Excerpted from Songbook, a soon-to-be-released collection of short essays by Nick Hornby revolving around 30 or so of his favorite songs: I don't dislike classical music because of its cultivation -- I'm not an inverted snob. I dislike it (or at least, I'm unaffected by it) because it sounds churchy, and because, to my ears at least, it can't deal with the smaller feelings that constitute a day and a week and a life, and because there are no backing vocals or bass lines or guitar solos, and because a lot of pople who profess to like it actually don't really like any music (or any culture) at all, and because I grew up listening to something else, and because it does not possess the ability to make me feel, and because I don't need my music to sound any "better" than it does already -- a great, farting, squelching, quick-witted sax solo does the job for me. In that vein, here's five songs (in no particular order) for a beautiful summer Saturday night in Los Angeles where your date has cancelled on you and you have no other plans except to sit home and see what's on TV because your friends either have other plans or are nowhere to be found. 1. "Drinking in L.A." - Bran Van 3000 (no comments about the triteness of this choice; yes, I'm in L.A.; yes, I'm 26 as it says in the song; I really don't care) 2. "Strange Condition (Rock Version)" - Pete Yorn (this version's been reworked from the one on the album -- I think it's much better and prefer it very much to the original) 3. "Letting the Cables Sleep" - Bush 4. "Hello Time Bomb" - Matthew Good Band 5. "405" - Death Cab For Cutie