Bibliomaniac: An Obsessive's Tour of the Bookshops of Britain

Description

Why play to 12,000 people when you can play to 12? In Autumn 2021, Robin Ince's stadiumtour with Professor Brian Cox was postponed due to the pandemic. Rather than do nothing, hedecided he would instead go on a tour of over a hundred bookshops, from Wigtown toPenzance; from Swansea to Margate. Packed with anecdotes and tall tales, Bibliomaniac follows Robin up and down the country inhis quest to discover just why he can never have enough books. It is the story of an addictionand a romance, and also of an occasional points failure just outside Oxenholme.

Robin Ince is co-presenter of the award-winning BBC Radio 4 show and podcast, The Infinite Monkey Cage. He has toured his award-winning stand-up across the world, both solo and with his radio double-act partner, Professor Brian Cox. He is the author of I'm a Joke and So Are You and The Importance of Being Interested.

A unique, funny picture of Britain... A love letter to bookshops and the vagaries of public transport. -- Richard Osman Wonderful... This is one of the most delightful books I have ever read. -- Eric Idle I like books and if you're reading this you almost certainly like books too. But Robin Ince really, really, really likes books, and this tome takes us on a whirlwind adventure around Britain's bookshops and inside the head of a bibliomaniac who also happens to be a fine travel writer and generous raconteur. (Includes the funniest line about Margaret Rutherford ever written, unless the lawyers took it out.) -- Ian Rankin Robin Ince is a book-lover's book-lover, a man who responded to publishing his last volume by visiting over 100 bookshops in 100 days. He is a reader without prejudice, a lover of every type of fiction and non-fiction, able to find something that interests him in everything: the sure sign of a man with a curious mind. You need Robin Ince in your life; you need his book on your shelves. -- Natalie Haynes You may think you have a book problem but, as likely as not, comedian Ince's will dwarf it... There's some nice travel writing here as he wends his way from Wigtown to Penzance, along with cosy anecdotes about the folk he encounters and some madcap tangents, invariably prompted by his eclectic reading habits. * Observer * The comedian and podcaster's account of a whirlwind tour of more than 100 stores is full of wry anecdotes and shines with his love of reading. * Independent * Bibliomaniac is joyous, irreverent and more than a trifle eccentric - liberating and life-affirming. * Times Literary Supplement *