Abandoned this book about halfway through.

Had heard of Nick Hornby and was interested in checking out his work, and grabbed this up when I saw it displayed at the library. For me, it just never got off and going. I was interested in Barbara early on when she turned in her crown and left for London, but the way things were written I didn't really know much about her character. Perhaps this was because he jumped a bit in time or because it was in third person, but I didn't find Barbara funny. As many other comments have stated, Hornby almost never shows any instances of her being funny, he just says "and then she went on to do the funniest, most charming and perfect reading of the episode. She had the audience in stitches!" but not the reading audience!
I wondered if some of the humor was of a different kind than I was wanting, or if there was some sort of British/American disconnect, but I was bored with this book and didn't care about most of the characters, so turned it in to avoid the late fees.
May try another Hornby in the future.