It was ironic to read a book about superfandom, considering my enthusiasm for Hornby’s writing — which some might perceive as superfandom, though by no means to the degree of the character Duncan in the novel, who gets an advance copy of a yet to be released album of solo acoustic demos of a reclusive 80’s rock star’s last & most famous album. I, unable (or unwilling) to wait until the end of September for the book to be published, got my hands on an advance readers copy (ARC) and read the book in one evening. I rather impressive feat for me. The last book I read in one evening was James Patterson’s Cat & Mouse, back in 1997. I started Juliet, Naked around 6 pm. I finished it around 1 am.

It is hard to say how the book ranks if I were to generate a top 5 list of hornby’s novels. It usually takes me a while to fully absorb a Hornby novel. I didn’t fully appreciate Slam (another book I got prior to publication) until months after I read an advance copy. So, perhaps anything I say about Juliet, Naked now, within 48 hours if finishing it, would be premature. It is hard, after years of built up anticipation, to give a novel proper, objective assessment. The two extreme responses are (a) built up anticipation results in extreme disappointment or (b) extreme desire to love something I have waited so long for ruins any objectivity, in favor of convincing myself that Hornby met or exceeded expectation. Such a problem isn’t present when you’re not dealing with your favorite contemporary author.

Perhaps both extremes are present and are canceling each other out. Nevertheless, this review today with most certainly need to be supplemented by a follow up review closer to the books publication, when I’ll also be more comfortable referencing details of the book. In a sense, this review won’t be so much a review, but a primer for a review, with some of my initial thoughts.

There are lots of Nick Hornby fans waiting for Juliet, Naked to be released. I can safely assure them that the book won’t disappoint them. It’s classic Nick Hornby, delving into obsession, loneliness in a way that Hornby’s fans love and new Hornby readers will appreciate.

How does Juliet, Naked rank compared to other Hornby novels. If I were to create a Top 5 list (which excludes Slam, with the understanding that Siam is technically a different genre) than here is where my list stands.

1. A Long Way Down
2. High Fidelity
3. Juliet, Naked
4. About A Boy
5. How To Be Good

There is a lot a Hornby fan can read into this list. For one thing, High Fidelity is not #1, but A Long Way Down is. High Fidelity is a common favorite of Hornby fans (and especially the one’s who think of the novel before they think of the movie) and, from what I’ve seen, A Long Way Down is one the least favored. For reasons hard to explain, A Long Way Down is slightly more favored than High Fidelity, (an indecisive me would have given them shared first place status) and thus, when I met Nick Hornby at a book signing a couple years ago, I chose A Long Way Down for him to sign. These two books, nevertheless, are hard to beat, so, Juliet’s third place showing is actually nothing to scoff at. It is hard to compete with novels that, for years, have grown to mean a lot more to me than they did even after I first finished them.

That said, it is important to note that Juliet, Naked has all the qualities I love about Hornby’s writing, There are many levels one can appreciate Juliet, Naked… I’ve only just begun.

Until September…

Science fiction isn’t my preferred genre, but I was introduced to a few of PKD’s short stories about a year and a half ago, and have since been reading his work more and more, starting with his short stories.

…and she said yes.

I have lots more to say… but I also have an apartment that is in serious need of cleaning after a long battle with wrapping paper and scotch tape… so I will tell you all more later

.

…and for those who have been asking about the ring:

Top Five Books I Bought In 2008 And Plan To Finish In 2009

1. Primary Colors, by Anonymous
2. Johnny One-Eye, by Jerome Charyn
3. Cross Country, James Patterson
4. On Beauty, Zadie Smith
5. Empire Falls, by Richard Russo

I bought a lot of books in 2008, but didn’t finish or start as many as I would have liked. I suspect that 2009 will be a better year for my fiction reading.

Top Five Movies Seen in 2008:

1. Pineapple Express
   
2. The Dark Knight
   
3. Juno
4. The Bucket List
5. Cloverfield

Other movies I saw that were good, but don’t make the top 5: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Smart People, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Wall-E, Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist. The movie Juno makes this list even thoughI saw it in 2007 because I saw it after I posted last year’s Top 5 list.

Top Four Movies I Will Wait To See on DVD

1. Zack and Miri
   
2. Quantum of Solace
3. Role Models
4. The Incredible Hulk

There weren’t many movies I really wanted to see in 2008, and there weren’t many that I had to choose from that I missed.

Top Three New Books To Read 2009

1. Juliet Naked, by Nick Hornby
2. 8th Confession, by James Patterson
3. Ape House, by Sara Gruen

Missing from this list is the next installment of James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series — which has gotten worse and worse each installment. I will read the next one… but I can’t say I am looking forward to it. Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club Series has stayed strong and I look forward to that one. Of course, the book I am anxiously awaiting is Nick Hornby’s new novel, with the working title Juliet Naked, due out in the fall. Sara Gruen’s next novel is also highly anticipated. I loved her previous novel, Water For Elephants, and hope that Ape House will be just as good.

Top Five Movies I’m Planning To See In 2009:

1. Atlas Shrugged
2. Revolutionary Road
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
4. An Education
   
5. Terminator Salvation
   

Atlas Shrugged and Revolutionary Road were both on last year’s list (I read both novels). However, the release date Atlas Shrugged was pushed to 2009, and Revolutionary Road will only have a limited release before the New Year.

Top Five iPhone Apps:

1. Facebook App
2. Twittelator Pro
3. Amazon
4. Shazam
5. Ebay

Lots of good apps to choose from…. These would probably be the ones I use most frequently. It tis great to keep track of things on Facebook and Twitter, or to easily make purchases on Amazon and bids n eBay. Shazam has been a valuable tool for identifying songs on the radio I liked but didn’t know, or couldn’t remember at all.

If I have any more lists for the year, I’ll post them here as updates.

So the search continues. If I don’t find a good enough split ergonomic keyboard designed for the Mac soon I may just get a Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite (which feels great) and use Mac keyboard stickers on the ‘Ctrl,’ ‘Windows,’ and “Alt” keys to give me the Dvorak keyboard layout.

1. Colemak maintains certain key positions from the QWERTY layout (CVXZ – corresponding to the most common shortcuts), making it easy to learn.
2. Colemak moves backspace to Caps Lock’s position.
3. Both are superior to QWERTY, but neither are significantly superior to the other.
4. Dvorak is a built in alternative layout in Mac OS X and Windows. Colemak requires software.

Personally since my plan is to totally rid myself of QWERTY, holding over positions to make the transition easier is not a huge plus to me. If there were significant advantages to Colemak over Dvorak I might have been tempted to give it a try… but I am happy with Dvorak and will keep at it. Carpalx has some good data on alternative keyboard layouts.

This site has this to say about switching to Colemak:

As I’ve said, Colemak is slightly better than Dvorak and more similar to Qwerty (thus easier to learn) but you must install it, whereas Dvorak comes with pretty much every operating system. Your choice.

If you’re already using Dvorak, switching u and i and moving Backspace to Caps Lock wipes away most of the small advantage Colemak has over Dvorak.

I do like the idea of swapping backspace and Caps Lock… And I also see the merits behind swapping the u and the i.

UPDATE: Matt Mullenweg is a Dvorak typist.

As a blogger, the first stage of transition made blogging very frustrating… so frustrating that at times I was tempted to use QWERTY when I needed to do blog. But the more I have typed with Dvorak the better and faster I have gotten.

I just purchased an ergonomic split keyboard which has helped tremendously in forcing me to use the correct hand for the correct keys… and my accuracy has definitely improved. Currently I am using the new keyboard without any stickers on the keys. I am using a printed diagram though since my fingers haven’t memorized the key positions yet.

I am generally pleased with my progress. I hope to continue to improve my accuracy over the following week and then work on improving my speed. If I can type quickly and accurately without a printed diagram and without looking at the keys after another three weeks I will be very happy.

I have made the appropriate adjustments on my MacBook at home and my Dell at work.

The Problem: The iPhone doesn’t support Dvorak yet… the fact that it doesn’t at this point makes me wonder a) why not? and b) will they ever?