Bookworm by Lucy Mangan

[TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross]

I’m reading this and have just got to the moment which mentions the need for a Ladybird book on Maintaining Your Sanity on Mumsnet Given the Impossibility of Staying Away from Mumsnet.

Lucy: If you are on here, your book is JOYOUS. We have a LOT of childhood reading in common!

I loved this until I got to the part about The Lion The witch and the wardrobe and there was such an obvious error in the plot that I wanted to scream. Made me doubt all (probably totally unreasonably) all the other books the other said she had read.

I loved this book-what was the error?

I loved this book so much, it was like reading the story of my childhood, with only a few minor differences in book choice.

I enjoyed it more than The Haunted Wood which came out recently, although that was still very interesting.

Yes - exactly. She and I have read almost exactly the same books in our childhood.

But now I have to go and re-read the bit about Narnia to find out what the error was which I didn’t spot!

She’s allowed to misremember something!

I read this when it first came out and loved it - like others have said, she read a lot of the same books as me.

I’d assume she had read TLTWATW, but just made an error that didn’t then get picked up by her editor.

Yes she is allowed to misremember but I am also allowed to say it ruined the book for me. And agree her editor should have picked it up

What was the error?

Of course. That’s a shame to allow a mistake to ruin a book for you though, or to doubt she’d actually read the books she mentions.

I think margins in publishing are really tight, and if they both had the same childhood memory of the Narnia books, possibly neither thought to “fact check” it.

(might buy the book now to see if I can spot it)

I have trawled my messages because I was so annoyed about it I emailed a friend!!
So I can give you an exact quote!!!

On her first visit, Lucy meets a talking lion called Aslan who fills her heart with love and she promises that she will return to help him"

I think it was because this was my absolute favourite book as a child. It got me through some tough times and that strong emotional attachment just, rightly or wrongly, ruined the rest of it.

That would really annoy me too. She met Mr Tumnus and then the Beavers. It's not til after meeting Father Christmas that she meets Aslan!
Poor show Lucy Poor show!

Honestly I was so mad. I almost threw the book out the car window; my husband was driving at the time!
It felt and still feels lazy. It wasn’t said as ‘I remember’, it was said with certainty and rightly or wrongly it made me question the whole premise

I liked the book very much, but found a similar glaring error. She said that George MacDonald used to visit the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford to hang out with the Inklings (Lewis and Tolkien and so on). That's quite simply wrong as MacDonald was a Victorian writer and not a contemporary of the Inklings!

Yes, I felt the same. Can’t say I feel drawn to the sequel to Bookworm now I have the nagging feeling Lucy maybe isn’t as genuine as she wants us to think she is.

Her editor is only going to know whether Lucy meets Aslan on her first visit to Narnia if he or she reads TLTWATW herself to check, though. Given that, I assume, Bookworm (which I haven’t read) involves Lucy reminiscing about dozens if not hundreds of childhood books, and her editor will be simultaneously working on other books, there’s no way her editor can read everything Lucy references to check her accuracy as regards plot and character names. That’s on the author.

I have a novel coming out which has an architect character. I’ve drawn on architect friends, and done my research, but if I’ve made errors of fact, that’s on me and not my editor!

@ImaginedCorners , Wouldn't an editor at least know that The Chronicles of Narnia are very popular, and that if readers hadn't read the books, they may have seen the films?

How hard can it be to check?

But this book referenced is iconic. The plot well known and well loved. You get it wrong you expect to be criticised.
The whole premise and indeed title is that she is a Bookworm. Inaccuracy, in my opinion, and only my opinion, brings that into doubt.
And I think that nonfiction editing is a different beast to fiction where there is possibly a bit more leeway.
And congrats on your novel. I too have one coming out next year.

Depending on the book and publisher, a book can have several edits and by more than one person. My guess is that everyone who edited and proofread the book didn’t consider that someone as high profile as Lucy would misremember or lie.

I'd expect an editor of a book called Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading to have read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Agree!

Like I said, that editor simply doesn’t have time to check the accuracy of all plot summaries of every book referenced in a memoir of childhood reading. That’s the author’s responsibility.

I saw her talk in Bath recently, she was great.

I have the book but need to finish Coastal Convoys first

Well whoever’s responsibility it is they made a whopper of an error here. And as it is a much loved book should expect criticism.