UK Holidays - Sixpence House: Lost in A Town Of Books

List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $17.00
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Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 914
EAN: 9781582344041
ISBN: 1582344043
Label: Bloomsbury USA
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2004-04-03
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Studio: Bloomsbury USA

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Editorial Reviews:

Paul Collins and his family abandoned the hills of San Francisco to move to the Welsh countryside-to move, in fact, to the village of Hay-on-Wye, the "Town of Books" that boasts fifteen hundred inhabitants-and forty bookstores. Taking readers into a secluded sanctuary for book lovers, and guiding us through the creation of the author's own first book, Sixpence House becomes a heartfelt and often hilarious meditation on what books mean to us.

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: Fantastic
Comment: 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.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Read it.
Comment: Paul Collins chronicles his life, in wry prose, creating a narrative fully worthy of any erstwhilely, earthbound Arthur Dent.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Get Everything That Paul Collins Writes
Comment: I began with "The Trouble with Tom" and then had to get everything that Paul Collins has written.

Follow this writer; he has wonderful things coming; I am certain of it. "Sixpence House" is charming, honest, intelligent writing; it's on my re-read-often list.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Books!
Comment:
This is an autobiographical account of an extended visit to a town with lots of bookstores in Wales. The mountains of books and the abundant book trivia make this book interesting. And it is enlightening to see an American's view of the town. However, I felt that I was taking up too much space in the Collins' home and I was embarrassed to be eavesdropping on their everyday activities.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Charming.
Comment: To me, none of these "stranger-in-a-strange-land" books ever comes close to Peter Maybe but I love them all to a degree and never tire of them. This book tended to be a bit disjointed and rambling but I forgave it because it was, literally, laugh-out-loud funny. It's like a friend who starts out to tell you a certain story, gets distracted at many points, but everything is he says is either so witty or original you don't care. One of the very best parts, for instance, was how Collins breaks down exactly how you CAN tell a modern book by its cover. He's be a great columnist in the vein of "The Polysyllabic Spree" by Nick Hornby.

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