If you’re a loyal Popdose reader who’s read (or seen) High Fidelity or About a Boy – or who has reveled in Songbook, his prose tribute to some of his favorite tunes — then you’re already well aware that Nick Hornby is One Of Us. Has any other novelist even approached his keen yet effortless portrayals of pop fandom, in all its minutiae and benign obsession? The great news is that, after several novels in which Hornby throttled back that fandom in an effort to make broader statements about the human condition — or, at least, the middle-class English form of it — he returns to the new-release racks next week with a novel that offers the best of both his worlds. We’ll have a review of Juliet, Naked in this space next Thursday. Until then, enjoy this sneak peek at the first chapter … and if you’re as curious to find out what happens next as we think you’ll be, pick up the book when it’s released on Tuesday.

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They had flown from England to Minneapolis to look at a toilet. The simple truth of this only struck Annie when they were actually inside it: apart from the graffiti on the walls, some of which made some kind of reference to the toilet’s importance in musical history, it was dank, dark, smelly and entirely unremarkable. Americans were very good at making the most of their heritage, but there wasn’t much even they could do here. (more…)