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A review by kazza27
Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books by Cathy Rentzenbrink
5.0
I very rarely read non fiction but everything about this book screamed at me to pick it up and rightly so. It is such a wonderful book, packed full of some of my favourite books from Narnia to Nora Ephron, Agatha Christie and Jilly Cooper.
Working in retail at Christmas is brutal and Cathy recalls it perfectly as she starts a bookseller in Harrods Waterstones. I particularly enjoyed her experiences with authors and the events in her bookshop roles as these really resonated with me due to my own job. Some of the experiences will make you laugh and cringe equally.
The chapter about Books about Bookshops and Booksellers was one of my favourite and has added sustainably to my huge TBR pile.
This book is also very moving, when Cathy loses her brother in a tragic accident she writes so poignantly how books like Ellis Peter’s Caedfel and Agatha helped her to survive and this was really emotional and heartbreaking. I also used Agatha Christie to get over my own losses and I have clung to them ever since.
I loved the close bond Cathy has with her family and how books shaped them all. Particularly her father who was an orphan and ran away to sea at fifteen and how he inspired her so much particularly in her work with literacy and prisons.
Like Cathy, my reading tastes changed dramatically when I was pregnant with my first child I loved horror Stephen King, James Herbert, etc but I couldn’t stomach them for many years. I have recently been able to start reading horror again. My youngest is seventeen now.
So much of this book really gripped me, from my reader tastes, my job and as a mother it felt so personal and relatable. It has also made me think alot about my own roles and reading. Cathy has had a wonderfully varied bookish life of which I am very envious!
I read this with my friend Serena as a buddy read and we have both decided this one is definitely for the forever shelf and I know it will be one that I will gift to others but also return to myself. Absolutely stunning!
5 glorious shiny stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Working in retail at Christmas is brutal and Cathy recalls it perfectly as she starts a bookseller in Harrods Waterstones. I particularly enjoyed her experiences with authors and the events in her bookshop roles as these really resonated with me due to my own job. Some of the experiences will make you laugh and cringe equally.
The chapter about Books about Bookshops and Booksellers was one of my favourite and has added sustainably to my huge TBR pile.
This book is also very moving, when Cathy loses her brother in a tragic accident she writes so poignantly how books like Ellis Peter’s Caedfel and Agatha helped her to survive and this was really emotional and heartbreaking. I also used Agatha Christie to get over my own losses and I have clung to them ever since.
I loved the close bond Cathy has with her family and how books shaped them all. Particularly her father who was an orphan and ran away to sea at fifteen and how he inspired her so much particularly in her work with literacy and prisons.
Like Cathy, my reading tastes changed dramatically when I was pregnant with my first child I loved horror Stephen King, James Herbert, etc but I couldn’t stomach them for many years. I have recently been able to start reading horror again. My youngest is seventeen now.
So much of this book really gripped me, from my reader tastes, my job and as a mother it felt so personal and relatable. It has also made me think alot about my own roles and reading. Cathy has had a wonderfully varied bookish life of which I am very envious!
I read this with my friend Serena as a buddy read and we have both decided this one is definitely for the forever shelf and I know it will be one that I will gift to others but also return to myself. Absolutely stunning!
5 glorious shiny stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐