Bookworm
Ratings5
Average rating4.2
15
Ratings5
Average rating4.2
The perfect Christmas gift for the bookworm in your life. 'Beautiful and moving... It will kickstart a cascade of nostalgia for countless people' Marian Keyes When Lucy Mangan was little, stories were everything. They opened up different worlds and cast new light on this one. She was whisked away to Narnia - and Kirrin Island - and Wonderland. She ventured down rabbit holes and womble burrows into midnight gardens and chocolate factories. No wonder she only left the house for her weekly trip to the library. In Bookworm, Lucy brings the favourite characters of our collective childhoods back to life and disinters a few forgotten treasures poignantly, wittily using them to tell her own story, that of a born, and unrepentant, bookworm. 'Passionate, witty, informed, and gloriously opinionated' Jacqueline Wilson 'A deliciously nostalgic treat' Good Housekeeping 'Lucy Mangan has enough comic energy to power the National Grid' The Spectator
Reviews with the most likes.
An enjoyable book, and a great evocation of life and a young book addict. Although my childhood reading somewhat differed from Ms. Mangan's (due, most likely, to our different genders and interests) in the areas where we matched it was like a nostalgia bomb going off. This book was also filled with the kind of interesting facts and information about authors and publishing that I love to read.
(It was also nice to see that I'm not the only person that really does not see the appeal of The Cat in the Hat.)
Lucy Mangan speaks for all of us in the tribe of bookworm in this wonderful memoir that recounts her childhood reading.
“Remember hiding a book on your lap to get yourself through breakfast? Remember getting hit on the head by footballs in the playground because a game had sprung up around you while you were off in Cair Paravel? Remember taking yourself off to the furthest corner of the furthest sofa in the furthest room of the house with a stack of Enid Blytons and praying that everyone would forget about you till bedtime? If so, this is the book for you. But then, most books are. You are, like me, a bookworm.”
Oh yes. Lucy shares the stories of her experiences in books. She shares a story her non-bookish mother tells about the first time she put Lucy in a baby bouncer and Lucy just sat there. Lucy tells her version of the story:
“I think the explanation lies in the fact that I wasn't really a baby. I was a bookworm. For the true bookworm, life doesn't really begin until you get hold of your first book. Until then—well, you're just waiting, really.”
Are you nodding your head as I did? If so, you may find that Lucy's story is your story, transported, perhaps, to America, or to a bit earlier time, but the storyline is the same. It's a lovely story, of finding all the heartstopping books of one's life, like Where the Wild Things Are and the Roald Dahl stories and the Blyton books.
Oh, and did I ever bond with Mangan when she describes the pain a bookworm feels when she gives birth to what increasingly becomes apparent is a non-bookworm child. We try and try and try, but it's really no use, is it?
I can think of a hundred people who would love to read this book. You are probably one of them. What are you waiting for?
