No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy: Memoirs of a Working-Class Reader

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At that point, the books shifts into a slightly different perspective, more about Mark's career and how it intertwines his reading, and his reading drives his career. This is intercut throughout the book and, once I got used to switching in and out of the story, I found it touching and humane. There is also anti-intellectualism at work, as if they are afraid of you becoming clever in case you walk away, leave them behind.

Then the memoir element begins, a running thread that describes Hodkinson's relation to his schizophrenic grandfather. When he was growing up in Rochdale there was one book in his house, the now rare, Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain. Delightful, part memoir of growing up in working class England and part love-letter to books and reading. Hodkinson has done his back in, but the driver makes clear he is “under no obligation whatsoever” to help.A recent house move involved 100 boxes of books and so I could relate completely to the opening scene where the author is moving house and friends and family helping with the move ask him why he has so many books and how many he has. The article mentioned how in 1999 a journalist spent a year with Man City—chronicling their season—and then produced a book, which has been regarded as one of the best books in football history. No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy (2022) is initially concerned with Mark’s childhood in the mid 1970s. It’s about the schools, the music, the people – but pre-eminently and profoundly the books and authors that led the way and shaped his life. Its true that the nearest i've got to Rochdale is listening to the Mike Harding record when I myself was a kid.

Simon Armitage, doing star jumps with his wife on their daughter’s trampoline when he was made poet laureate. From the discovery of a copy in Boots the Chemist, who once were booksellers, to the fact the author still reads the book once a year. This develops into a memoir of his childhood (in the 1970s) and coming of age as a reader and eventually a working journalist. e liked the same music as they did, but there was something about the magic of the worlds contained in a book that he fell for completely.His dad kept it on top of a wardrobe with other items of great worth - wedding photographs and Mark's National Cycling Proficiency certificate. The book starts off very much a biography of Mark's reading then suddenly around page 200 football is mentioned. Much the same as a walk in the countryside, it is a pure delight that doesn't alter - it was there before, last week, last year, even when you were a child.