No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy

I hadn’t planned to buy this. I’d never heard of Mark Hodkinson before. But I was in my local bookshop and I hate to leave without buying something; it doesn't seem right. This looked interesting. And so it turned out to be.

Actually, better than just ‘interesting’. Much better. This memoir of a (mainly) Rochdale lad born, in 1960, to a working class family that neither liked nor trusted books is absolutely compelling. It’s one of those books that makes you rush through everything else you have to do so you can get back to reading it. And even though I don’t care for a lot of the authors Mark Hodkinson loves, what he really communicates so well is a love for books. For reading. For being transported to other worlds and experiences by the power of words.

I found it absolutely enthralling and I can’t recommend it highly enough.