Summary
Rare book dealer Rick Gekoski recently published what he calls a "bibliomemoir". Outside of a Dog (Constable, GBP14.99) is his autobiography, told largely as a droll join-the-dots exercise connecting the books that have paved his way through life. Many of us think our personalities have been shaped - in some cases irretrievably warped - by books, but Gekoski's bears their imprint more firmly than most. From a bookworm boyhood, when he devoured print in industrial quantities, nobly educating himself with his parents' collection of books on sex and anatomy, he proceeded through a spell in academia teaching English to a much more enjoyable, and lucrative, career selling rare manuscripts and books.
In the course of this march across life's book-lined acres, Gekoski accumulated thousands of tomes. As with most devoted readers, he could tell you where and when he read them and what special meaning each held.See the full content of this document
Extract
Last Word
So it was with some surprise that I read his cheery opening chapter: he reveals that, following divorce from his first wife, he was separated irrevocably from hi...
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