BOOKISH

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 picks up where Bookworm left off at the cusp of teenage when everything including the way we read undergoes a not so subtle transformation Here Mangan vividly recounts her metamorphosis from young bookworm to bookish adult from the way GCSE curricula can 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 thrillers and bonkbusters to historical sagas and apocalyptic zombie stories that ferried her through each important stages of life falling in love finding a job becoming a mother and navigating grief Bookish is a coming of age in books It s an ode to our favourite bookish spaces from the smallest secondhand bookstalls to libraries glorious big bookshops and our very own book rooms and a love story to how books not only shelter our souls through hard times and help us find ourselves when we feel lost but also help us connect with the people we love