Happy accidents

I'm generally resistant to change, especially when it comes to finding a new author. Or maybe I'm just lazy. Whatever the reason, I buy up everything an author has ever written, prolonging the inevitable moment when I've reread my pack of toothpaste a dozen times and have to accept that I must go out and get new reading material. I came upon Nick Hornby on one such expedition to my local bookstore. At that point, I hadn't even known About a Boy had been based on a book. I only knew that Hugh Grant had once again chosen to play a character he didn't have to exert himself and his limited acting skills for. But I did remember that the story was a charming portrait of a guy who had tried to avoid responsibility all his life and who suddenly found himself stuck with the biggest responsibility of all: being someone impressionable's role model. So I got the book and Nick Hornby became my author in residence. He writes about everyday men, men you expect to find on the street and may have already met. We all know them - charming, lovable men who have their faults but have learned to accept them and are just looking for that one person who would take them as they are, warts, neuroses and all.