‘The Purpose of Life’ according to Nick Hornby

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England draw against the USA – life doesn’t lose all meaning at this point, but it’s great to have good cheer restored in me by, in an act of footballing-literary serendipity, Nick Hornby.

His Stuff I’ve Been Reading column in The Believer each month was a genuine highlight. Always funny, always erudite, always an inspiration to get out and read totally off-radar stuff. So when he stopped writing it a while back to focus on some longer projects, I was bereft. But he’s back. Last month I was too aghast and overjoyed to mention it, but this month’s column (June 2010 – sorry, no freebie you web cheapskates 😉 is pure joy, and contains a poem he constructed from one answer to a ‘Mass Observation‘ questionnaire on attitudes to spirituality in 1940’s Britain:

THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

Now you’ve caught me.
I’ve no idea

My life’s all work
And having babies.

Well, i think we’re all cogs
Of one big machine.

What I’m wondering is,
What is the machine for?

That’s your query.

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