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Adult Books - Nonfiction - Geography, Travel, & Culture
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Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books.
Collins, Paul (author).
Apr. 2003. 240p. Bloomsbury, hardcover, $23.95 (1-58234-284-9). 002.
REVIEW.
First published April 15, 2003 (Booklist).
The McSweeney’s gang may be the closest thing we have to a genuine literary circle; if its members have produced smug, postmodern chapter titles, such as “Chapter Two relies on the travelogue cliche of a garrulous cabdriver,” they’ve also written some books that whistle like fresh air through the bookstore. Collins’ travelogue/memoir is a book lover’s delight, minus the pretense you might expect from someone schooled in obscure eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature. With his wife and young son, he moves to Hay-on-Wye, Wales, a village with one bookstore for every 37.5 residents. The narrative is structured around his house-buying attempts and the impending publication of his first book, but the meat of the work lies in his meandering asides and bookstore discoveries. His intellect changes focus often, but crisply, and it’s a pleasure to observe him in the act of observation: Who would have thought there was still new ground to cover on the topic of Anglo-American differences? Collins muses often on the impermanence of books, but this one will grace shelves for years to come. — Keir Graff
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