Bookworm

A love-letter to children's books. 'Beautiful and moving... It will kickstart a cascade of nostalgia for countless people' Marian Keyes'Beautiful and moving... It will kickstart a cascade of nostalgia for countless people' Marian KeyesWhen 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

Short-listed for IBW Book Award 2019 (UK)

“"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. You don't need to have enjoyed the same books as she has to recognise the pure, life-affirming joy of reading that Bookworm celebrates so eloquently ." - - The Observer”

I felt like this was written just for me, and I think everyone will feel this way

THE most wonderful, funny, clever, charming, evocative book. India Knight
A book for people who love books, by a person who loves books. Bookworms unite (or just sit in our separate corners and read!) Stylist
A delicously nostalgic treat that will make you want to pull out all those old favourites again Good Housekeeping
Artfully evokes that particular magic of reading as a child… Deliciously unrepentant, Mangan’s Bookworm makes a timely case not just for how vital reading is, but also for rereading books as a child, and how reading remains consoling, fortifying and, sometimes, magical. The Sunday Times
A wonderful romp through the pages of childhood, illuminated by wisdom, humour and enthusiasm. Bernard Cornwell
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. You don’t need to have enjoyed the same books as she has to recognise the pure, life-affirming joy of reading that Bookworm celebrates so eloquently. The Observer
Lucy Mangan has enough comic energy to power the National Grid... We need this new memoir about her childhood of being a bookworm. It's enchanting. The Spectator
To read Lucy Mangan’s memoir of growing up bookish is to be taken back to a time in life when reading wasn’t merely a gentle pleasure or mild obligation but an activity as essential as breathing. Guardian
Anyone who has ever preferred books to life will recognise Lucy Mangan as a kindred spirit. Her moving, funny, honest and superbly-written memoir about how childhood reading shapes our personalities, memories and chances could not be more timely or more needed in an age of library closures, embattled Humanities teaching and Philistinism. Amanda Craig
Lucy Mangan's passionate, amusing and nostalgic reflection upon her favourite children’s books deserves to become as much of a classic as the novels she revisits. Sunday Express
A witty and thorough history of reading for children from the 17th century to the present day. Fiercely unsentimental and often funny, it's a memoir that will strike a ringing chord with anyone who spent most of their childhood glued to a book. Irish Times
Deft, warm and beautifully balanced. Made me smile. Made me glow. Made me think again and again. Jason Hazeley, co-author of the adult Ladybird series
Funny, nostalgic and super-interesting… Warm, witty and a must-read for every bookworm. The Sun
The Guardian columnist has composed an enthusiastic love letter to childhood reading, and the classic books that have shaped many young lives, as well as providing a resource and guide on how to build a children’s library Guardian
Funny and engaging. -- Sue Barraclough Irish News
Bookworm is for anyone who longed to be on Kirrin Island with the Famous Five, slip through a back of a wardrobe into Narnia or will always think fondly of the penis named Ralph in Judy Blume’s Forever Red Magazine
A warm, witty story about stories and the way they shape us. -- Lucy Brookes CultureWhisper
Lucy Mangan’s passionate, amusing and nostalgic reflection upon her favourite children’s books deserves to become as much of a classic as the novels she revisits. -- Charlotte Heathcote Sunday Express
Enchanting. -- Ysenda Maxton Graham Spectator
Joyful and heart-warming. Muddy Stilettos
Entertaining and hugely engaging… An entirely inspiring read. -- Eithne Farry Sunday Express
… like a heated but enjoyable discussion with a best friend bookworm. -- Jacqueline Wilson The Week
A love letter to the books we all read as children. -- Mike Gayle Metro
[W]ise and witty… all the time Mangan has the ability to be ceaselessly and apparently effortlessly funny Books For Keeps
If you're a book lover of any form then you will almost certainly get something from this book… you will look fondly back on the books of your childhood too -- Paul Cheney Nudge
In Lucy Mangan’s Bookworm…childhood books are brought vividly to life, as are the remembered pleasures of first encountering them -- Harriet Baker Times Literary Supplement
Lucy Mangan's funny, warm Bookworm is personal and universal in the way that the very best books are -- Aliya White Den of Geek, Books of the Year
Beautifully narrated, Bookworm brings the favourite characters of our collective childhoods back to life and brilliantly uses them to tell her own story Psychologies
An enchanting, nostalgic, comfort read Mail on Sunday

Lucy Mangan is a columnist for Guardian Weekend magazine and Stylist, and the author of My Family and Other Disasters, The Reluctant Bride and Hopscotch and Handbags.

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