A must read for all bookworms who associate specific reads with particular memories in their life - they will identify strongly with Bookish and feel very nostalgic.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I loved the previous memoir by Lucy Mangan, Bookworm, so obviously I was extremely interested in reading this one as well. And it didn't disappoint. Mangan talks about her various reading obsessions over the course of her life, at school, at university, when she started working, when she got married, when she first became a mother, all the way into the pandemic. The part about her meeting her husband and sharing second-hand bookshop adventures was especially great, but I also loved everything about organizing her book collection, and choosing next books to read.

I just love reading books about reading, so this was perfect for me.

I devoured Bookish from first to last page .As a devoured obsessive reader I also never leave home without two books.The authors anecdotes about books she read throughout the years was wonderful .I enjoyed this book as much I enjoyed her first book #netgalley#Bookish

As a book lover, introvert and reader above pretty much all else, I very much enjoyed this deep delve into the joys of reading and what it brings to one's life.
Essential for all book lovers.

Books have the extraordinary power to enrich our lives in countless ways.
They are not merely static objects filled with printed words rather, they possess the ability to infuse the universe with soul, empower the mind with wings, ignite the imagination with flight, and bring life to every aspect of our existence
- Robert Greene

I love books: I love to read, talk about books and escape and learn
I thought that Lucy Mangan’s Bookish was going to fulfil my desire to hear all about books and in a way it did. I think I would have preferred her first book Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading which she discusses children’s books. In Bookish she takes us through the books she read and shaped her growing from teenage to adult years, and college reading lists. At times I found the book dry and thesis like. In some areas she was warm, and I loved it. I really enjoyed seeing what books we overlapped. The last chapter she warmed up and I was like YES! Lucy lists all of the books at the end which is a super great reference.

If you like to hear about books and how it can affect you – you will enjoy this
-A love of books is something ineradicable…” that brings comfort and joy-


Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A compelling and enjoyable read on the ecclectic reads of Lucy Mangan, which is also informative without being didactic.
I absolutely loved the fact that Mangan is elaborately promoting reading and that she has ecclectic tastes.

Overall, I believe this is an excellent 5 star read for readers, especially younger readers who are looking for more recommendations and a boost for reading.

In my honest experience this was a solid 4 star read.

I thoroughly enjoyed Lucy Mangan's earlier work, Bookworm, about her childhood reading memories, so I was keen to read Bookish which picks up where Bookworm left off.

There are lots of anecdotes about Lucy's life, interspersed with the books that she discovered at the same time. I recognised a lot of her favourites as books I had read and enjoyed and was pleased to find some excellent recommendations which have been added to my TBR (to be read) list.

If you are a true book lover, I highly recommend spending some time with Bookish and enjoying communing with another reader without having to move from your comfy chair.

I've seen a lot of people raving about this book and Lucy Mangan's first book, so I jumped at the chance to read an early review copy.

This book is full of nostalgic anecdotes that I could really relate to.

Some of the later chapters lost my interest, but I think this was because it focussed more on Mangan's life rather than the books she read.

Overall, this really is a book lovers dream book!
I definitely will be reading her first book now.

An entertaining look at the author and her obsession with books. So many times I said 'Oh that's me' throughout this book. It was a lovely book to read and, more particularly, feel understood. Some of the books she talked about I had no interest, but that's what reading is, a personal preference. I've ordered her previous book, Bookworm, on the back of this and look forward to reading it.

Thanks to the publishers for an EArc in exchange for my review

I greatly enjoyed Bookworm so was delighted to read this second book. It does not disappoint. I enviously followed the photos of the building of Lucy's library on Twitter - those wonderful green shelves! - so it was interesting to read about its genesis. The emotional and psychological impact of the reordering of her books - breaking the rules! - was insightful and honest and I was touched by her deep affection for books and for her dear dad.

I love the way in which she is completely unsnobby and treats all literary genres with the same positive enthusiasm, making the very sensible point that you need different books for different times in your life. Although I don't agree with her on quite a few of the books she mentions, I was fascinated by her take on crime: I realised that my own extensive reading in the genre is almost entirely by men, apart from P D James and Ruth Rendell and the much missed Susie Steiner. I am now left with a long list of books to try.

Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

My thanks to Random House Uk publishers and NetGalley for a copy of “ Bookish” for an honest review..

I loved Lucy Mangan’s previous book Bookworm and I was delighted to see she’d written this follow up and what a wonderful book !
As a librarian for over forty years books have played a large part in my life, both at work and at home..I’ve recently, become a convert to the Kindle for convenience but there’s nothing like the feel of a book in your hands , and the smell of a second hand bookshop .Certain books bring back as many memories as hearing a song on the radio.
Lucy Mangan managed to express how I feel about books , I particularly connected with her remarking that libraries now are regularly becoming community hubs , while sidelining the importance of reading .
The book is full of humour but also touches on moments of grief. I too have found comfort in escaping in a book when suffering losses.
A real bonus to reading this is that I now have so many new titles to add to my to be read list, if only time allows .
This is a must read for anyone who loves books.

Finally, a book about books and reading that doesn’t sneer at genre fiction in favour of the DWG (dead white guy) canon, despite the author’s degree in Literature from Cambridge. Lucy Mangan may admire Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Spenser Edmunds and the like, but she’s also fond of Lee Child, Marian Keyes, Emily Henry and Riley Sager, and not afraid to admit it.

Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives is a follow up to Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading, in which Mangan shares her love of books as a child. Here Lucy discusses her relationship with reading from late adolescence through to midlife adulthood.

The narrative is generally lighthearted though the author touches on some serious subjects such as stress, grief, and the pandemic. Mangan is an engaging writer who shares her thoughts and experiences articulately with enthusiasm and sincerity.

Mangan and I are of a similar age so many of the books she references are familiar, and we have enjoyed several of the same titles. We also share some milestones - university, marriage, motherhood, lockdown, so I could relate to how these events affected her reading habits. I too have a swathe of books that fall into “the category of Things I Feel I Might Like and Will Get to In the Fullness of Time, But Certainly Not Within What Normal People Would Call a Reasonable Period.” Regrettably I don’t have a dedicated library in my back garden, and my collection of physical books is slightly more modest, but maybe one day.

I enjoyed Bookish, it’s written for readers by a reader who, like me, reads, “Not to impress others, not under a completist compulsion, not to please someone or to try and make myself amenable to them…” but because, “A love of books is something ineradicable…” that brings comfort and joy.

Surely one of the signs of a good book is that the reader seeks out more by the same author? I immediately ordered Lucy Mangan's 'Bookworm A Memoir of Childhood Reading' and I am so looking forward to reading it.
Such a celebration of the joy and love of reading.
Thanks to Netgalley.

Just as with Mangan’s first book about books, Bookworm, Bookish makes a delightful read for any bibliophile. Part-memoir, part-reflection on the books that shaped her, it’ full of her trademark humour and would make the perfect gift for the bookworm in your life.

I had previously enjoyed Bookworm by the same author and this follows the reading journey of Lucy through her adult yearswith changing tastes and times.

Having studied English at Cambridge, Lucy talks about the texts which she either hated or loved during her University days. She found a love of Middle English literature but finds she hates other set texts or is nonplussed by them .
However, it's not all "high brow" literature as Lucy talks about the joys of "comfort" reads and talks about ones that have become hers. There are sections on "bonkbusters", the delights of Jilly Cooper, Shirley Conran etc and books that are more generally popular from "crime" novels to Romance novels. She isn't snobby about reading "genre" fiction.

As well as her reading itself, we follow her first jobs, meeting her husband and their book holidays in Norfolk. Usefully for me, she details the process of planning and having her special bookcases built, although she has space for a whole library room. I am planning new bookcases and actually had a picture of Lucy's library, so the detail she goes into is very useful practically.

Certain life stages are built in as she marries, becomes a mother and loses her beloved Dad. The whole time of lockdowns and Covid provides a counterpoint to the comedy within this book and light reflections.

Bookworm and Bookish will also provide you with a whole stack of recommendations that you pick up along the way as well as a whole section of recommendations at the end. It will certainly add to your TBR list/pile .
A book for anyone who always has their nose in a book, spend weekends in bookshops and bibliophiles everywhere.

Bookish by Lucy Mangan is a heartfelt, witty and deeply engaging memoir that explores the way books shape our lives and guide us through the most significant moments. Following on from her first book Bookworm, Mangan takes us through her teenage years and into adulthood, showing how her relationship with literature evolves as she navigates the challenges of life.

From the formative influence of GCSE reading lists to the bittersweet transition from re-reading cherished childhood favourites to the addictive joy of book hoarding, Mangan traces her journey with both humour and reflection. She vividly recounts the stories that have helped her through key life events—first love, a first job, marriage, motherhood, and the loss of loved ones—while exploring the intergenerational nature of reading and how our love for books can be passed down through families.

As someone who cherishes the intimate connection between people and their reading habits, I found this memoir to be a delight. Mangan’s writing is accessible and lively, making it easy to get lost in her words. I found myself laughing at her wit and nodding in agreement at the books she loves—and making a mental note of those I still want to read. For anyone who has ever been captivated by the world of books, Bookish is a perfect read, offering both nostalgia and inspiration. It is a celebration of how literature weaves through our lives and shapes our understanding of the world.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Lucy Mangan’s Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives is about her passion (obsession?) for reading. It is a book for book-lovers – no, not just people who read a lot, but people who will never satisfy their roaring, howling, physical need to read another book. There is no point in reading Bookish if you cannot nod with recognition when you read statements such as “And that, of course, is why we buy hundreds more books than we can ever read each year” and why it’s so important to some of us to own a book rather than borrow it from a library. She describes childhood reading as “A new world to discover between every set of covers” – spot on, if you ask me – and I was delighted to find that someone else felt like the 10-year-old me with 2/6d in my pocket, enough to buy a new Armada book, wallowing in the pleasure of trying to decide which one to buy this time.

Initially, I was uncertain what the book was going to be about and where the author was leading us. I then realised that looking for any narrative arc is pretty much pointless. Although the chapters roughly follow the author’s development from teenager to middle-aged mum, the book is really the author’s attempt to create a brain-to-brain link with us in order to show us the visceral emotional responses that the best books can evoke in the reader; whether deep joy or great sadness. Think of the whole book as an extended conversation with someone who loves books as much as you do and who is bubbling over with eagerness to share a list of books that are important to her. Don’t worry, though. Mangan isn’t trying to convert you to her point of view with an evangelical fervour. In fact, I think it’s fair to say she doesn’t care whether you enjoy her recommendations or not. She knows why the books are important to her; wants you to share that knowledge; but then immediately moves on to share her next discovery. I very soon gave up trying to decide whether I should track a book down because the titles aren’t as important as her passion. I just lay back to let Mangan’s stream of consciousness sweep me along.

The author is not just someone who loves books, though. Mangan not only states that literature changed when Jane Austen published her books, but explains what Austen did that was so novel (ha! See what I did there?!). Apparently, Austen was the first author to use the “free indirect style”, which enabled her to subtly reveal so much more of her characters. When Mangan explains what that style is, you think, “Yes, of course! That’s exactly what Austen does that’s different to Fielding, Smollett, Reeves, etc!”

If you love books – and I mean really, really, love them, you should buy this book.

#Bookish #NetGalley

Enjoyable, if not as spectacularly so as ‘Bookworm’ 4

Mangan in an engaging and witty writer, this second outing of her detailed and life long account of her love affair with books felt less absorbing than that first book. Partly, I think because some of the wit and humour felt forced at times. Not surprising, as Mangan (like so many of us) foundered and struggled during Covid, and she also had major life changes which she described her – first, the upending of everything which parenting brings, and in her case struggles with post-natal depression. However, children grow, their being develops, and there is delight also to be found amidst the hard work times. More painful, the death of her beloved father. Such loss may become less agonising, but the loss remains.

My reason for the slight disappointment is two fold. Firstly, I have to admit I’m a more snobby, if less erudite reader than Mangan, and, moreover, a generation older. So this meant that when certain books came out, which she can appreciate as page turning reads – Dan Brown, and writers of all those Hollywood style bonkbusters about the rich and famous, - they only evoked the curled lip sneer in me which she fulminates against, as I had moved beyond ONLY wanting ‘what happens next’. I tried, back in the day, Lucy, flipping through pages in libraries and bookshops, but found the writing utterly appalling. Sorry.

Secondly, I did think some editing would have been an improvement. Mangan is very fond of extremely long sentences involving many clauses and subclauses, liberally scattering brackets and hyphens throughout them. Sometimes multiple combinations of both within the same sentence, so that by the time the sentence end is reached, this reader was left with dangling ends and confusion where to attach them!

She also, as with Bookworm, is a huge fan of footnotes. Not a problem in a wood book, where it is relatively easy to visually navigate and flip between main text and footnotes. A real headache in my ARC Kindle

My better humour, from these technical challenges, was much restored by the expanded reading suggestions of books applicable to the particular life stages or bookie nooks (genres) she had been exploring. So, this will certainly be a book which keeps on giving. Brown and Bonkbusterdom aside.

Another elongated love letter to books from Lucy Mangan that will stay with me for a long time. Any self-professed bookworm will recognise themselves in Mangan and the pure joy she describes some of her favourite books with immediately had me adding them to my already far too long for a lifetime TBR list.

I will happily recommend this book to everyone I know has enjoyed even a single book.

I absolutely loved Bookworm, Lucy’s earlier homage to childhood reading, which really could have been about me and Bookish is every bit as good. It carries on where Bookworm left off continuing her love of reading as she works through adolescence and into adulthood.
So many of the books she reads are ones that I too have treasured and I love her enthusiasm. We both have a passion and nostalgia for children’s books that continues throughout this book. She has me making lists of books that she loved and that I am yet to read and she extols the joy of visiting second hand book shops and finding just the right book at the right time.
I can highly recommend this to all bibliophiles, it is written in a very easy, friendly style and if Lucy would like to come and help me sort out my own library she would be very welcome.