About a Boy

About a Boy - Nick Hornby

From Amazon: "Will Lightman is a Peter Pan for the 1990s. At 36, the terminally hip North Londoner is unmarried, hyper-concerned with his coolness quotient, and blithely living off his father's novelty-song royalties. Will sees himself as entirely lacking in hidden depths--and he's proud of it! The only trouble is, his friends are succumbing to responsibilities and children, and he's increasingly left out in the cold. How can someone brilliantly equipped for meaningless relationships ensure that he'll continue to meet beautiful Julie Christie-like women and ensure that they'll throw him over before things get too profound? A brief encounter with a single mother sets Will off on his new career, that of "serial nice guy." As far as he's concerned--and remember, concern isn't his strong suit--he's the perfect catch for the young mother on the go. After an interlude of sexual bliss, she'll realize that her child isn't ready for a man in their life and Will can ride off into the Highgate sunset, where more damsels apparently await. The only catch is that the best way to meet these women is at single-parent get-togethers"

This was a kind of twisted story of Will who has no kids and apparently hates them, and how he ends up befriending and being a sort of father-figure to Markus, who is a really nerdy/out of place sounding kid. Bizarre story, but I read almost 3/4 of it on an hour and a bit long plane ride, so it wasn't that awful!

This is probably best as a summer read - nothing too in depth, or requiring too much thought. Just enough to keep you there, but if you didn't finish it, you probably wouldn't be wondering what happened..