GIFTS OF READING (PB)

This delightful little book offers an autobiographical essay on the importance of giving and receiving books by the author of classics including Landmarks and The Old Ways, as well as collaborations Lost Words and Lost Spells with Jackie Morris. Every book is a kind of gift to its reader, and the act of giving books is charged with a special emotional resonance. It is a meeting of three minds (the giver, the author, the recipient), an exchange of intellectual and psychological currency, that leaves each participant enriched. Robert Macfarlane recounts the story of a book he was given as a young man, and how he managed eventually to return the favour, though never repay the debt.