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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
lighthearted
fast-paced
I’ve taken ages to read this book but that’s only because I had to savour it (plus take little detours to dictionaries, Wikipedia and the Thurso library catalogue). I have absolutely loved every page of it. I have also had to make a new shelf here - The Lucy Mangan Legacy Shelf - for those books which, even as a bookworm, although maybe it’s the age gap, I missed the first time round. SVH has not made it onto that shelf but I did enjoy Lucy and Sally’s enjoyment of them
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
slow-paced
informative
A decent attempt of writing about books that the author had read as a child, and have shaped them. Some moments of discussion about reading (let kids read what they want, they'll filter as needed or won't touch what they don't like/aren't ready for) and (seeing yourself in books must be really profound and important) rolled my eyes at that one.
The author is only a little older than me, and we're both UK based, so most of the books on this list I knew or had read. But they have a hugely different reading preface to me, and it rankled a bit that fantasy was almost totally dismissed and animal stories were a big no (until Charlottes Web broke her heart) And no reason why either. At least I knew I hated romance books because it was never gonna happen for me so why get my hopes up?
Some of the big book moments I remembered too - my secondary school library had a whole bookcase of SVH but we could only have one at a time on loan.
Some others have mentioned that paragraphs went wandering off on their own - I found myself rereading whole pages to figure out where the start of the thought was. And there were definitely passages where I felt I was being mocked because I liked a certain book. The Blyton chapter certainly got messy. There were moments about book banning and censorship, but for someone who fitted the 'normal' it didn't hasn't affected them hugely in their reading. I'd also be interested to see if their reading has grown more diverse over the years, ad like many of us during the 80s, white authors dominated our shelves. Thank you to my English teacher for making us read Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry when I was 13.
I was hoping for either more on the books that were important to the author, why, key moments, or more history of the chosen books, but this became a mish-mash of the two and neither felt fully satisfying.
I'm not sure what I expected from Bookworm, but I think it was more than this gave me.
The author is only a little older than me, and we're both UK based, so most of the books on this list I knew or had read. But they have a hugely different reading preface to me, and it rankled a bit that fantasy was almost totally dismissed and animal stories were a big no (until Charlottes Web broke her heart) And no reason why either. At least I knew I hated romance books because it was never gonna happen for me so why get my hopes up?
Some of the big book moments I remembered too - my secondary school library had a whole bookcase of SVH but we could only have one at a time on loan.
Some others have mentioned that paragraphs went wandering off on their own - I found myself rereading whole pages to figure out where the start of the thought was. And there were definitely passages where I felt I was being mocked because I liked a certain book. The Blyton chapter certainly got messy. There were moments about book banning and censorship, but for someone who fitted the 'normal' it didn't hasn't affected them hugely in their reading. I'd also be interested to see if their reading has grown more diverse over the years, ad like many of us during the 80s, white authors dominated our shelves. Thank you to my English teacher for making us read Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry when I was 13.
I was hoping for either more on the books that were important to the author, why, key moments, or more history of the chosen books, but this became a mish-mash of the two and neither felt fully satisfying.
I'm not sure what I expected from Bookworm, but I think it was more than this gave me.
Lucy Mangan is my new hero! A fellow bibliophile- her memoir evoked memories of my youth spent with nose in book.
I love this book so much!!! I listened to Lucy Mangan narrating the audiobook herself, which is always kind of a bonus, to hear the author read their own memoir. But I am going to get myself a physical copy too as I am going to want to dip back in and out of it, and read the books I'd somehow missed growing up!
So, Lucy was born just a year before me and also like me grew up in South London. I too read a lot of books, as we did not have a TV (although I believe I would have loved books regardless). This book could have been written for me; it feels surreal that child Lucy was living half hour's journey from me reading the same books and without anyone to talk to about them - if only we could have met!
Lucy took 'bookworm' to a whole other level compared to me, but nevertheless I did somehow read most of the books she mentions, and feel the same aching nostalgia for them (I can't imagine tolerating different editions to the ones I grew up with, if I can help it- eBay has been my saviour a few times) and many of the picture books for young children I too read to my child (about a decade before her, I think). So that being the case, while listening I was actually excited to find out what the next book or author would be, and I couldn't put it down (listening to the audiobook meant I wasn't peeking ahead). There were even gems that no one else besides me had read - for example Antonia Forest's school stories (YES they are fantastic), Anne Digby's Trebizon books, Private - Keep Out! by Gwen Grant, and Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt. Then there were the obvious authors like Enid Blyton (great chapter analysing those, both what makes them work for kids and what she loved about them as a child, and critiquing them. The chapter began "I can barely bring myself to talk about my Enid Blyton years. Who dares to let daylight in on magic?" Yep, that sums it up!). There was a chapter about classics, only a couple of which I read as a child (E. Nesbit being one author), others I didn't get to until I grew up. Then there were the teenage crazes that took over both our classrooms - Sweet Valley High and Judy Blume.
Lucy gushes about all the books she mentions, her enthusiasm is really catching, I wish I could go back in time and discover all these books again for the first time as a child! And I wish I could've been more of a bookworm my whole life than I was (I am now). But the book isn't only a personal bookish memoir - she also includes brief biographical information about the authors and illustrators, lively descriptions of illustrations in the picture books, historical literary context, and loving descriptions of the specific editions she first stumbled upon. (A couple of which I recognised from my own childhood.) And it never feels info-dumpy or dull. She also brings a lot of humour to her writing.
To conclude, if you are a bookworm - especially if you are around Lucy's age (born in the '70s) - this book is for you. If you are not a bookworm, I fail to imagine how reading this book wouldn't incite you to want to start reading!
ETA (next day) - I just read a few 1 star reviews (mostly about the book being boring). It's so interesting to me how very differently we all experience books!
So, Lucy was born just a year before me and also like me grew up in South London. I too read a lot of books, as we did not have a TV (although I believe I would have loved books regardless). This book could have been written for me; it feels surreal that child Lucy was living half hour's journey from me reading the same books and without anyone to talk to about them - if only we could have met!
Lucy took 'bookworm' to a whole other level compared to me, but nevertheless I did somehow read most of the books she mentions, and feel the same aching nostalgia for them (I can't imagine tolerating different editions to the ones I grew up with, if I can help it- eBay has been my saviour a few times) and many of the picture books for young children I too read to my child (about a decade before her, I think). So that being the case, while listening I was actually excited to find out what the next book or author would be, and I couldn't put it down (listening to the audiobook meant I wasn't peeking ahead). There were even gems that no one else besides me had read - for example Antonia Forest's school stories (YES they are fantastic), Anne Digby's Trebizon books, Private - Keep Out! by Gwen Grant, and Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt. Then there were the obvious authors like Enid Blyton (great chapter analysing those, both what makes them work for kids and what she loved about them as a child, and critiquing them. The chapter began "I can barely bring myself to talk about my Enid Blyton years. Who dares to let daylight in on magic?" Yep, that sums it up!). There was a chapter about classics, only a couple of which I read as a child (E. Nesbit being one author), others I didn't get to until I grew up. Then there were the teenage crazes that took over both our classrooms - Sweet Valley High and Judy Blume.
Lucy gushes about all the books she mentions, her enthusiasm is really catching, I wish I could go back in time and discover all these books again for the first time as a child! And I wish I could've been more of a bookworm my whole life than I was (I am now). But the book isn't only a personal bookish memoir - she also includes brief biographical information about the authors and illustrators, lively descriptions of illustrations in the picture books, historical literary context, and loving descriptions of the specific editions she first stumbled upon. (A couple of which I recognised from my own childhood.) And it never feels info-dumpy or dull. She also brings a lot of humour to her writing.
To conclude, if you are a bookworm - especially if you are around Lucy's age (born in the '70s) - this book is for you. If you are not a bookworm, I fail to imagine how reading this book wouldn't incite you to want to start reading!
ETA (next day) - I just read a few 1 star reviews (mostly about the book being boring). It's so interesting to me how very differently we all experience books!
A trip down memory bookshelves from childhood - Lucy brought back so many happy memories of books read.
Very very nostalgic. I didn’t get all of the references but always happy to read about Goodnight Mr Tom, the owl who was afraid of the dark, Just William, Mrs Wobble The Waitress, Flat Stanley, The Twits & Stig of the Dump.
Who knew an account of childhood reading would be this dull?