Bookworm cover art

Bookworm

A Memoir of Childhood Reading

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Bookworm

By: Lucy Mangan
Narrated by: Lucy Mangan
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

When Lucy Mangan was little, stories were everything. They opened up new worlds and cast light on all the complexities she encountered in this one.

She was whisked away to Narnia and Kirrin Island and Wonderland. She ventured down rabbit holes and womble burrows into midnight gardens and chocolate factories. She wandered the countryside with Milly-Molly-Mandy and played by the tracks with the Railway Children. With Charlotte's Web she discovered death, and with Judy Blume it was boys. No wonder she left the house only for her weekly trip to the library or to spend her pocket money on amassing her own at home.

In Bookworm, Lucy revisits her childhood reading with wit, love and gratitude. She relives our best-beloved books and their extraordinary creators and looks at the thousand subtle ways they shape our lives. She also disinters a few forgotten treasures to inspire the next generation of bookworms and set them on their way.

Lucy brings the favourite characters of our collective childhoods back to life - prompting endless rereadings, rediscoveries, and, inevitably, fierce debate - and brilliantly uses them to tell her own story, that of a born and unrepentant bookworm.

Cover credit: Laura Barrett

©2018 Lucy Mangan (P)2018 Audible, Ltd Art & Literature Authors Literary History & Criticism Women Memoir Funny Heartfelt Witty Feel-Good

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Gifts of Reading cover art
A Year on Our Farm cover art
Sway cover art
Just off for a Walk cover art
A Circle of Quiet cover art
The Great Fortune cover art
The Fall of the Roman Empire cover art
My Ear at His Heart cover art
Joy cover art
Candide, or Optimism cover art
Ring the Hill cover art
Dirty Briefs cover art
Wild Fell cover art
Red Sauce Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey cover art
Life, Love and The Archers cover art
The Year of Reading Dangerously cover art
All stars
Most relevant
I struggled to complete the final 3 chapters, I found the earlier chapters more autobiographical

mixed feelings.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In fact, it feels like I could have. I was so moved by this book, it described my childhood. I laughed and almost cried at times. I am sure Lucy and I could have been friends as children - well sat in the same room with our noses in a book anyway!A joyous read from start to finish. Off to buy ten copies for fellow bookworm friends.

The book I wish I’d written

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A hugely enjoyable memoir of Mangan's childhood reading. Nostalgic, warm and witty. I loved it!

Fellow Bookworms ahoy!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A romp through my childhood. Reading by torchlight the Family from One End Street the list went on and how I enjoyed it.

Memories

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
But the narrator reads as if she needs to catch the last train home.

delightful feast of recognition

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews