Bookworm

A Memoir of Childhood Reading

By: Lucy Mangan

Narrated by: Lucy Mangan

When Lucy Mangan was little, stories were everything. They opened up new worlds and cast light on all the complexities she encountered in 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. She wandered the countryside with Milly-Molly-Mandy and played by the tracks with the Railway Children. With Charlotte's Web she discovered death, and with Judy Blume it was boys. No wonder she left the house only for her weekly trip to the library or to spend her pocket money on amassing her own at home.

In Bookworm, Lucy revisits her childhood reading with wit, love and gratitude. She relives our best-beloved books and their extraordinary creators and looks at the thousand subtle ways they shape our lives. She also disinters a few forgotten treasures to inspire the next generation of bookworms and set them on their way.

Lucy brings the favourite characters of our collective childhoods back to life - prompting endless rereadings, rediscoveries, and, inevitably, fierce debate - and brilliantly uses them to tell her own story, that of a born and unrepentant bookworm.

Cover credit: Laura Barrett

©2018 Lucy Mangan (P)2018 Audible, Ltd

A pure delight!

I can't say enough good things about Mangan's memoir. Her writing is smart, warm, and oh so relatable. I loved the audiobook so much that I ordered several copies of the hard copy and forced them on my mom, sister, and kindred-spirit friends.

sweet and nostalgic

What bookworm wouldn't love a book that pours the love on all our childhood favorite books?

Best suited for a British audience

While I appreciated the author’s passion for books, I came to realize that she and I had read only a handful of the same books. Being British, she recounts the huge volume of books she read during her childhood, and of course the majority were written by British authors.

I had not heard of, let alone read, most of them. There were many examples of classic children’s literature she did not mention or include, which disappointed me, and even with the books we both have in common, our views are miles apart on about half of them.

While it was kind of thrilling to hear her extol the wonders and virtues of one particular and beloved book we both treasure, I found my attention drifting away through much of the rest of the book.

The author performs her own narration, and I have to say between her accent, her speed, and some volume issues, it was perhaps not the best choice.

I love this!

Lucy Mangan is both witty and insightful in her descriptions of an endless array of children’s literature as well as funny stories of her childhood and family. Her voice, though not classically charming is moderate and soothing. I listen to this often as I fall asleep or if I need to go back to sleep and it works well. I am excited to read many of the titles she mentions and have learned a lot about the authors as well as the political climate at the time of publications. She does speak fast and has a definite English accent so listen to the sample to get an idea but this American lady loves it!

Interesting look at literature

It was interesting, particularly some of the historical tidbits that were shared about authors and books. At times, I felt like it was a survey of British literature but as she moved into adolescent books I started recognizing more of the titles.

A free audiobook was provided by Audible.

The author’s sarcasm

Very disappointed. I was expecting a lovely memoir but got an author disparaging other authors and religion.