In his novels High Fidelity and Fever Pitch, he's made being a fan a respectable obsession (for music and sports, respectively), so it seems appropriate that author Nick Hornby's personal appearances for his latest, How to Be Good, have, in the words of Putnam publicity director Mih-Ho Cha, "made for a rock-star atmosphere." On July 9 (pub date), Hornby launched his 10-city tour at the 600-seat Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Mass.; "a line of people stretched down the block in anticipation," said Cha, adding that fans had to be turned away. SRO crowds have been the rule everywhere, including Olsson's Books & Records in downtown Washington, D.C., where latecomers pressed their faces to the windows to catch a glimpse of Hornby. A launch party at Manhattan's Serena (covered in New York magazine) was followed by Hornby's appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien; NPR's Fresh Air; and Public Radio International's World Café, which is syndicated to 150 markets and for which Hornby served as DJ. With Riverhead reporting just over 84,000 copies in print, the novel's been featured in a diverse array of magazines, from Harper'sBazaar and Men's Journal to Mademoiselle and Vanity Fair; a front-page Boston Globe feature was followed by a turn in Time Out New York's "Hot Seat" and coverage in several national newspapers.
With reporting by Dick Donahue.
