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No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy: Memoirs of a Working-Class Reader
by
19/99
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15/99
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Scholars' Citation Index
51/99
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About This Book
Mark Hodkinson grew up among dark satanic mills in a house with just one book: Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain. His dad kept it on top of a wardrobe with other items of great worth - wedding photographs and Mark's National Cycling Proficiency certificate. If Mark wanted to read it, he was warned not to crease the pages or slam shut the covers. Fast forward to today, and Mark still lives in Rochdale snugly ensconced (or is that buried?) in a 'book cave' surrounded by 3,500 titles - at the last count. He is an author, journalist and publisher. So this is his story of growing up a working-class lad during the 1970s and 1980s. It's about schools (bad), music (good) and the people (some mad, a few sane), and pre-eminently and profoundly the books and authors (some bad, mostly good) that led the way, shaped a life. If only coincidentally, it relates how writing and reading has changed, as the Manor House novel gave way to the kitchen sink drama and working-class writers found the spotlight (if only briefly). Mark also writes movingly about his troubled grandad who, much the same as books, taught him to wander, and wonder.
Reviews
"This is a book about the north; it is also about publishing, writing and music, but it transcends its subjects."
"He has made one peculiar decision: to interrupt the flow with a separate, italicised narrative strand about his grandfather, John Duffy, who suffered a life-long mental illness."
"The one person he does write about at great length, besides himself, is his grandfather ..."
"It is too long, and Hodkinson admits himself that he can come across as a bit of a pub bore in his endless evangelism not only for books, but also for music and football."
"[Hodkinson] seeks to draw wider attention to the north of England's ignored talent, often from working-class backgrounds such as his own, all of which is beautifully illustrated in his moving new memoir ..."
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