Reading Allowed by Chris Paling

Reading Allowed by Chris Paling

Chris Paling's Reading Allowed is a wonderful, warm-hearted and eccentric look at the life of a librarian in a provincial library, and the extraordinary cast of characters he encounters every day.

Paling's deftly drawn vignettes are frequently funny, sometimes sad and occasionally troubling. . Borrow a copy from your local library, if you still have one. Better yet, buy it -- Neil Armstrong * Mail on Sunday *
Not only was I captivated by Paling's lovingly wrought series of pen portraits, I was amused, moved and - perhaps most surprising of all - uplifted -- John Preston * Daily Mail *
There are many detractors who question whether libraries are still relevant in the digital age. Paling's keenly and kindly observed account of his encounters offers a gentle insight as to why they still are -- Helen Davies * Sunday Times *
Restorative, gently British feel of these pages . . . It's fun, it's breezy . . . and it's full of Great British Quirk. It made me feel at home, and I recommend it strongly * The Book Bag *
Much of the dialogue is worthy of Alan Bennett -- Mark Mason * Spectator *
Paling's unflashy, plain-speaking and observant style is engaging -- Rosemary Goring * Sunday Herald *
Paling is an observant writer, with a brilliant ear for dialogue, and he sketches the eccentric cast of employees and customers perfectly. Although there is humour here, there is also pathos, as the library dwindles to become the haunt of the elderly and the homeless - a snapshot of people and institutions on the margins of the digital age, a poignant record of the unconnected life -- Chris Nancollas * Tablet *
Minutely observed cast . . . It is pinpoint-specific, as personal as a fingerprint or a reading record . . . The characters here lift these interlinked vignettes into something altogether richer -- Imogen Russell Williams * Times Literary Supplement *
Reading Allowed is a must for bibliophiles and those with a curiosity to understand exactly what goes on in that building that you might visit, or indeed that building that you walk past everyday * Rebel Voice *

This is Chris Paling's first work of non-fiction. Chris's fiction has been praised by Nick Hornby, Jonathan Coe, Giles Foden, Liz Jensen, Shena Mackay and many others. Chris also writes for the weekend papers and is a regular contributor to the Sunday Telegraph Travel section - and he has recently embarked on playwriting.

His broadcasting career spans radio and television. An acclaimed radio documentary maker, he co-conceived The Village, credited as the first 'real-life' soap. Set in the Hampshire village of Bentley, The Village ran for over 100 episodes on Radio 4 before transferring to television. A further hundred or so episodes were then broadcast on ITV and sold around Europe. The format was developed by the presenter Nigel Farrell into An Island Parish, which still scores highly on BBC 2. For the final 11 years of Chris's Radio 4 career he produced Midweek with Libby Purves.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781472124722
ISBN 10	1472124723
Title	Reading Allowed
Author	Chris Paling
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Little, Brown Book Group
Year published	2018-02-01
Number of pages	320
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.