I've read the
book, haven't seen the
movie, and this is what I have to say. (Number 6 is sort of a spoiler, so look out!)
1. The music fandom rings a little hollow at times. I don't think there's any part of the book where Rob (the narrator) describes a piece of music, rather than just giving the title, artist, label, and bits of trivia. But perhaps that's the intention - he can't see the wood for the trees as it were.
2. A large early section of the book is supposed (as far as I can make out) to make male readers identify with the main character. Unfortunately, this section paints the picture of a smug, cocky bastard with bad taste in everything but music. Maybe I'll understand it better when I'm thirty.
3. Some parts of it are very sharp and well observed. The story is organised in short bursts of activity interspersed with ponderings on the aging male condition. When reading it I gradually got the impression that the callous bastard exterior (point 1.) was a means of defence for a rather more likeable, but unhappy, character.
4. The downside of this is that the plot (non-navel-gazing) parts tend to be marginalised. In particular, Rob's friends and girlfriends are really only very scantly introduced before the book wraps up. The record shop scenes seem like they should be the preamble for more substantial stuff, but end up being a bit superficial.
5. There aren't as many bits of trivia and lists in the book as I was expecting.
6. The ending is rather cheesy. I mean, there's making a book Hollywood friendly, but actually having the supporting characters pairing off to a triumphal musical number at the end is a bit much.
I would highly recommend this book, as most of the complaints here are probably just me nitpicking and having too high expectations. It's quite a quick read, and there are a number of chortle-worthy jokes in it too.
I definitely want to see the film soon.
Update: I've now seen the movie. Pretty cool. You will, I expect, hate it if you hate John Cusack effectively playing himself as he does in all his movies.