In his eagerly awaited fourth novel, "New York Times"-bestselling author Nick Hornby mines the hearts and psyches of four lost souls who connect just when they've reached the end of the line. Meet Martin, JJ, Jess, and Maureen. Four people who come together on New Year's Eve: a former TV talk show host, a musician, a teenage girl, and a mother. Three are British, one is American. They encounter one another on the roof of Topper's House, a London destination famous as the last stop for those ready to end their lives. In four distinct and riveting first-person voices, Nick Hornby tells a story of four individuals confronting the limits of choice, circumstance, and their own mortality. This is a tale of connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second chances. Intense, hilarious, provocative, and moving, "A Long Way Down" is a novel about suicide that is, surprisingly, full of life. " What's your jumping-off point? Maureen Why is it the biggest sin of all? All your life you're told that you'll be going to this marvelous place when you pass on. And the one thing you can do to get you there a bit quicker is something that stops you getting there at all. Oh, I can see that it's a kind of queue-jumping. But if someone jumps the queue at the post office, people tut. Or sometimes they say "Excuse me, I was here first." They don't say "You will be consumed by hellfire for all eternity." That would be a bit strong. Martin I'd spent the previous couple of months looking up suicides on the Internet, just out of curiosity. And nearly every single time, the coroner says the same thing: "He took his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed." And then you read the story about the poor bastard: His wife was sleeping with his best friend, he'd lost his job, his daughter had been killed in a road accident some months before . . . Hello, Mr. Coroner? I'm sorry, but there's no disturbed mental balance here, my friend. I'd say he got it just right. Jess I was at a party downstairs. It was a shit party, full of all these ancient crusties sitting on the floor drinking cider and smoking huge spliffs and listening to weirdo space-out reggae. At midnight, one of them clapped sarcastically, and a couple of others laughed, and that was it-Happy New Year to you, too. You could have turned up to that party as the happiest person in London, and you'd still have wanted to jump off the roof by five past twelve. And I wasn't the happiest person in London anyway. Obviously. JJ New Year's Eve was a night for sentimental losers. It was my own stupid fault. Of course there'd be a low-rent crowd up there. I should have picked a classier date-like March 28, when Virginia Woolf took her walk into the river, or November 25 (Nick Drake). If anybody had been on the roof on either of those nights, the chances are they would have been like-minded souls, rather than hopeless f*ck-ups who had somehow persuaded themselves that the end of a calendar year is in any way significant. "

逆向操作療傷系之最 敗德、桎梏、瘋狂、失志……還有什麼不能失去！？ 人生充滿大小坑疤，神啊請賜我個什麼塞滿破洞！ 「我能解釋為什麼想從大廈樓頂跳下去嗎？」 對於名聲敗壞的電視節目主持人馬汀來說，他能，因為面對不再有意義的生命，那就是最合乎邏輯的作法。在除夕夜他準備結束一切……不料天不從人願，除夕夜的大廈樓頂居然是個自殺勝地。 一開始是單親媽媽莫琳，然後是十八歲的叛逆少女潔西，最後是不得志的搖滾樂團主唱阿傑，馬汀的個人派對被一再打斷。 身後有不耐的觀眾在排隊等你時，往下跳突然變得很難。 吐出幾句憤怒的話語；吞下幾片冷披薩後，陌路人轉眼變成同伴。這段不尋常的友誼會是繼續活下去的好理由嗎？

陳玠安 居於花蓮，一九八四年生，著有《那男孩攔下飛機》一書，文字散見各報刊。雜誌/音樂網站專欄寫手。主持明日報新聞臺「橫陳」。mypaper.pchome.com.tw/news/coldbean/ 簡辰緯 一九八三年出生，台北縣土城人，目前就讀於國立東華大學創英所文學研究組。極度喜歡恐怖片跟一切有趣的東西。 個人網誌「after 20 years」。www.wretch.cc/blog/chienweistar

很兴奋的想给这个东西写评介，开了文档后就不知从何下手了。心里被很多情绪涨得满满的，Nick Hornby的部部小说中的场景和对白一下子涌上来，有点害怕自己写出的介绍会不会糟蹋了这么些精彩的作品。 这张名为《31 Songs》的双CD音乐合辑，是英国现代作家尼克·宏比（Nick Hornby）自选的31首改变他一生的歌曲，2003年搭配其同名散文集发行。作为一位著名的作家和乐评人，他给人们的感觉和美国的著名编剧、导演和乐评人卡梅隆·克罗（Cameron Crowe，《几近成名》《香草天空》《伊丽莎白小镇》）很相似，都喜欢讲述青春迷惘和寻找方向的故事，都深受当代流行文化的浸淫，都有极佳的音乐品位和独立于世的生活态度。但跟克罗的美国摇滚情节不同的是，尼克·宏比深谙现代年轻人的生活节奏，并以精湛的英式幽默掳获读者的心。 Nick Hornby的几部作品，大都被搬上了大银幕，包括最初的《爱球如命》（Fever Pitch，电影版译名《极度狂热》 ，德鲁·巴里摩尔和吉米·法伦主演），和接下来的《非关男孩》（About a Boy，电影版译名《单亲插班生》，休·格兰特主演）和《失恋排行榜》（High Fidelity，电影版译名《高保真》，约翰·库萨克和杰克·布莱克主演），还有暂时没排上电影计划但同样精彩的《如何是好》（How to Be Good）和《漫漫脚下路》（A Long Way Down）。虽然题材涉及到体育、两性、音乐、伦理等多个方面，但无一不是娓娓的讲述着普通人的情感传奇。 《爱球如命》中的Lindsay，为了跟足球抢男友，逼着自己去看球赛；《非关男孩》中的Will，因为讨厌责任，所以只跟单亲妈妈约会；《失恋排行榜》中的Rob，会因为顾客跟他的音乐喜好不一样而把别人赶出自己的唱片店；有热爱《失恋排行榜》的狂热粉丝甚至千里迢迢去芝加哥寻找那个现实中不存在的浪漫又温暖的Championship Vinyl唱片店。而这本《31 Songs》的Songbook，更是很多爱音乐爱生活的乐迷心中的No.1 Guide Book，著名乐评人郝舫就说这本Songbook是他不离身的物品之一。 《31 Songs》是和Nick Hornby的同名散文集一起发行的，其中的曲目从Teenage Fanclub到Bruce Springsteen，从Nelly Furtado到Van Morrison，从Led Zeppelin到Aimee Mann，从Beatles到Bob Dylan，完全不用有对风格单一的担忧，真正的乐评人就绝不可能只听一种音乐。而Nick Hornby，从唱片到文学，从文学到胶片，他在不知不觉的兜兜转转中，就完成了一般人难以望其项背的成就。 01. Teenage Fanclub - Your love is the place I come from 02. Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road 03. Nelly Furtado - I'm like a bird 04. Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker 05. Rufus Wainwright - One Man Guy 06. Santana - Samba Pa Ti 07. Rod Stewart - Mama You Been On My Mind 08. Bob Dylan - Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? 09. The Beatles - Rain 10. Ani Difranco - You had time 11. Aimee Mann - I've had it 12. Paul Westerberg - Born for me 13. Suicide - Frankie Teardrop 14. Teenage Fanclub - Ain't that enough 15. J. Geils Band - First I look at the purse 16. Ben Folds Five - Smoke 17. Badly Drawn Boy - A minor incident 18. The Bible - Glorybound 19. Van Morrison - Caravan 20. Butch Hancock and Marce LaCouture - So I'll Run 21. Gregory Isaacs - Puff the magic dragon 22. The Blockheads - Reasons to be cheerful Part 3 23. Richard & Linda Thompson - The Calvary Cross 24. Jackson Browne - Late for the sky 25. Mark Mulcahy - Hey Self Defeater 26. The Velvelettes - Needle in a Haystack 27. O.V. Wright - Lets straighten it out 28. Royksopp - Royksopp's Night Out 29. The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist 30. Soulwax - No fun / Push it 31. Patti Smith - Pissing in a river

Will is a rich, child-free and irresponsible Londoner in his thirties who, in his search for available women, invents an imaginary son and starts attending single parent meetings. As a result of one of his liaisons he meets Marcus, a strange 12-year-old boy with problems at school. Gradually, Will and Marcus become friends and, as Will teaches Marcus how to be a cool kid, Marcus helps Will to finally grow up.

If the fact that they were single mothers meant that gorgeous women (who would not ordinarily look twice at Will) were willing to date him, then Will had it made. Inventing a son got him into a single parents support group, but rather than a fabulous new sex life, he found someone else's very real son -- a twelve-year-old with a lot to teach Will about being a grown up.

《赤裸的朱丽叶》讲述了：安妮和邓肯是一对三十多岁的夫妇，他们走到了生活的岔路口，这才突然醒悟，他们对隐居音乐家塔克•克罗的共同喜爱（邓肯对塔克是迷恋，而不仅仅是喜欢）不足以维持他俩的婚姻。安妮不喜欢塔克的新唱片——他最有名的专辑的样本唱片，它是塔克的最后一根稻草——邓肯对安妮不忠，安妮立即抛弃了他。在一个互联网论坛上，安妮的苛刻评价却赢得了塔克本人的认同。塔克和安妮忐忑不安地开始通信，这些信让两人正视多年来空空掷去的年华。 这是写完《砰！》一年之后，尼克•霍恩比一部引人注目的新小说，它描写了想象和痴迷，讲述两个孤独的人如何逐步找到对方。

Will Lightman is a Peter Pan for the 1990s. At 36, the terminally hip North Londoner is unmarried, hyper-concerned with his coolness quotient and blithely living off his father's novelty song royalties. Will sees himself as entirely lacking in hidden depths--and he's proud of it! The only trouble is, his friends are succumbing to responsibilities and children and he's increasingly left out in the cold. How can someone brilliantly equipped for meaningless relationships ensure that he'll continue to meet beautiful Julie Christie-like women and ensure that they'll throw him over before things get too profound? A brief encounter with a single mother sets Will off on his new career, that of "serial nice guy." As far as he's concerned--and remember, concern isn't his strong suit--he's the perfect catch for the young mother on the go. After an interlude of sexual bliss, she'll realise that her child isn't ready for a man in their life and Will can ride off into the Highgate sunset, where more damsels apparently await. The only catch is that the best way to meet these women is at single-parent get-togethers. In one of Nick Hornby's many hilarious (and embarrassing) scenes, Will falls into some serious misrepresentation at SPAT ("Single Parents-- Alone Together"), passing himself off as a bereft single dad: "There was, he thought, an emotional truth here somewhere, and he could see now that his role-playing had a previously unsuspected artistic element to it. He was acting, yes, but in the noblest, most profound sense of the word." What interferes with Will's career arc, of course, is reality--in the shape of a 12-year-old boy who is in many ways his polar opposite. For Marcus, cool isn't even a possibility, let alone an issue. For starters, he's a victim at his new school. Things at home are pretty awful, too, since his musical-therapist mother seems increasingly in need of therapy herself. All Marcus can do is cobble together information with a mixture of incomprehension, innocence, self-blame and unfettered clear sight. As fans of Fever Pitch and High Fidelity already know, Hornby's insight into laddishness magically combines the serious and the hilarious. About a Boy continues his singular examination of masculine wish-fulfilment and fear. This time, though, the author lets women and children onto the playing field, forcing his feckless hero to leap over an entirely new--and entirely welcome--set of emotional hurdles. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Just when everything is coming together for Sam, his girlfriend Alicia drops a bombshell. Make that ex-girlfriendabecause by the time she tells him sheas pregnant, theyave already called it quits. Sam does "not" want to be a teenage dad. Thereas only one person Sam can turn toahis hero, skating legend Tony Hawk. Sam believes the answers to lifeas hurdles can be found in Hawkas autobiography. But even Tony Hawk isnat offering answers this timeaor is he? In this wonderfully witty, poignant story about a teenage boy unexpectedly thrust into fatherhood, itas up to Sam to make the right decisions so the bad things that "could" happen, well, donat.

Is it possible to share your life with someone whose record collection is incompatible with your own? Can people have terrible taste and still be worth knowing? Do songs about broken hearts and misery and loneliness mess up your life if consumed in excess? For Rob Fleming, thirty-five years old, a pop addict and owner of a failing record shop, these are the sort of questions that need an answer, and soon. His girlfriend has just left him. Can he really go on living in a poky flat surrounded by vinyl and CDs or should he get a real home, a real family and a real job? Perhaps most difficult of all, will he ever be able to stop thinking about life in terms of the All Time Top Five bands, books, films, songs – even now that he’s been dumped again, the top five break-ups? Memorable, sad and very, very funny, this is the truest book you will ever read about the things that really matter.

一个是没有童年、“全世界最老的”十二岁男孩，一个是“拒绝成长”、最不愿成熟的三十六岁男人，背景就是我们这个纷繁嘈杂的后工业时代。当今英伦最走红作家尼克·霍恩比的最走红喜剧小说，休·格兰特主演的电影版号称“最重磅的英国喜剧片”。 有性，有摇滚，有谎言，更有真情欢笑；够酷，够前卫，够无厘头，更直透你心。在幽默和伤感、欢笑和泪水中教会你什么是成长和成熟。

凯特是个医生，是个好人，膝下有一儿一女，过着幸福的中产生活。只不过，结婚经年，日子有些寡淡无味，尤其是丈夫戴维，因为写着一个号称是“霍洛威最愤怒的男人”的报纸专栏，似乎性格越发乖张、尖刻、自私了。毫无征兆，甚至也出乎凯特本人的意料，在外地一个停车场给戴维打电话，例行公事地问候家人时，她脱口而出，想要离婚。生活的天平此倾斜，凯特陷入无穷尽的困扰之中，丈夫戴维也为此紧张万分。可是，充满戏剧性的是，戴维在寻求心理帮助的过程中，偶遇一位叫做“好消息”的灵魂大师，他竟然摇身变为“早请示、晚汇报”的标准新好男人，事情开始复杂了……

本书是英国畅销书作家尼克·霍恩比的力作，小说描述了一个惧怕婚姻和责任的男人和一个少年老成的男孩共同成长的故事。

For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple：he has，in his own words，‘issed his life away’.And on New Year's Eve he's going to end it all …But not，as it happens，alone.Because first single-mum Maureen，then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party.They've stolen his idea-but brought their own reasons. Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you.A few heated words and some slices of cold pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies.But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living？ ‘Hornby pins down the age in which we live with precision and comic brilliance’.

《砰!》讲述了：正当Sam的前途一片光明时，女友Alicia说出了惊天动地的秘密：她怀孕了。但在她说出这句话时，两人已经为这段感情画上了休止符。Sam根本不想做个未成年的爸爸。此时，Sam只能向一个人寻求帮助——他的偶像，史上最强滑板选手Tony Hawk。Sam相信，从Tony Hawk的自传里可以找到自己人生问题的解决　方法。不过这次事情闹大了，连Tony Hawk也不灵了。在这个充满智慧闪光的故事中，未成年男孩不愿意过早成为父亲。至于事情将如何发展，糟糕的事情会不会发生？两个年轻人的未来之路该怎么走？

1991年夏季，在看心理医生的尼克·霍恩比，开始写下他的足球迷回忆录《极度狂热》以条列编年记事的结构巨细靡遗的描写一个足球迷的个人心路历程，而本书正像是他的心理治疗书。此书出版后，出乎意料之外的成为畅销书，并成为足球书的经典，随后霍恩比还帮忙编辑了两本运动文学年鉴。本书于1997年被改编为角色虚构的电影，由《BJ单身日记》的男演员科林·伍斯（Colin Firth）主演，霍恩比编剧。到2005年改编成电影的美国新版，由珠儿·巴莉摩和吉米·法伦主演，英国海布里兵工厂足球队转而变成波士顿红袜棒球队，台湾发行的片名为《爱情全垒打》。

在元旦新年的守岁夜，伦敦有四个失意绝望的人：因为跟一个15岁少女上床而声败名裂的电视名人马丁；除了照顾自己严重残疾的成年儿子没有自己生活的中年妇女莫莲；因为姐姐几年前神秘失踪而一直走不出心理阴影的少女杰丝；和乐队解散、女友分手的美国摇滚歌手JJ。他们都想到著名的“礼帽大厦”楼顶跳楼自杀，四人在楼顶不期而遇。他们一起度过了一个晚上，讲述各自不幸的遭遇，第二天一早各自回家，但从此形成了一个奇怪的四人小团体，开始发生各种各样有趣的事情，比如他们试图挽救马丁的婚姻，结果一团糟；他们组成读书会，专门讨论自杀的作家们，他们还计划不周地匆匆去金丝雀群岛旅行……