‘I was beside myself with the sheer joy of literary discovery. I was, in the true meaning of the word, ecstatic. A further two years of secondary schooling, four years of university and three decades of school teaching did much to calm the initial excitement and intellectualize the emotion; but while greater understanding inevitably increased and enhanced enjoyment, there was no recapturing that mad blaze of first love, with all its dizzy raptures.’ – Christopher Rush, Slightly Foxed Issue 9
Greetings from Hoxton Square where, with Saint Valentine’s Day almost upon us, we’ve been discussing a different type of love altogether: that of first literary love. Over our lunch break, we each considered some of those stories that catalysed our early love for books.
Our conversation bought to mind Christopher Rush’s piece on his childhood obsession with Shakespeare. Today we thought we’d make this article available to read for subscribers and non-subscribers alike and share some of our own literary love affairs whilst we’re at it. Please scroll on to read the full extract and browse more books that you just might fall for.
We also wanted to shine a light on an opportunity to work for the charity Bookbanks, who are looking for new members of the team to spread the love of reading by offering books at food banks. More information about this can be found at the bottom of this page.
We’ll be in touch next week with news of our forthcoming spring publications.
With best wishes, as ever, from the SF staff
Isabel, Edie, Rebecca, Ruth & Jennie
PS We are delighted to have seen so many of you using our Plain Foxed Editions offer to stock up on books. The chance to buy four Plain Foxed Editions and save £40 will be running until the end of February so do feel free to nab your discounted copies now. The discount will be automatically applied when checking out.
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