The Internet is almost an antagonist in “Juliet, Naked.” Hornby says although he loves the Web for the music he finds online, it scares him how it has changed some aspects of music culture.
“We get more and more niche in our cultures and interests because we can afford to indulge them with very little expense and without having to look very hard.”
Nick Hornby may be passionate about music, but he wouldn’t travel thousands of miles to see a urinal where an unsung rock hero was reported to have had a revelation. Hornby saves this distinct honor for the characters that open his new novel, “Juliet, Naked” (Riverhead Books, $26).
The English author says the extent of his own rock worship was going to see a band he might not have otherwise seen play the Jersey bar where Bruce Springsteen started out. Then he reconsiders: “There were a couple cities I’ve been to on book tours that I’ve kind of asked to be sent to,” he says.
“With all due respect to the people of Memphis, I’m not sure that they’re vital to a big marketing campaign, but ... I was very happy to be there.”
Hornby’s new novel is a return to the successful recipe of his 1995 debut, “High Fidelity” — a comically deep analysis of people who analyze music too deeply. But there’s one distinctly different ingredient — the Internet.
“The world has changed since I wrote ‘High Fidelity,’” says Hornby. “I couldn’t have imagined then writing a book about how we can see music because it seemed to me that we were just going to continue on in the same way, and of course I was completely and utterly wrong.”
Nick Hornby
Tonight, 7
Barnes & Noble: Union Square
33 E. 17th St.
212-253-0810
www.barnesandnoble.com