26 Books that Changed My Life: #3 High Fidelity

C: Commitment


I thought I would spend the month of April delving into the literature that has made me the person I am today.

1] In this list you will find some of my favorite books, but you will also find books that I appreciate and books that I would recommend although they may not be my favorite. These are books that changed my way of thinking or my way of looking the world. These are books that helped solidify the core of who I am.

2] These books are in order of the theme that I came away with not alphabetical.

About this book from Goodreads:

It has been said often enough that baby boomers are a television generation, but the very funny novel High Fidelity reminds that in a way they are the record-album generation as well. This funny novel is obsessed with music; Hornby's narrator is an early-thirtysomething English guy who runs a London record store. He sells albums recorded the old-fashioned way—on vinyl—and is having a tough time making other transitions as well, specifically adulthood. The book is in one sense a love story, both sweet and interesting; most entertaining, though, are the hilarious arguments over arcane matters of pop music.  

Hornby's first novel, an international bestseller and instantly recognized by critics and readers alike as a classic, helps to explain men to women, and men to men. Rob is good on music: he owns a small record shop and has strong views on what's decent and what isn't. But he's much less good on relationships. In fact, he's not at all sure that he wants to commit himself to anyone. So it's hardly surprising that his girlfriend decides that enough is enough.

Publication Date:  first published in 1995

Why this book:
I spent the whole of my high school and college career having a pretty good grasp on the male psyche. I had a lot of guy friends, I felt (and still feel for the most part) more comfortable around guys than gals and I was glad that I could count so many guys/men/boys as wonderfully good friends. I liked being on the other side of relationships and didn't mind watching my friends relationships with gals/women/girls fall apart as it was safe where I was and I got to know the ins and outs of what makes a good relationship just by hearing what both sides had to say.

So, I thought I knew guys. I didn't realize I had no idea about what goes on in their minds whilst in a relationship until I read this book.

Even with their friends who are girls, guys put on a face...but, Hornby let's all of that out of the bag...all of it. In this book you will find the manipulations, the cruelness, the obsessions with things, literally things (movies and music et cetera) not with people, especially not with women, the inability to have empathy for someone who is not them, and the reason why it's so hard for men to communicate with women; they have a hard time communicating with each other, heck, they have a hard time communicating what they really want at all.

This book was my first look into the discussion making process of the male mind. It still helps me to this day.