Best Quality 'Mass Publisher'?

Hello, this post is not directly related to fine press books, but the people here are certainly very knowledgeable about this.

I am interested in building a larger library of books from a publisher that is both cheaper in price and broader in volumes published than fine press while still maintaining a decent quality. I am looking for a publisher that is closer to the mass market side of publishing, like Penguin Random House or Harper Collins (but not necessarily as large or influential), that focuses on publishing many, many works and has some overlap with quality binding as well. My only two requirements are
1. Must be Smyth-Sewn hardcovers
2. Must have good quality paper; does not have to be 'museum quality archival paper,' but something that is relatively acid-free and tear-resistant is ideal

Bonus points if:
1. The books have introductions/essays
2. The books lay open and flat

There are a few publishers that are already quite close to this, but all have issues that seem to separate them from being the 'perfect' publisher for my needs. Here are the main ones I was looking at:

Library of America:
The quality of their books is roughly what I am looking for, but their scope is limited to American works, and I do not like thousand-page omnibuses with many works in them.

Everyman's Library:
They seem to tick all of the boxes, but I have found a couple of posts claiming that the quality has gone down over time. How true is this? Here is one of such posts: https://www.librarything.com/topic/271210

Folio Society:
They produce the best quality books in this list, but their scope is a little more limited than publishers like Everyman's Library and Library of America, and pricing is erratic for any particular book since it depends on how much they have published the work and how popular it is. Their copy of Moby Dick may only be $30 while the cheapest copy of Anna Karenina could be $80. Also, most FS books are in the UK; I am in the US.

I will probably have to mix and match, of course, but I do like having some level of uniformity to my library. Many of the smaller works and short stories that Penguin published as small, convenient paperbacks throughout the 1900s are not feasible for their own larger volumes, but publishers like LOA group them and put them into more manageable omnibuses.

Any recommendations, tips, or advice would be appreciated.

Library of America have too many volumes with tissue thin paper. I also don’t like volumes with multiple stories crammed into them.

I go with Everyman’s Library for the most part. They can be frustrating as there are UK versions and US versions, and it’s a chore to figure out which is of better quality for each book, it varies. Their pocket poets series also has some volumes that are sewn though most are glued, and I haven’t been able to find a list compiled anywhere.

You might wander through this thread for some ideas.

Early Alfred A. Knopf books designed by W. A. Dwiggins (WAD) are very well done. The designer is named in the colophon, which Knopf books had back then.

World Publishing Co. in the 50s and 60s did some very nice books with a "fine press" approach.

>1 Zoopa:
The Folio Society is probably your best option with 2700+ titles and consistently high quality.
See these wikis for more information:-
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Groups:Folio_Society_Devotees
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Groups:BOOKS_PUBLISHED_BY_THE_FOLIO_SOCI...

>1 Zoopa:
Most of my American literature comes from Library of America. Yes, the paper is thin in order to accommodate multiple works in each volume, but they are easy to read even with my 80-year-old eyes.

They also have an interesting feature that I haven’t found from any other publisher, even the so-called “fine” presses. Hold the book as if you were reading it and bend it backwards, all the way, until the front cover and back cover touch. The binding won’t break and the pages won’t fall out. Try that with a book from any other publisher.

Some combination of Everyman’s Library and Folio Society are going to be your best bet. You can mix in some works from Slightly Foxed and maybe TOC Berlin, but they’re going to be much more limited and possibly niche titles. Everyman’s Library quality concerns are overblown IMO. Most stem from an accidental batch of perfect bound books that is mostly out of the system now. Every Everyman’s Library volume I have would check your boxes and I haven’t done anything special in my search.

If you’re willing to buy used books I’d recommend Heritage Press.

>7 kdweber: Those 80 year cardboard cases are the only downside to those books. Amazed at how cheap the pre-1970 titles go for Ebay.

>1 Zoopa: Everyman’s Library was re-released in 1991 and currently has about 450 volumes. New titles are released each year. There was a period when the US volumes weren’t to the level of the UK, however this seemed to be a trial and was then reverted back.
Some titles are only available in one region either due to copyright (The Bell Jar is only in the US), or I’m guessing for commercial reasons (John Evelyn’s diary was only in the UK).

I have all of the titles with the most recent release being Nabokov’s Ada. There has been no drop off in quality over that time

>1 Zoopa: Centipede Press is very good value, way better than Folio Society IMO.

>1 Zoopa: As others have mentioned, Folio Society is probably the best option today. Even for US residents.

Besides the in-print titles, Folio's back-catalog is very impressive. It's difficult to find an alternative publisher that matches both the scope and quality of Folio's titles over the decades. They are also typically very affordable on the secondary market.

I honestly can't even think of any other publisher that comes remotely close to Folio's scope, while still maintaining a high production quality.

Agreed that FS is the best quality. I still collect the Everyman books I’m interested in, having just received the Joyce Carey volume. I think they’re still as good quality and earlier ones. Love LOA too and find them so comfortable for reading.

>6 Tambien: yeah; re: Everyman's quality issues, that was one small part of one print run around 2016 or something that had perfect bindings. I think you can count on them now, at least for the main classics and modern classics lines. Assuming you are on board with the uniform design and form factor.

Does anyone here happen to have a large collection of Everyman’s pocket poets books? Would it be possible to go through and make a list of which ones have a sewn binding?

I have many Everyman books, which are very well made for the price, but man oh man is their typesetting sometimes awful, and inexcusably so. The sort of thing that fiddling with a few settings on InDesign would fix.

I've spent hours upon hours lost in the catacombs of this website:

https://seriesofseries.com/series-list/

It's a wonderful resource.

Easton Press -- I really don't think there's much comparison for what you're looking for.

https://www.eastonpress.com/home

1)Huge catalog of books.
2)Many books on the second-hand market are priced very affordably.
3)Many editions are signed by the author.
4)Many books have at least a frontispiece if not other illustrations.
5)Most editions are printed and bound in the USA.
6)Books Have: Sewn pages, acid-free pages, bound in genuine leather, gilded page ends, satin-ribbon marker.

The books usually have an introduction and they do lay flat. And did I mention many on the second-hand market are very affordable? Of course it varies, some sell for over $1000 and others for $10. It depends on many variables. Usually the most expensive ones are the ones that are signed. All that said, living in the USA this is the easiest way to build an impressive library -- again, I'm assuming as you noted you're not looking for fine-press (letterpress) books. I started off with Easton Press decades ago, and although I support fine press publishers these days, I still keep a look at what Easton Press offers and there are some editions I don't plan to ever sell -- absolutely check them out both on their website and the second-hand scene :)

>14 Taishan: I actually reached out to Everyman about those and apparently they are all glued bindings.

>16 astropi:
You are brave to mention Easton Press on this forum, because it usually get a cool reception. But most of my collection consists of LOAs and Eastons. I started with EP’s greatest book series and now specialize in their limited editions (because of their quality and not their numbers), but they have something for everyone and every budget.

>16 astropi: For reasons I can't quite put my finger on, I am particularly fond of Easton's release of Machiavelli. Oh, and the Pooh books and Oz and Tolkien. Very nice.

Yes, I have a bunch of EPs. OK, OK. I slum a bit. *grin*

>19 Glacierman: Tsk-tsk-tsk. As the CP Director, you can't be going around forums admitting to guilty pleasures! ;)

>1 Zoopa: Another question is what kind of books interest you.

If you like good memoirs, I strongly recommend Slightly Foxed - their Slightly Foxed Editions and Plain Foxed Editions. Well-done clothbound Smyth-sewn pocket-sized hardbacks. After trying a few random books of theirs, I figured they can do no wrong and just subscribed. Have been subscribed for several years now, never regretted. But subscription isn't necessary, you can purchase their books individually. They publish one new memoir a quarter. Oh, and their quarterly literary magazine is great too.
https://foxedquarterly.com/

For essays and other bits of non-fiction Notting Hill Editions is worth looking into. Also clothbound Smyth-sewn hardcovers:
https://www.nottinghilleditions.com/

I know it might sound like a heresy, but depending on your interests it could also be a good idea to look into certain paperbacks. Not all paperbacks are equal, there are quality ones too! For example, if you're into travel/spirit of place books, Eland has absolutely the best range. Their paperbacks are sewn and printed on acid-free archival paper. And their Eland Classic range looks very uniform on the shelves:
https://www.travelbooks.co.uk/

Also, most FS books are in the UK; I am in the US.
While that might be true, especially regarding very old titles, it's not really a problem. Currently, there are over 15K Folios offered by the US sellers on ebay. Yes, with particular titles some patience might be required, but it can be looked at as part of the fun! Generally speaking, you shouldn't have any problems building a library of hundreds of Folios being based in the US - if the budget allows, of course.

>20 elladan0891: Busted!

>16 astropi: I have a few Eastons and tend to go for the Limited Editions, which can be very handsome indeed. My favorite is their Kalevala, which I've long wanted in a finer edition and they did a good job answering the call.

>16 astropi: I have quite a few Eastons and no problem admitting it! For me, their strengths are their SciFi/ Fantasy selections and their modern literature (most recently Choi’s Flashlight). Not my favourite reading experience but way better than Kindle (paperback is not even a consideration).

>16 astropi: I think the Easton Press Lord of the Rings and Hobbit set is very nice and a good value.

The Easton physical product is fine in terms of basic construction and durable materials, excepting the volumes with poor scans as sources (limited to a few of the Greatest 100 that are facsimile-adjacent copies of LECs?) and a handful of trade edition text blocks they slap a leather cover on. Otherwise one can count on stitched binding, archival paper, and durable (though often bonded) leather over the boards.

The issue with Easton is they don't really have any creative vision, apart from the DLEs, and even those can sometimes suffer from, ahem, taste level in art direction. So one needs to bring even more of one's own curatorial eye, rather than count on the publisher.

Yes yes beauty in the eye of the beholder etc., but is there honestly anyone reading this comment willing to go to bat for the following Dune cover design as even rising to passable, much less worthy of gold stamping on a durable leatherbound book presumably expected to have some kind of aesthetic quality? None of the elements work together, neither the typeface (what is with that unbalanced, broken-looking N?), nor the ornamental border, nor the line drawing (zoom in on those hands). And this for Dune, one of the most recognisable pop culture properties.



But then I have a few titles for which no other decent non-antiquarian options exist that are not only passable, but positively pleasing, both inside and out. Such as this edition of Napoleon's Maxims:



So never say never, but kind of rare, especially when "collectibles" pricing kicks in occasionally on the secondhand market.

I've only ever purchased one Easton Press book 'Undine'. I was that traumatised I said never again. Even Rackham couldn't rose tint the abysmal paper quality. FS or EP. FS no competition.

Personally, I don't like the leather that ES uses, even on the deluxe editions, and I don't like the overall aesthetic and quality of their bindings. I suffer whenever I see their gilded edges.

FS books seldom offend me. And many of them are wonderful.

Buying Easton books direct from the publisher is close to impossible in Australia. They don't seem to believe that the world exists outside North America. The few I have I bought on the secondary market but agree with >26 abysswalker: about the lack of vision.
The handful of DLEs I have though are very good.

>29 wcarter:

The same happened for Germany (and probably all of Europe except the UK) some years ago. I've got no choice but to use a forwarding service now.

Thank you for all of the feedback. I had a very busy week and have an even busier one ahead of me, but I will respond to all of the interesting points later this week.

>2 Taishan: I recently acquired my first LOA books. The paper is quite thin, but is seems durable, sort of like bible paper. I agree that omnibuses are undesirable in most cases. I would not buy an omnibus of Hemingway or Austen's works, but for collections of short stories and genre collections of various authors, it seems perfect. I bought two novels of crime collections from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, which is perfect for sampling some crime. I would not have bought all 6 of the novels contained in each individually, so in this case an omnibus is perfect for me. It also saves a lot of precious shelf space. I will choose LOA for poetry in the future.

>4 wcarter: The Folio Society makes great quality books and I do love slipcases. The big issue is that most copies on the secondary market are located in the UK and the FS website itself has prohibitively expensive shipping. I will definitely purchase some occassionally as they appear and if I find them in used bookshops.

>6 Tambien: >21 elladan0891: Slightly Foxed seems interesting, would you say that their magazines or books are better? The magazines do seem a little pricy, even in the UK.

>7 kdweber: >8 Undergroundman: Heritage Press is great, as long as an HP edition doesn't have a dated translation it is definitely near the top of my list. They are so cheap to the point where the shipping is the only thing stopping them from being $10 or less. I imagine that if I went to a large used bookshop I would find a considerable number of them.

>9 DMulvee: I received my first Everyman's Library book, an edition of A Passage to India. It is definitely more on the side of a quality trade hardback. I was a little dissapointed that the binding is so tight. I was expecting the book to lay flat easily just like an LOA book. Other than that, it does seem well made.

>10 Inceptic: Centipede Press seems like a good publisher, but unfortunately they tick all of the wrong boxes for me. I am not a fan of dust jackets (although their jacket designs are good), I don't read much science fiction/weird fiction, and their editions are definitely on the pricier side becuase they tend to be signed and limited.

>16 astropi: Despite its reputation, Easton Press still is a solid choice. Although they often fall flat on the type, translations, and illustrations, the actual quality of the materials that the books are made of it is quite high. I wouldn't buy them new, but I do think that the $10 to $30 copies on eBay are some of the best value that you can get if you live in the US. That being said, Franklin Library is basically an improved Easton Press in every way, the only downside being that their scope is so much more limited. I am interested in assembling their 100 Greatest Books series.

>19 Glacierman: I have the EP LOTR set as well and it is quite nice. The size of each book is also very managable, which is not the case for many other EP books. The set is much better value than any of the Harper Collins deluxe editions in my opinion.

>21 elladan0891: I did not know that sewn paperbacks were even feasible, that is very interesting.

>26 abysswalker: Most EP covers are plain or uninspired, usuaully just simple geometric patterns or a gold stamp version of the corresponding LEC cover. I think that so many of the covers would look better without the ornamental border and just the motif in the center. Aside from the rare atrocities like Dune, the covers are usually passable. I do like most of the covers from the older science fiction series and the DLE covers.
I really like the cover of "The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe," although the mashup of capitalization, font size, and italics could have been done better.

>28 Transfixed: The leather that EP uses is a very interesting topic, one that I cover in detail in a very extensive post about EP (I have not posted it yet though because it needs a few updates and I am lazy). In short, the older books with the rough look were cowhide and the newer books with that uniform dotted pattern are supposedly pigskin leather. It does seem like grain corrected leather because the texture is so uniform, but if you compare a book to closeups of pigskin leather, they seem awfully similar, so I am willing to believe it for now.
On another note, I was initially a big fan of the full gilded edges, but now they seem a little over the top to me. A single gilded top edge would be classier looking, in my opinion.

This does deviate from the original purpose of the post, but I am surprised that nobody mentioned LEC. The popular titles are usually quite expensive, and some suffer from poor design, but a majority of them are quite nice and very cheap.
Thank you all for the advice. It looks like the true answer is a big mix of everything. I can't say that I'm too surprised.

>32 Zoopa: Slightly Foxed seems interesting, would you say that their magazines or books are better? The magazines do seem a little pricy, even in the UK.

Apples and oranges. The magazine features well-written articles about books. They don't review the latest bestsellers, but if you want to learn about forgotten gems from the past or great non-mainstream books - it's the best one out there. I'm an on-and-off subscriber, as often I barely have enough time to read books, let alone magazines about books. But it's a good one. Not cheap, but not terribly expensive.

The books are mostly memoirs - really good ones. A few are by famous people, like Roald Dahl, many are by people you've never heard of - which is not a bad thing at all. I love reading a good memoir - real life is often crazier than any fiction (Roald Dahl's Going Solo is actually one such example: beautifully written, includes eccentric characters, funny episodes, but some of his adventures and experiences were simply wild, and he shouldn't have survived WWII - it's a miracle he lived to become a renowned author), and you get to learn a lot about the past from them.

This does deviate from the original purpose of the post, but I am surprised that nobody mentioned LEC. The popular titles are usually quite expensive, and some suffer from poor design, but a majority of them are quite nice and very cheap.

That must be because LEC was true Fine Press, not a mass publisher.
I think very few LECs suffer from poor design. Most are absolute bargains. You can buy many LECs in the $20-$100 range that would cost over $1,000 if produced today.

Just a quick note for anyone interested in Slightly Foxed titles - the discount code WINTER35 is active until the end of the year. It provides 15% off on orders over £35.

>34 Shadekeep: Thank you, but when I tried to use it I got an error "Only one coupon per basket".

>35 Cardboard_killer: Ah, sounds like a glitch. They didn't automatically add a promo code as well, did they?

I would add Subterranean Press. Very big on modern fiction; lots of sci-fi/fantasy with a healthy dose of horror. Prices range from ~$40.00 for trade edition to +$500 for the lettered editions.

>33 elladan0891: Yes indeed, the LEC was never a mass publisher. Even the Heritage Press which is a spin-off of the LEC and meant to be an "affordable" alternative were not mass produced. As you noted, the LEC is absolutely true fine press and many LEC books are of course incredibly affordable these days, although some of the more sought-after titles are easily in the high hundreds or thousands of dollars -- but arguably worth every penny.

>38 astropi:
Most LECs have beautiful interiors, but it is hard for me to classify books whose covers are so lackluster and fade so easily as fine press. I own a few but wouldn’t want to display them prominently in my living room.

>39 jroger1: I only own one LEC, but its cover goes hard in the paint.

>39 jroger1: Which books would you say have lackluster covers and fade easily? A few of their books used sheepskin which unfortunately definitely does degrade over the years. However, the books that I own, and I own even a few from 1929, are in fabulous condition. I think the covers, again at least to the ones I own, are mostly excellent.

>41 astropi:
Perhaps my bias in favor of leather is showing, but as I peruse the eBay and abe.com listings I see lots of descriptions such as “spine is sunned.” I remember searching diligently for the 2-volume Lewis & Clark set before finding one with a satisfactory description. I bought it and loved reading it, but it just doesn’t look “pretty” to me on the outside.

We all have our criteria, but to me a “fine” press book has to be fine both inside and out. For me that means quality illustrations and an attractive and durable outside. Other collectors might add letterpress printing or a certain paper, etc.

>41 astropi: The exteriors are sometimes fitting to the book but not overly decorated, which I like. Other times they are still nice looking, but I don't quite see how they tie in with the book, if it all.

Around the World in 80 Days has white vellum on the spine with blue marbled covers and a blue stained top edge. It is quite simple, and without knowing what the book is about, you would not be able to say much. But the design is clearly intended to have the color palette of clouds and the sky, which makes it beautiful.

Ovid's Art of Love is fully bound in white vellum with a gold motif on the front. The feel of the exterior is vaguely reminiscent of love and purity but not a complete tie-in. The exterior could just as well be used for a religious text, a romantic poetry collection, or some virtuous and honorable story.

The two-volume set of Don Quixote has yellow buckram spines with gray marbled boards. It looks nice, although I don't see any relation with the story. Dr. Jekyll and Hyde is the same, with a leather spine and marbled boards that don't give hints about any particular atmoshpere from the book.

While nearly all of the exterior designs look nice, some seem to be fitting with the content, while others do not. Despite this, I love the variation in their designs. Some have stamped cloth, some leather, some vellum, some marbled papers, and many other funky materials. Easton Press and Franklin Library are nice books in the same price range, but their designs are all the same: generic geometric gilt patterns on leather covers with the same moire endpapers every time (to be fair, LEC is lackluster in the endpaper department).

>43 Zoopa: "The two-volume set of Don Quixote has yellow buckram spines with gray marbled boards. It looks nice, although I don't see any relation with the story."

Yellow is the colour of madness and pairs well with gray. Gray is the colour of the mundane world in contrast to Quixote's fantastical world.

>42 jroger1:
Go to https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Groups:LIMITED_EDITIONS_CLUB
Then scroll down and click on the Limited Editions Club entries and you will see some beautiful bindings.

Slightly Foxed have an excellent offer running throughout February on their series of 20 'Plain Foxed' editions. Order any 4 and receive £10 off each book, which brings the price down to only £12 per book (£10 if you're a subscriber).

I ordered 4 from my wish list: Sword of Bone, Giving up the Ghost, 84 Charing Cross Road, and The Past is Myself.

Oh, that's a lovely deal. I highly recommend Blue Remembered Hills for anyone who hasn't read it yet.

>47 ambyrglow: That one sounds really good. I have fond memories of Rosemary Sutcliff's Roman Britain books. I'm not sure I can put together another bundle of 4 Plain Foxeds... but maybe I can!

>48 GardenOfForkingPaths: If you don't yet have Period Piece or To War with Whitaker, I can recommend either (or indeed both).

>49 Shadekeep: Thank you. I'll add To War with Whitaker to the list. I can see another order forming!

I do have Period Piece and agree it's brilliant.

>46 GardenOfForkingPaths: Thanks for the heads up! It just happened that I had exactly 8 Plain Foxed editions on my wish list to plug the gaps!

I've been a subscriber for a long time, but not since the very beginning, so I missed out on several early editions that went OOP before I subscribed. Managed to buy a few on the secondary market, and the majority of the rest were brought back as Plain editions. So I've just added 8 of the missing as Plains to my 60 Slightly Foxed. Only 3 more to acquire - The Real Mrs Miniver, People Who Say Goodbye, and The Missing Will: An Autobiography - and I have the full collection! Well, the full collection as far as I'm concerned, with Love and War in the Apennines and My Family and Other Animals being the only 2 books I have no intention to acquire - as I already have them as Folios.

Although I'll happily change my intention toward My Family and Other Animals - brilliant book, of course - if SF ever come to their senses and publish the remaining two books of the Corfu trilogy. I just don't get why there are no decent hardcover editions of all three Corfu books... As a matter of fact, after I wrote to SF years ago asking if they were planning to publish the other two Durrell books and received a 'no' as the answer, I vowed to emulate Cato and end every email I ever write to SF with a request to publish the remaining two books of the Corfu trilogy. It worked for Cato, I thought it might work for me. I've tried everything from "Corcyra trilogiam producendus est" to simple English so far. Still waiting...

>51 elladan0891: That worked out perfectly then! An almost full collection, that's impressive. I wish you luck for acquiring the remaining three and hope that your persistence with the Durrell books eventually pays off.

I think Love and War in the Apennines was my first Slightly Foxed book and probably still my favourite. A beautifully written and compelling story. It was the book that got me into reading memoirs - a genre I had generally avoided for some reason! I still need to follow it up with Something Wholesale.

This thread has inspired me to order my first Slightly Foxed books. 2 Slightly Foxed and 4 Plain Foxed including Blue Remembered Hills and Period Piece recommended above. I am interested to see how they stack up against Everyman. Some other titles piqued my interest so will be back for more if these create a good impression.

>53 Pendrainllwyn: One thing to keep in mind is the size - these are pocket-sized books. They are nicely done, but small. They're my on-the-go books: perfect for traveling, public transport, or even reading while walking - they're small enough to leave plenty of room for peripheral vision to make sure you don't bump or step into something undesirable.

>52 GardenOfForkingPaths: It was the book that got me into reading memoirs - a genre I had generally avoided for some reason!

Memoirs have been my favorite reading for years now. On one hand, you get to learn a lot about the past, in particular many things you'd never learn from history books or biographies and autobiographies of figures at the top. Memoirs of more "regular" people - even if they were extraordinary in many ways - add background and texture to the picture of the past.

And you learn a lot of unexpected things. For example, when one reads about Cambridge students swimming in the river in Gwen Raverat's Period Piece recommended in this thread, it usually shatters people's preconception of how bathers could look in Victorian times.

On the other hand, real life is often crazier than any fiction. A good example of that from the currently available titles is Roald Dahl's Going Solo. Beautifully written, funny in the very beginning when it describes quirky colonial characters, quickly turning into an incredibly fascinating story of a young man in search of exotic wonders joining the Shell company in East Africa as his first job, then volunteering as a fighter pilot at the start of WWII. The twists and turns beat any fiction as far as I'm concerned. And how Dahl managed to survive to become a beloved author is beyond miraculous.

>54 elladan0891: I agree, I have found they make for a great change of pace for reading, and I think you summed up really well why they are so compelling to read. I don't tend to read a lot of history at the moment, so memoirs tend to be my main window into the past these days.

>53 Pendrainllwyn: I hope you enjoy them!

>55 GardenOfForkingPaths: Thank you for the heads up on this. Included in my order was 84 Charing Cross Road - loved the movie.
>54 elladan0891: They sound perfect for traveling and carrying around town.

I just finished my first Plain Foxed edition, Look Back with Love, a memoir by Dodie Smith, author of The Hundred and one Dalmations. On the surface, reading about a young girl growing up as a sole child in a large house with her mother, grandparents, aunts and uncles sounds rather dull but I loved it. It's nicely written, refreshingly innocent and joyful. It made me laugh out loud a few times and not many books make me do that. I thought the small pocket-sized format worked really well. It's Smyth Sewn, cloth covered and at GBP 20 a bargain IMO. The last memoir I read, Happening by Annie Ernaux (Fitzcarraldo Editions), was also excellent but couldn't have been more different.

>57 Pendrainllwyn: Have you read her novel I Capture The Castle? It's wonderful. From the sounds of Look Back With Love, it'd be of a piece with that book.

>58 Shotcaller: I haven't. I haven't read anything else by her. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll add it to my lengthy wish list.

>59 Pendrainllwyn: It's a keeper!