Bookworm by Lucy Mangan.

[jackmerlin]

The main reason to recommend 'Bookworm' on here is that there's half a chapter devoted to the Marlows, but beyond that it's a beautifully written, very funny account of the joys of childhood reading. Mangan describes the joys of recognising something of yourself in a book, the chance lines that spark off a new way of understanding the world and the complete immersion that children reading can achieve - which is mostly lost to adults. It's lots of fun comparing her list of books to one's own - some overlap in my case - and she includes background information on authors, genres and the reason certain books were written or published. I found it addictive reading. Has anyone else read it yet? If not, go try it!