Reddit mentions of High Fidelity

High Fidelity or About a Boy, by Nick Hornby

Every single one of my guy friends who reads loves these books. High Fidelity tends to be more celebrated. But they're both fantastic and funny.

The Book of Joe and Plan B, by Jonathan Tropper

If I'm being cynical, I'd say that Tropper and Hornby tend to write chick books for guys. But that's not going to give you a real idea of what these books are. They're mainly about finding your way as a man, but it often turns out that finding the right woman -- or figuring out that you've already got the right woman -- is part of that process. The male protagonists tend to be meandering in their lives. Love just helps them get on the right track. And they're written from a male point of view, so you're not going to get a lot of purple prose about beating hearts and sweaty abs.

Killing Yourself to Live, by Chuck Klosterman -- This is a different type of book than the others I've listed. Klosterman is a guy who is best known for his non-fiction. And the subtitle of this book is "85% of a true story." So it's sort of based on real events. Basically, he's writing a column for Rolling Stone magazine where he travels to all these places where famous musicians died. Along the way, 3 relationships end. So he does some deep thinking -- I've never read anyone who digs deeper into pop culture than Klosterman -- about the meaning of life and death, and about relationships and love. The book features some discussion about relationships, but it also dissects Kiss's solo albums and talks about Mtv's The Real World. (Hmm, now that I think about it, I wonder if those references are going to be a little dated?)

I'm Matt and the book would be without a doubt be High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. This is my favorite book of all time. It connects with me on some level. I can understand the desire to quantify everything, put it on some sort of best of, all time, desert island type list. The idea that listening to too much music can make you simultaneously feel too much and not feel enough. The characters and their constant need to relate something that's happening with a song, or a book, or a film. The songs that are a part of your life. I feel like I could have written this. There are some songs that I can't help but associate with people or with a moment. Music and films that take me to a certain place emotionally. And a basic inability to relate with actual people on the most fundamental level. Whether that's because of the music, and movies, and books, or whether I have those because of that inability. This book is like an old friend. Something that's comfortable, that I can always turn to. I've read it over twenty times. I'm on my third copy, the second being left with someone in India (read it twice on the trip). There really was no other choice for this. I can't recommend it enough.