What would you find if you went back and reread all of your favourite books from childhood? Francis Spufford discovers both delight and sadness, in this memoir. Re-reading and re-living these books, and investigating their literary origins and rich histories, Francis Spufford reveals what it was like to be an obsessive reader as a child. As the book unfolds, so too he gradually uncovers his own childhood and his unique reason for taking refuge in stories from a world full of unbearable knowledge.
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About the Author:
Francis Spufford has edited two acclaimed literary anthologies and a collection of essays on the history of technology. His first book, I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination, was awarded the Writers Guild for Best Non-fiction Book of 1996 and a Somersel Maugham Award. He lives in London.
Review:
"Exhilarating. . .It's a brilliant book, beautifully written, its insights hard-earned, filled with stuff that will make you understand a whole lot better your own life in reading." --"The New York Times Book Review" "Ambitious. . .His enthusiasm for this material is often charming. . .Spufford is at his best recalling his bookish discoveries." --"Newsday "(New York) "Francis Spufford lures us in to reveal the original power of books--as landscapes, as spurs to inwardness, as the very crucibles in which the self is formed. He is the addict's unrepentant confession, poignant, witty, and true in the way that every real reader will recognize instantly." --Sven Birkerts, author of "The Gutenberg Elegies"
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- PublisherFaber and Faber Ltd
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 0571191320
- ISBN 13 9780571191321
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages208
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Rating