No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy: Memoirs of a Working-Class Reader

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Mad Men star Alison Brie and The White Lotus hunk Jake Lacy enjoy an animated chat on the Gold Coast while filming Apples Never Fall Gisele Bundchen showcases her toned tummy as she and rumored boyfriend Joaquim Valente enjoy Costa Rica getaway with her children Hodkinson himself was always a collector and grew up in a house devoid of books. His father had only one title, "Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain," which was to be treated carefully. TV was endless, while his interest in reading was viewed with distrust by those around him. The author discusses his life, including his education and various obsessions which mirrored my own - including football and music. Like Mr Hodkinson I gave up bookshops for a while when my children were little (pushchairs are difficult to manoeuvre past small tables, with teetering piles of books which can be easily grabbed) and I agree with the author whole-heartedly that libraries 'were best when they were libraries.'

Mark’s journey into his own cocoon of books is a deeply personal tale but one with universal themes for all young lives shaped and transformed in some way by the written word … Thoughtful and engaging”Rita Ora flaunts her jaw-dropping figure in a revealing silver sequin co-ord as she performs at Hits Radio Live in Manchester Some kids grow up dreaming of fast cars and fancy clothes. Others just want books and records. If that was you, particularly if you grew up in a small northern town where people said the word "book" the way they said the word "voodoo", this is probably your story. Even if you didn't, chances are you’ll love it’ Treats for under the tree: Top 10 festive gift ideas that promise to be all THEY want for Christmas On the couch: FIVE surprising ways you can use a psychology degree - from clinical and occupational to forensic psychology

Without spoiling it really, I will suffice to say that this book triples as a personal memoir, a kind of history of literature, and also a love song to books and the passion of reading. If you are a person who likes to read and considers yourself “well-read,” I would venture to say this book is for you. I like Hodkinson’s assessments of many of the books he’s read, too. I don’t agree with all of them, of course – that’s just how it is with books – but he is insightful, thoughtful and independent. He refuses to be cowed by orthodoxy, so when he writes of The Catcher In The Rye (which had a tremendous effect on him when young, as it did on so many of us) he resists the “agenda of cultural revisionism” which deems Holden to be “too male, too white, too privileged, too American, too heterosexual...flagrantly misogynistic…” Hodkinson says, “..social mores drawn predominantly from the 1940sare bound to jar in a modern context; it’s one of the reasons why we read: to understand and interpret the present through the past, how we got here.” Spot on, Mark!Emmerdale's Isabel Hodgins is engaged! Star shares heartwarming clip of the moment her fiancé Adam Whitehead popped the question I can’t be bothered giving much more time to this self-centred monologue, so I’ll just say that that “awful school” inspired me - three post-graduate degrees, a life of working with disadvantaged communities, shelves (and a Kindle) full of books (including Tolstoy); and never did it let down either my brother or my sister- or anyone else I knew.