Sixpence House

Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books by Paul Collins

Being a book-lover, I confess I feel guilty for not liking this book any more than I did. But while the town of Hay sounds like a book-lover's dream vacation destination and Collins has a pretty good sense of humour, the point of this book was rather lost on me. Collins and his wife decide they can't afford to live in San Francisco any more and are craving a rural setting so they move not to a small town in the US, but across the Atlantic to Wales (with their baby son and hundreds upon hundreds of their own books). They'd visited Hay on vacation and liked it, so they try their hand at living there. But the town is a bit too weird and they can't find an affordable, non-deathtrap house, so they come back (apparently to live in a small town in Oregon or Vermont, which would have made sense in the first place). They don't even live in the titular Sixpence House, they just try to buy it before realizing it's a deathtrap. Collins peppers the book with passages from obscure books that he finds in Hay and there are some interesting characters in the townsfolk (particularly Richard Booth, the "King of Hay," who turned it into a bibliophile's mecca), but overall, I didn't find it particularly gripping. I'd certainly be happy to visit Hay one day, though!

I think the most interesting thing about this book was a serendipity moment - Nick Hornby was staying in Hay when he wrote the first column for the Believer that was included in The Polysyllabic Spree. I remember thinking, "I'm going to be reading a book about that town!"

A Nattie-Pie Pick

I have ended up reading a different book from the challenge than I had planned. I didn't realize I would get the chance to read Sixpence House, off of Nattie's List, but I am so glad that I did. Pattie sent me her copy, and it has been such a blessing, like a few more moments in Natalie's presence. I mean, if you have ever seen the books stacked floor to ceiling in her Hobbit House, you will understand.

(****SPOILER****)

I give the book 4 stars. It would be 5 except for a couple of things. First of all, the book is called Sixpence House, but that building hardly plays into the book at all. It shows up in one chapter, halfway through the book, and then it is gone again. Second, I wanted MORE about books. And I wanted them to stay in Hay. It made me so sad when they flew back to America. I was living vicariously through this couple and their child, pretending I too could live in Hay. Ah, well...

Regardless, the book was a wonderful story. I loved all of the excerpts from obscure books that the author came across. I loved the descriptions of Hay, of Booth's mountains of books, etc... Hay truly is a book lover's paradise. One day, maybe, I will make it there.

If you truly love books, then you will truly love this book.

Heather

Sixpence House

In Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books, author Paul Collins details his experiences in the Welsh village of Hay-on-Wye, population 1500, the "Town of Books" that boasted 40 bookstores. Collins and his author/artist wife and their young son moved to Hay from San Francisco, and fascinating is their journey and experience in this small town. Collins peppers his account with passages from obscure and often out-of-print books. He also describes the town, the houses he and his wife consider purchasing, quite a bit about British culture, and, of course, the town's most fascinating characters.

It is quite a fascinating read.

My favorite quotation is found on page 4, attributed to Temple Bar magazine:

We may, in fact, divide our fellow-creatures into two branches--those who read books and those who do not.

I chose this book because it was one on my friend Natalie's list. Nattie chose this book as one that described a part of who she was: a book-lover. In this mutual love of volumes of the printed word, she and I found each other to be, truly, kindred spirits. We were often emailing each other about books, and trading bookerly comments on each others' blogs. She and I used to trade pictures of what we affectionately referred to as "Mt. TBR" (and in fact, she introduced me to that particular phrase). Just for the record: She won. Her cute little hobbit apartment was stacked with volumes and volumes. It made my own leaning tower of TBRs seem puny by comparison!