Not at all the kind of book I was expecting. I'd seen the movie years ago, and obviously I thought this would be a piece of fiction about this bloke who's into football way too seriously and is about to lose his girlfriend because of it, but then escapes his obsession in the end 'to become a better person'.

The book actually turns out to non-fiction and catalogues Hornby's obsession with Arsenal throughout the decades, with plenty of general football thoughts thrown in. Once I'd gotten over the initial shock, I quite enjoyed the book, and think this is preferable to a book version of the movie.

I wonder how many Arsenal home games Hornby has been forced to miss in the last 10 years, now that he's a famous writer, and several of his books have been made into Hollywood films. Such is the price to pay for success.