Book of the Week: BOOKISH: HOW READING SHAPES OUR LIVES by Lucy Mangan
Lucy Mangan grew up with her nose in a book. Bookish charts her passage through a book-lined adolescence — when so much is recalibrated, including our reading — and into the wide, crowded shelves of the adult world. There is so much to recognise as (very like) your own experience in this enjoyable book — it covers everything from school set texts to the hoarding impulse, from realism to romance, from choosing novels to choosing lovers, from old favourites to new babies, from books as entry-points to the worlds of others to books as exit-points from a world that is sometimes too much. Mangan finds resonances between reading and ‘life’ at every turn, and the reader will find these resonances on every page. This book will help you love your bookcase, your bookshop, and your fellow readers more than ever.