Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives

(Hardback)

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Description

The highly anticipated sequel to BOOKWORM about how books of all kinds delight, guide, comfort and strengthen us throughout our adult lives As a child, Lucy Mangan was reading all the time, using books to navigate the challenges and complexities of this world and many others. As an adult, she uses her new relationship with literature to seize upon the most important question- (how) do books prepare us for life Bookish picks up where Bookworm left off- at the cusp of teenage, when everything - including the way we read - undergoes a not-so-subtle transformation. Here, Mangan vividly recounts her metamorphosis from young bookworm to bookish adult, from the way GCSE curricula can impact our relationship with literature to the growing pains of swapping the pleasures of re-reading for those of book-hoarding. Revisiting the books of all genres - from thrillers and bonkbusters to historical sagas and apocalyptic zombie stories - that ferried her through each important stages of life - falling in love, finding a job, becoming a mother and navigating grief - Bookish is a coming-of-age in books. It's an ode to our favourite bookish spaces - from the smallest secondhand bookstalls to libraries, glorious big bookshops and our very own book rooms - and a love story to how books not only shelter our souls through hard times and help us find ourselves when we feel lost, but also help us connect with the people we love through shared stories.

Reviews

What Mangan does brilliantly is express the experience of reading and articulate the emotional connections we make with stories. She understands how books become entwined in our lives and help us make sense of the world. * Observer (Bookworm) *
A bookworms delight. A joyous whistle stop tour through some books Ive loved all my life as well as books I discovered through reading it. I devoured this book. * Sara Collins *
Such a gorgeous writer Funny, warm and charming A beautiful, warm, comic voice. If youre a passionate reader, this book feels like the best conversation ever with another of your kind. I was engaged, comforted, educated (about SO much). I laughed, and wanted to be part of your family, and made lists of all the books I need to buy, and was very moved. * Marian Keyes *
Comforting, funny and moving - Bookish is wonderful to curl up with on good days and bad. * Sali Hughes *

Author Bio

Lucy Mangan is a columnist for Stylist magazine and a features writer and reviewer for The Guardian, The Telegraph and many other publications. She broadcasts frequently on radio and occasionally on television, and is the author My Family and Other Disasters, The Reluctant Bride, Hopscotch and Handbags and Inside Charlie's Chocolate Factory.