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Mark Hodkinson grew up among dark satanic mills in a house with just one book: Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain. His dad kept it on top of a wardrobe with other items of great worth - wedding photographs and Mark's National Cycling Proficiency certificate. 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 (or is that buried?) in a 'book cave' surrounded by 3,500 titles - at the last count. He is an author, journalist and publisher.
So 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. If only coincidentally, it relates how writing and reading has changed, as the Manor House novel gave way to the kitchen sink drama and working-class writers found the spotlight (if only briefly).
Mark also writes movingly about his troubled grandad who, much the same as books, taught him to wander, and wonder.
Mark Hodkinson has written for The Times for two decades, three years as a columnist. He has also contributed to the Observer, Guardian, Mail on Sunday and others. He is the author of Blue Moon: Down Among the Dead Men with Manchester City, which is regularly cited as a football classic, and Believe in the Sign, which was longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. His novels include The Last Mad Surge of Youth, which was nominated as Q's Novel of the Year, and That Summer Feeling. He owns Pomona Books and has published titles by Simon Armitage, Barry Hines, Ian McMillan, Ray Gosling, Stuart Murdoch (of Belle and Sebastian), Bob Stanley (Saint Etienne) and many more. He also commissioned and edited the much-acclaimed biography J.D. Salinger: A Life, which was made into a film starring Nicholas Hoult. He lives in Lancashire.
markhodkinson.com
Publisher. Fiercely independent for fifty years.
A book about books: NO ONE ROUND HERE READS TOLSTOY is a book that reflects the heart of every reader. https://t.co/VGt3LFcRbH
Nicola Smith-book blogger. Reviews and other bookish stuff. Just one person trying to read all the books. No eBooks. IG, FB, TT handle-@shortbookandscribes
Thank you @canongatebooks for #NoOneRoundHereReadsTolstoy by @markhod70. I love the sound of a memoir of a working-class reader. #BookPost out on paperback on 4th May. https://t.co/7A3eUhdhlz
“Make visible what without you might never have been seen.” Robert Bresson
@i_am_mill_i_am Morning Andy. When are you going to write a Decade of Reading Dangerously? Speaking of reading fiends, have you a copy of Mark Hodgkinson’s No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy? It’s brilliant, an inspiring hymn to the power of books and reading and I think right up your street.