Paul Collins and his family abandoned the hills of San Francisco to move to the Welsh countryside-to move, in fact, to the little cobblestone village of Hay-on-Wye, the Town of Books that boasts fifteen hundress inhabitants-and forty bookstores. Antiquarian bookstores, no less.
Hays newest citizens accordingly take up residence in a sixteenth-century apartment over a bookstore, meeting the villages large population of misfits and bibliomaniacs by working for world-class eccentric Richard Booth-the self-declared King of Hay, owner of the local castle, and proprietor of the worlds largest and most chaotic used book warren. A useless clerk, Paul delights in shifting dusty stacks of books around and sifting them for ancient gems like Robinson Crusoe in Words of One Syllable, Confessions of an Authors Wife, and I Was Hitlers Maid. He also duly fulfills his new duty as a citizen by simultaneously applying to be a Peer in the House of Lords and attempting to buy Sixpence House, a beautiful and neglected old tumbledown pub for sale in the towns center.
Taking readers into a secluded sanctuary for book lovers, and guiding us through the creation of his own book, Sixpence House becomes a meditation on what books means to us, and how their meaning can still resonate long after they have been abandoned by their public. Even as hes writing, the knowledge of where his work will eventually end up-rubbing bindings with the rest of the books that time forgot-is a curious kind of comfort.
Fantastic
Sixpence house is a autobiographical story of Paul Collins', and I wish I lived his life. I know the whole part of the grass being greener, but I sure would like to try it for awhile. I also understand that it takes talent (which Mr. Collins has in spades) an understanding and like-minded spouse and an innate ability to share with the world your passions. Paul Collin`s passion comes out in every page. The passion for his family, his work and for books. Bibliophiles everywhere will relate to his desire to live in the bookselling capital of the world Hay-on-Wye. In Sixpence House he gives us a glimpse at a world where, A: a foreign county within a foreign country (this will make sense when you read this book). B: The eccentrics that populate a place where booksellers outnumber any other retailer almost 40:1. C: Real-estate selling/buying is at best a trip through an insane asylum. He shows all of this to us with good writing and a sense of humor.
I also believe that Diana Collins is on the fast track for saint hood.
As a side note Paul Collins is also associated with Dave Eggers and McSweeny's.
Buy Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books by Paul Collins At The Lowest Price!
No comments:
Post a Comment