My aunt (now retired) was the Deputy News Editor at the Oldham Evening Chronicle. One of her colleagues there, Mark Hodkinson, recently released his 6th book, No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy: Memoirs of a Working Class Reader. She got me a copy for my birthday.
Hodkinson, son of an electrician and a sewing machinist, was quite different to the rest of his family. Hands on, blue collar Rochdale people, the Hodkinson family were not the literary types. Unnverved by his obsessive book-collecting, his parents made attempts to discourage him from literature and head into a more traditional, hands-on career. He resisted, though, eventually getting an NCTJ from Richmond College in Sheffield and cutting his teeth at the Middleton, Moston and Blackley Guardian.
Part autobiography, part investigation into the word of publishing and literature, NORHRT is a fascinating insight into a bibliophile’s world – his book-related anecdotes are interspersed with italicised tales of family life- strife, triumphs and curiosities. It sometimes lacks direction and it’s missing an index, making it difficult to write this review, but is a treat for any book lover, regardless of their upbringing.
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