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No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy: Memoirs of a Working-Class Reader
Bottom of the pile
14
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
21/100Critics
7/100Scholars
Author:
Mark Hodkinson
Publisher:
Canongate Books
Date:
April 12, 2022
Mark Hodkinson grew up among dark satanic mills in a house with just one book that his dad kept it on top of a wardrobe with other items of great worth. 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 in a 'book cave' surrounded by 3,500 titlesâat the last count. He is an author, journalist and publisher. 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
What The Reviewers Say
[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.
No One Here Reads Tolstoy leaps around, keeping to the memoir format but frequently spinning off into entertaining digressions.
[Hodkinson] has none of the chippiness afflicting some of the kitchen sinkers; he is not out for revenge. Instead, he’s a dreamer.
The problem, I think, with this volume is that it is actually several books between two covers.
