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While this wouldn't get near my top five reads this year, it's the best novel I'll ever read featuring top fives. Despite being written only in the mid 90s, it feels a bit dated now in the fact that independent record shops have practically been wiped out. And I don't know how the likes of HMV even manage to survive. The last time I went in a store (this before covid came along) it was almost empty and didn't have that vibe like it used to. Well, that's one thing this novel isn't lacking in, and it isn't just the music but sex and relationships too. In places when it came to the talking of sex, the movie is tame compared to the novel. Bad language too. Someone once said that reading High Fidelity is like listening to a great single where you know it's wonderful from the minute it goes on, and as soon as it's over, you want to hear it again because it makes you feel young, and grown-up, and puts a stupid grin on your face all at the same time. I've no plans to read this again straight away, but it's the sort of book that would absolutely make sense to do so. In Rob, Barry and Dick we have a trio of characters that were great to be in the company of. Together: when Barry can be bothered to get to work on time, they feverishly compile lists of top fives, from Elvis Costello songs, to episodes of Cheers, to bands that will have to be shot come the musical revolution, to name few. But the one that really matters: to Rob anyway, is that all-time, top five most memorable split-ups, brought on by his recent breakup with Laura. Made even worse by the fact she left him for the guy from the upstairs apartment. With record store owner Rob, I doubt I'll come across another character where pop culture seeps into their every sinew, and Hornby captures that lonely feeling of a recent spilt-up, as well as the childishness of adult life with such precision, that I was nodding my head far far more than shaking it. There was such an energy to this that I wish I had read it only in the mornings and not nights, as It was the the literary equivalent to a Red Bull almost. Especially when Barry was on the scene.