by Paul Collins
This was both what I was hoping for and not quite what I wanted. I've wanted to go to the town of Hay-on-Wye in Wales since I first heard of it several years ago; I want to spend a week there just wandering around and buying books like a sugar addict in a candy shop. Sixpence House is a book abou...
Very interesting read about a man who decides to pack up his family and move to Hay-on-Wye, the "Town of Books"! 1,500 people and 40 bookstores! Sounds like a dream to me! Excellent memoir! Not all about books, but it delves into their day to day adventures... Pick this one up! Highly recommended!
This purports to be a memoir of the author's time in Hay-on-Wye, a small town in Wales that is practically overflowing with antiquarian booksellers. Instead of his musings on what it was like to live above a bookstore and take on a job as the American literature expert in one of the booksellers' sh...
3.5 stars Enjoyable fish out of water story (author and family move to Wales from San Francisco), quite amusing in some parts. Lots of references to obscure, out of prints books.
I think this book could have been better, which is the reason I only "liked it" (thus the 3 star rating). It has a lot of good going for it, but it also has a couple of things that honestly irritated me. Let's start with the not so good: * The whole quest to find a home in the town. For the most par...
When author Paul Collins picks up his young family and moves from San Francisco to Hay-on-Wye (a tiny Welsh village that boasts 1500 residents and 40 booksellers), he anticipates a quiet country life in which to complete his book (Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World...
Books, and parenting, and autism. Loved the book and Collins' writing.
As much as I am a bookaholic, I am glad I do not live in Hay-on-Wye as I believe that I would have no money left for food! It reminds me though of all the remainder books that libraries cannot sell but need to get rid of to make room for new books, or at least books that will actually be read/checke...
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