I am the wrong nationality to appreciate Lucy Mangan’s Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading. She’s younger than I am, but her childhood reading in the ’80s is certainly different than mine in the ’60s. I preferred her Bookish, her memoir of adult reading. The titles she read as a child are very British-centered, which makes sense. She was dependent on her father and school and public libraries for her books, which were purchased in England. I hadn’t heard of most of them. Of course, there are classics such as Charlotte’s Web, the Narnia series, Tom Sawyer, Alice in Wonderland. I read all of those, but I was dependent on an American public library and a Catholic school library. That second one led to a number of books about saints and their deaths, sometimes in graphic details. But, how can I trust an author who didn’t like The Hobbit? Mangan may have wanted to be some of the girls who lived in the country in her beloved books, girls who didn’t have adventures. I wanted to be Bilbo Baggins and go on adventures. And, one of my favorite books as a child was Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan, the adventures of a few Norwegian children. (More on that on April 3 when we discuss childhood favorites.) I enjoyed books about children and adventures, while Mangan was even more of bookworm than I was, and she didn’t want to read about adventures. In fact, Mangan said she enjoyed a character who was a stuffy girl, as she was. Mangan comes across as prim and proper. I was, too, but I longed for adventure.
I may have disagreed with some of Mangan’s favorite books and her opinions, but I understand the child she was. She said, “I was bookish, inert, unsociable.” Me, too. I totally understand her when she talks about childhood reading, and sinking into a book. “The intensity of childhood reading, the instant and complete absorption in a book – a good book, a bad book, in any kind of book – is something I would give much to recapture.” I know that feeling, of sinking into a book, and never hearing my mother talk to me. In fact, when we traveled, my father said I missed half the country because I had my nose in a book. As an adult, I went into raptures when I talked to my mother, raving about the beauty of Sedona, Arizona. My mother said, you were there. You never looked up from your book when we drove there. Oh, well, those childhood readers.
Mangan’s book is a memoir of the books she read as a child, and the feelings they evoked then and now. Those books take her back to her past. We all have those books, and I’m looking forward to our own chats about childhood books. Lucy Mangan and I may not have experienced the same stories, but Bookworm, with its examination of books and reading, forced me to organize my own thoughts as I looked at the books that shaped my reading life.
Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan. Vintage, 2018. 322p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I bought a copy of the book.
As a child, I, too, liked books about children having adventures. And I agree-how could anyone not like The Hobbit? Lucy Mangan must have had a desperate need for stability in her childhood.
After reading this book, Kim, I agree. That’s an excellent summary that she must have had a desperate need for stability. I think so. I still love The Hobbit.
I have Bookish on hold, but would read this one if it popped up too. It’s always good reading what other people like and have liked, even if our experiences were different.
You’re right, Jeff. There were a number of books I never heard of. I appreciated that, but preferred Bookish.
Well, I may be banned, but when I read The Hobbit as a teen in High School in the late 70s, I did not like it at all. Read Lord of the Rings, did not like it, and called it quits on his stuff. I was reading a lot of science fiction and thought the world of today would be far different than the reality, as well as Alistair McClean, Clive Cussler, John Sandford, and others.
Of course, you won’t be banned, Kevin. Everyone has their own opinion. I read Heinlein and Bradbury, but I’ve always been more of a fantasy reader than science fiction. I had to read The Hobbit in high school, and fell in love with the books and read them all in one clip. The Hobbit is still my favorite of the series.
I have to agree with you. I preferred The Hobbit to the later series.
Just saw that Kim Hayes was nominated for Barry Award for Splintered Justice. Congrats to Kim!
Oh, that’s fantastic, Jennifer! Congratulations, Kim!
I I’ve The Hobbit, Jeff.
That should say, I love The Hobbit
As you can imagine, I absolutely loved Bookworm, though even as someone who grew up just a few miles from Lucy Mangan, went to a similar school and the same university, I hadn’t heard of all of the books she mentions.
I have to admit that I loathed The Hobbit. We had to read it as a set text at school, and I disliked it so much that I just read the blurb on the back (and still managed to get through the test.) I have never even attempted Lord of the Rings.
I don’t really agree that anyone who doesn’t like these books is desperate for security. My son loved them – yet he is probably the least ‘secure’ of my children. Both of my daughters – who have very different characters – had no interest in them at all, yet Madeleine in particular loved reading about subversive characters. Horrid Henry, Harriet the Spy, and nowadays very alternative fiction, all float(ed) her boat.
Lucy Mangan loved The Little House on the Prairie series, which I’ve not read but imagine to be about adventure and challenge. I just think different people like different things.
I do think you’re right, Rosemary. At times, I found her comments funny and dry. I enjoyed her comments about her mother. At other times, though, I thought she was determined to show she was right all the time. While I’m a bookworm, and totally agree with her about that inert life, I didn’t always care about her attitude about others.