puff the Magic Dragon", where he talks about his autistic son and how music anchors him in the world as a wordless but completely understandably method of interaction and communication.

"That's why I love the relationship with music he has already, because it's how I know he has something in him that he wants others to articulate....It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part, and Danny's got it too, of course he has; you could argue that he's simply dispensed with all the earthbound, rubbishy bits."

Music is magic, no argument there at all.