It sounds an intriguing idea. Josh Spero, writer, magazine editor and classics buff, tracks down previous owners of the secondhand books he owns. In between finding out what these actors, teachers and Bletchley Park codebreakers did next, Spero tells his own story. This is a man whose 30th birthday party was in Tatler last year, but on the whole he is self-deprecating about his journey from geeky Jewish boy in north London to Oxford, tutoring and journalism.
Yet the project (crowdfunded via Unbound) falls down in the writing. The profiles of his book owners are often curiously flat, never celebrating the intricacies of life. And Spero tones down his own life to the point where he makes winning University Challenge with the Magdalen College team in 2004 seem dull. Save for a very good chapter on late poet/priest Peter Levi, Second Hand Stories feels apologetic – more in need of an encouraging editor than online donations.
