Description

***A Waterstones Best Books of 2022 pick***

‘A unique, funny picture of Britain… A love letter to bookshops and the vagaries of public transport.’ Richard Osman

‘Ince’s love of books is infectious.’ ‘Books of the Year’, Independent

Why play to 12,000 people when you can play to 12? In Autumn 2021, Robin Ince’s stadium tour with Professor Brian Cox was postponed due to the pandemic. Rather than do nothing, he decided instead to go on a tour of over a hundred bookshops in the UK, from Wigtown to Penzance; from Swansea to Margate.

Packed with witty anecdotes and tall tales, Bibliomaniac takes the reader on a journey across Britain as Robin explores his lifelong love of bookshops and books – and also tries to find out just why he can never have enough of them.

It is the story of an addiction and a romance, and also of an occasional points failure just outside Oxenholme.

Publisher Review

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 *