An extremely entertaining and funny read. Not great literature, of course :)... I think I liked this one best of all of Hornby's books (though frankly, I cannot remember the other ones in detail - I certainly liked it better than "A Long Way Down" which is the last Hornby I read before this) and found it hard to put down. It feels as though the narrator is really talking to you - a great achievement (especially seeing as Sam's only 16 years old)!
There were parts I didn't enjoy as much (especially the whole future thing), but seeing how I don't want to go into too much detail about the story, I won't write more about that. The ending was ok - at first I was a little disappointed but I think it fit quite well with the story.

Bookring participants:

1. hank-chinaski (Germany)
2. Sternschnuppe28 (Germany)
3. madnad (Spain)
4. Martjxox (Italy)
5. LindyLouMac (Italy)
6. urfin (Germany)
7. sintra (Germany)
8. easterngirl71 (US)
9. Supertalya (US)

The book has begun its journey around the world - bon voyage!

Came with the mail today, great many thanks! Copy looks brand new to me. Hey Qantaqa, I can't believe you've read this!?

Alright, teenage parenthood sure is a great topic for a British novel these days, and having read most of Hornby's other books so far, I'd expected him to be just the man for it. And indeed, I really liked it at first.

But as the story went on, a strange thing I'd never experienced with Hornby before happened: My initial attachment to Sam, the hero of the book, grew weaker and weaker, and as for all the rest of the characters I never managed to connect with any of them. To me, they're purely stereotype, especially both Sam's and Alicia's parents. Funny thing, because in his other books I've always regarded the characters (rather than the story) to be Hornby's strong point. And as there isn't that much in the story here to make up for this flaw (admittedly, there are occasional stretches that are funny and entertaining - I love this scene at the family counsellor's - but they're scarce), I'm sorry to say I'm rather disappointed with the book. Worst thing of all was this stupid, recurring time whizzing business that annoyed me so much I nearly put the book away, and I'm taking two or three points off from the total score for that alone.

Now having said all that, there is one question left that's worrying me: Is it really for the book being badly written that I don't like it, or is it for me having grown so old that I lost any touch with the teenage world? Frightening thought, that.

However, thanks for sharing. Book will be off as soon as I got the next address.

As Sternschnuppe28 asked to be excluded from the list, book will be off to madnad today, enjoy!

Received today with many thanks!

I had only read one or two other books by Hornby, so although I know he is an excellent writer, I am not overly familiar with his works and characters. I loved this book. I loved the way it was written - from the point of view of a teenager who says things that are so obvious in a way that you can't help but laugh out loud. Hornby is sure great with words and syntax! I enjoyed the story line: a teenage boy ends up becoming a father when that was the last thing he wished for his life. Brilliant book, thanks for sharing!

I'll send this on asap but might wait till after Christmas, as the queues at the post-office are horrendous at the moment.

sent to martjxox today!

got it yesterday in the mail box!!! thank you nad! I am reading it as soon as I am finished with another ring! Thanks ringmaster!

I loved this book pretty much, with Sam getting into troubles for his ex-girlfriend's unespected and unwanted (of course they're teenies!) pregnancy. I love it when he runs away to Hastings, because he's the teen as I imagine him to be, scared and childish and able to do anything but running away from the actual trouble! It is the part where Sam is the most real to my eyes! And I love Sam's rambling on and on, thinking of nonsenses and being the too little sensible boy that he is!Alicia instead hasn't much managed to catch my attentio, actually she sometimes get on my nerves, but I bet it was what Hornby meant to do when telling the story using Sam as the first person narrator. And Alicia's parents! Argh! They pissed me off big time, really!!! With all of those nasty comments on how Sam ruined their daughter's life and all that! No, they definitely are not my favourites. And Sam's dad is not what you call a best one either honestly. He seems to be dumb and even younger than his son's actually is!!! Some men do really exist, unluckily!!!
Hornby is brilliant as a writer if you ask me! I love his style!!!And plan to read some other books by him. Wonder if he also writes from any adult characters'point of view. I read About a boy and this one so far by him, and they both were told by young boys' point of view. They both are great books, I was just wondering still..

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Sent to the next bookcrosser in the list!!!Hope the book will be there in no time!!!!

Delivered to my Bookcrossing friend Melamura,as I am in the middle of moving house. Thankyou for including me Qantaga and Martjxox for mailing on to me.

Athough I enjoyed reading this witty insight into teenage parenthood I did feel that maybe Hornby had written this for young adults. I would certainly recommend it as obligatory reading material for the early teens age group. Reading this would maybe help them to understand the problems of not considering the consequences of having a sexual relationship!
The story is written from the viewpoint of Sam, an eighteen year old young man who two years previously had become a teenage parent. It happened at a time in his life when he had felt that things were just beginning to click into place. He was getting on well with his mother, had plans for going to college and had a lovely girlfriend Alicia.Then Alicia gets pregnant unexpectedly and the young couple find themselves confronted with adult problems which they are unable to cope with alone. However they are fortunate to have very supportive parents. Sam's account of the situation has some very funny scenes and some of his comments seen from an adult point of view are very amusing.
So I feel that even if I this book was not particularly aimed at me personally it is well written and I think it will appeal to others.

I am just waiting for a mailing address and this will be en route to Urfin.

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En route to Urfin in Germany

Happy reading

LindyLouMac

Hornby's Slam has made it to Berlin :o)

After finishing a non-ring-book last night, I started today with my 6th Hornby.
Fever Pitch, High Fidelity, and About a Boy were books for guys, and I cannot understand now why I bothered to finish them at all... How to be good was the weakest of them all, in my opinion the female first-person narrator was unconvincing... and A long way down was the best so far, a fast-paced page-turner, recommandable.

Now, this one starts out good, just look at that monologue on p.33! :D

...

And it kept my interest till the very end. I really don't know, if sixteenyearolds think and talk like that but I can believe it while reading it.

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And off you go!
Mailed to sintra today.

The book arrived today and I'll start reading it after my current book. Thanks a lot!

Well, I'm not impressed. It's not a particularly bad book - but it's not a particularly good book, either.

I love Nick Hornby's other novels: they may not be great literature but they are funny, warm-hearted, and down-to-earth books full of clever observations and witty, spot-on comments (and I don't consider him a mere writer of "guys' fiction", I think that's a really silly cliché). So why didn't I like this one as much?

One of the reasons, I guess, is that I find Hornby writing about thirtysomethings who urgently need to grow up far more entertaining than about a teenager having to do the same. Well, maybe it's not meant to be all that entertaining but Hornby also, unfortunately, never gets anywhere near the depths of A Long Way Down. The other thing that bothered me was that the 18-year-old narrator wasn't always that convincing, especially as the novel progressed. There were times when Sam sounded more like a 50-year-old trying to write from a teenage point of view. It's a mystery to me why Nick Hornby failed to grab me here because he has created convincing teenage characters in previous books...

And the whole future-issue didn't really help. I possibly wouldn't have minded those episodes as much as I did if it hadn't been for Sam's way of interacting with people (trying to find out what he was doing etc.) and musing about the future which soon became quite repetitive and irritating - actually just like the "conversations" with Tony Hawk. It was all rather forced and artificial, which I thought was a pity because there were also passages in the book that really captured Hornby's brilliant sense of humour.

Anyway, thanks a lot for sharing this book with us, Qantaqa! It will be on its way again soon.

Thanks so much for letting me join this ring/ray. I have decided that it is time to send this book to the next person in line!

Thanks for this one!

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Enjoy!

The book is safely back home. Thanks a lot to everyone for treating it so carefully and a special thanks to Supertalya for the beautiful stamps - my brother was very happy!

Taken from qantaqa's "I-need-more-space" box

Off it goes to Italy!

Happy travelling..

received via bookmooch