Bookish

How Reading Shapes Our Lives

Lucy Mangan

A celebration of books and a love story to the written word that reveals how books help us connect with other readers through shared stories.

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 vividly tells the story of a reader’s life from the cusp of teenagehood, when everything – including the way we read – undergoes a not-so-subtle transformation. Lucy vividly recounts her metamorphosis from young bookworm to bookish adult, from the way school curricula 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 literary novels and historical saga fiction to apocalyptic zombie novels) that ferried her through each important stage of life—falling in love, finding a job, becoming a mother, and navigating grief—Bookish is a coming-of-age story told through books. It's an ode to our favorite bookish spaces (from the smallest secondhand bookstalls to our favorite libraries, mega-bookshops, and our own bookshelves) and a love story to how books not only shelter our souls through hard times, but also how they help us connect with the people we love through shared stories.

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 of My Family and Other Disasters, The Reluctant Bride, Hopscotch and Handbags, and Inside Charlie’s Chocolate Factory. Lucy lives in London.

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Endorsements & Reviews

Early praise for Bookish:

"An affectionate, warm guide on the healing power of reading.” The Independent

"A bookworm’s delight. A joyous whistle stop tour through some books I’ve loved all my life as well as books I discovered through reading it. I devoured this book.” Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton

"Such a gorgeous writer. Funny, warm, and charming. A beautiful, warm, comic voice. If you’re 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, author of My Favorite Mistake and Rachel's Holiday

"Comforting, funny and moving, Bookish is wonderful to curl up with on good days and bad.” Sali Hughes, author of Pretty Iconic and Everything is Washable and Other Stories

"An unabashed paean to the pleasure of acquiring more books than you could ever possibly read in your life. A whirlwind tour through [Mangan’s] voracious, encyclopedic adult reading habit. This is a book by someone whom reading is life." The Spectator

"Bookish tackles the myriad complexities of adulthood. [Mangan] makes for a wonderfully incisive critic and can pick apart a George Orwell with the same perspicacity with which she can, say, a Jack Reacher, or the lesser-known Brontë sister, Anne" The Observer

"Readers won’t share all of Mangan’s preferences, but that’s part of the point—it’s enjoyable enough to eavesdrop on the pleasures of a committed bookworm. A book on books needs marginalia, and this one doesn’t disappoint.” The Times Literary Supplement