{"product_id":"dickens-and-prince-isbn-9780593541821","title":"Dickens and Prince","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e“An ardent fan letter from Hornby that makes you want to re-read \u003ci\u003eGreat Expectations\u003c\/i\u003e while listening to \u003ci\u003eSign o’ the Times\u003c\/i\u003e.” —\u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eJust Like You\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e High Fidelity\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eFever Pitch\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ea short, warm, and entertaining book about art, creativity, and the unlikely similarities between Victorian novelist Charles Dickens and modern American rock star Prince\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEvery so often, a pairing comes along that seems completely unlikely—until it’s not. Peanut butter and jelly, Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un, ducks and puppies, and now: Dickens and Prince.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEquipped with a fan’s admiration and his trademark humor and wit, Nick Hornby invites us into his latest obsession: the cosmic link between two unlikely artists, geniuses in their own rights, spanning race, class, and centuries—each of whom electrified their different disciplines and whose legacy resounded far beyond their own time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen Prince’s 1987 record \u003ci\u003eSign o’ the Times\u003c\/i\u003e was rereleased in 2020, the iconic album now came with dozens of songs that weren’t on the original— Prince was endlessly prolific, recording 102 songs in 1986 alone. In awe, Hornby began to wonder, \u003ci\u003eWho else ever produced this much? Who else ever worked that way?\u003c\/i\u003e He soon found his answer in Victorian novelist and social critic Charles Dickens, who died more than a hundred years before Prince began making music.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExamining the two artists’ personal tragedies, social statuses, boundless productivity, and other parallels, both humorous and haunting, Hornby shows how these two unlikely men from different centuries “lit up the world.” In the process, he creates a lively, stimulating rumination on the creativity, flamboyance, discipline, and soul it takes to produce great art.\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eDickens and Prince:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“This pairing—two magnificent creatives, centuries and genres apart— makes stunning sense in the hands of their wisest, wittiest fan.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeople \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“’The truth is that nobody can stay hot forever,’ Hornby observes, and so the trick is to always remember that the real prize is ‘a lifetime spent doing what you want to do.’ This feels like the solid kernel of the book’s wisdom, and an insight that Hornby is grounded enough to have arrived at in earnest. . . Hornby isn’t a genius like his two subjects, but his charming, intelligent novels have a common sense both Prince and Dickens lacked, and no artist is well advised to abandon his strength.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSlate\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“If you care about how and why art is made. . .\u003ci\u003eDickens and Prince \u003c\/i\u003ewas written with you in mind. . . It's hard to think of a contemporary author better equipped to write this book.”\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStar Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e“Beneath the surface of this fascinating biography, there lies a warm and wise craft book about what it takes to make great art in any century.”\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Smart, witty and weirdly convincing… Pop culture is political to Hornby. Beneath this latest book’s stocking-filler-light surface, you can sense a subtle sort of crusade. By pairing these two artists, he’s making a couple of implicit assertions — that Prince is as important as Dickens and that Dickens is as fun as Prince.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e (London) \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“His book is both a love letter to two artists who have nourished him and the story of how they 'caught fire and lit up the world.'\" —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“If you’ve forgotten what a distinct pleasure it is to read Nick Hornby, may I suggest \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eDickens and Prince.”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003cb\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“I love this. It's smart and funny and elegantly persuasive.” —\u003cb\u003eRobert Douglas-Fairhurst, author of\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e Becoming Dickens\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“An ardent fan letter from Hornby that makes you want to re-read\u003ci\u003e Great Expectations\u003c\/i\u003e while listening to Sign o’ the Times. This slim, companionable volume combines biography—Dickens’s impoverished childhood, Prince’s bruising battle with his record label—as it champions the creative impulse to always make more: more novels, more songs. A love letter to maximalism.” \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eVogue\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“[Hornby’s] love for the work, for the sheer unbelievably prodigal output of both artists, is intense. And when he does write about Prince and sexuality, he is almost jarringly illuminating, particularly when he wrestles with Prince as shapeshifting sexual avatar.”\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaily Beast\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“The point is to be in the company of Nick Hornby, which is always a pleasure. His writing is so quick and generous and conversational and breezy that he could write an entertaining and informative book on the history of mayonnaise. Luckily, he’s chosen two of the most captivating artists of the last 150 years instead\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDatebook\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e“No one else could have gotten a book like this published, but no one else could have pulled it off, either.” \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Hornby’s admiration for his subjects is infectious… a zesty tribute to two cultural legends not often spoken about in the same breath.”\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Publishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Nick Hornby: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hornby is a writer who dares to be witty, intelligent, and emotionally generous all at once.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “The clever British storyteller …[has] excellent taste and a smart, irreverent sense of humor.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Hornby just makes it look easy.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eNick Hornby\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of seven bestselling novels, including \u003ci\u003eHigh Fidelity\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAbout a Boy\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eA Long Way Down\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as several works of nonfiction. Many of his books have been turned into successful films and TV series. He has been Oscar nominated twice, for his screenplays of \u003ci\u003eAn Education\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBrooklyn.\u003c\/i\u003e His ten-part short-form TV series \u003ci\u003eState of the Union\u003c\/i\u003e, directed by Stephen Frears, was recently broadcast by Sundance TV and the BBC and won three Emmy Awards. He lives in London.","brand":"Riverhead Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300618129637,"sku":"NP9780593541821","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593541821.jpg?v=1767725095","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/dickens-and-prince-isbn-9780593541821","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}