Review: High Fidelity

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ending my 2017 reading challenge with a book I highly relate with. Brings back memories with all those mixed tapes and top five lists.
* * *
I lost the plot for a while then. And I lost the subplot, the script, the soundtrack, the intermission, my popcorn, the credits and the exit sign. p17

Only love can break your heart - Neil Young
Last Night I dreamed That Somebody Loved Me - the Smiths
Call Me - Aretha Franklin
I dont want to talk about it - anybody
Love hurts
When Love Breaks Down
How can you mend a broken heart
The speed of the sound of loneliness
She's gone
I just dont know what to do with myself
p18

What came first, the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? p19

All my life I have wanted to go to bed with-- no, have a relationship with-- a musician: I'd want her to write songs at home, and ask me what I thought of them, and maybe include one of our private jokes in the lyrics, and thank me in the sleeve notes, maybe even include a picture of me on the inside cover, in the background somewhere, and I could watch her play live from the back, in the wings (although I'd look a bit of a berk at the Lauder, where there are no wing: I'd be  standing on my own in the full view of everybody).
p50

To me, making a tape is like writing a letter-- there's a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again
p69

I've done it all, lived through the whole relationship in my head. I've watched the film on fast-forward; I know the whole plot, the ending, all the good bits. Now I've got to rewind and watch it all over again in real time, and where's the fun in that?
p239


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Revived

Props to me for being able to re-link my sub domain to my blog, yey!

Once a blogger, always a blogger.

Review: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto: A Novel

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto: A Novel by Mitch Albom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Worth reading again while listening to the musical companion playlist in spotify.

As always, my takeaways from the book:

The song gave him comfort. That is often why you come to music, isn't it? To feel that you are not alone. p123

Every loss leaves a hole in your heart.. If he could have unplugged his heart and shut the lights on his memory, he would have. p126

Silence enhances music. What you do not play can sweeten what you do.
But it is not the same with words. What you do not say can haunt you. p147

All lonely roads lead back to music. I embrace you. I forgive you.
I will never leave you.
Can humans say the same? p229

👧 Not everything is a song.
👦 Yes, it is.
👧 Okay. Everything is.
p271

Stop crying. Start playing. p329

One day our secret
Will not be a secret
Because everybody will see
That my secret
Is your secret
I will love you
And you will love me, too.
p336

Music is about communication, see? It's about baring your soul in the notes, telling your tale. That's how you play. p421


First rule of friendship, mates. Learn how to keep a secret. p357

The greatest thing, you'll ever learn
Is just to love, and be loved in return.
p373

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