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Book Cover for: No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy: Memoirs of a Working-Class Reader, Mark Hodkinson

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

Mark Hodkinson

Paperback
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Critic Reviews

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Based on 6 reviews on

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Mark Hodkinson grew up among the terrace houses of Rochdale in a house with just one book. Today, Mark is an author, journalist and publisher. He still lives in Rochdale but is now surrounded by 3,500 titles - at the last count.


No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy is his story of growing up a working-class lad during the 1970s and 1980s. It's about the schools, the music, the people - but pre-eminently and profoundly the books and authors that led the way and shaped his life. It's about a family who didn't see the point of reading, and a troubled grandad who taught Mark the power of stories. It's also a story of how writing and reading has changed over the last five decades.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Canongate Books
  • Publish Date: Oct 3rd, 2023
  • Pages: 368
  • Language: English
  • Edition: Main - undefined
  • Dimensions: 0.00in - 0.00in - 0.00in - 0.00lb
  • EAN: 9781838850012
  • Categories: • Readers• Personal Memoirs• Editors, Journalists, Publishers

About the Author

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.

markhodkinson.com

More books by Mark Hodkinson

Book Cover for: Opening the Gates of Hell: The Untold Story of Herbert Kenny, the Man Who Discovered Bergen-Belsen, Mark Hodkinson
Book Cover for: Queen: The Early Years, Mark Hodkinson
Book Cover for: The Overcoat Men: How Two Unsung Heroes Thwarted a Secret Plan to Kill Off a Football Club, Mark Hodkinson
Book Cover for: Opening the Gates of Hell: The Untold Story of Herbert Kenny, the Man Who Discovered Belsen, Mark Hodkinson
Book Cover for: The Longest Winter: A Season with England's Worst Ever Football Team, Mark Hodkinson
Book Cover for: Marianne Faithfull, Mark Hodkinson

What people are saying

Mentioner image for: Canongate
Canongate
@canongatebooks
3 years

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

twitter.com
Mentioner image for: Short Book & Scribes
Short Book & Scribes
@ShortBookScribe
2 years

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

twitter.com
Mentioner image for: Jamie Byng
Jamie Byng
@baddabyng
3 years

“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.

twitter.com

Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

This is a book about the north; it is also about publishing, writing and music, but it transcends its subjects and meets the criterion Hodkinson sets out in his preface: "The best books, the same as the best days, skitter on the breeze. They go their own way"-- "Observer"
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--DAVID HEPWORTH
Deeply poignant . . . Powerful-- "Sunday Times"
Mark Hodkinson is one of the great unsung heroes of literature . . . With verve, insight and perfectly-captured period detail, he reminds us that not only are books sacred objects that should be available to everyone, but also that working-class voices remain more marginalised and underrepresented than ever. No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy redresses this imbalance beautifully, and in a just world will kickstart a long-overdue working class literary renaissance--BENJAMIN MYERS
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--MARK RADCLIFFE
Reading this memoir is to realise there is no better tool for social mobility than a book . . . lovely-- "Daily Mail"
Moving . . . A work of triumphs-- "Irish Times"
This is an impassioned hymn of praise and declaration of love for that complex cultural object, the book. Anyone who has ever read, written or published a book will find their heart's pages turning as they sink joyfully into these craftsman-built paragraphs--IAN McMILLAN
Entertaining-- "Financial Times"
A memoir refracted through literature and its impact on the author's life. . . He writes with sharp humour and unsentimentally . . . An enjoyable and uplifting read-- "Morning Star"

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