I've just reread The Child That Books Built and have once again been stunned by the way that Francis Spufford describes my reading experiences as a child.
The sense of immersion, the way external sounds disappear, skimming over words I did not understand as I was so caught in the flow of the story and the holes would be filled and blurred by my mind.
My family never really understood my ability to disappear into a book - and I never discussed with anyone in case they thought I was weird, but reading this book gave me such a jolt of familiarity.
Does this sound familiar to any of you? Or is it just me?
Of course it helps that we are nearly contemporary and so many of the books he cites are my own personal childhood favourites.