A no holds barred memoir. Mr Scarbrough is a man of great purges and this book might be his greatest purge of all. A pared to the bone, meat off the bone, show and tell, which gets down to the root of him but also of me, of you, because yep we're all in the same boat called Life and we are the ones who have to live it, bit by bit, breath by breath.

"No one's life strings out in a line. We all have to make it up as we go. Not once, but over and over again. Life won't end in a neat moral."

"Living solves life. With words, yes. But with love, too. Sex. Nice dinners, Friends. Family, if we're lucky. as well as trees, hills, and fresh air. Walk the land, lad. Yes, that and so much more."

Scarbrough took me on a journey, his journey. His faithful companions, on this hero quest, were books and he talk about how these books marked him, what he wanted from them and what he got. This resonated with me, because yes books are that important to me. They are my go to, in any situation. So, I might not have read, or fell in love with the same books, or walked the same road, but the love, co-dependence maybe, is very familiar.

An ARC gently provided by author/publisher via Netgalley.

3.5 stars
An absolute rollercoaster of a book - if you're not into strong emotions, abstain! Because this book will make you feel all the feels and you sometimes wonder when you swapped places with the author because everything is so visceral that it feels like it is happening to you and not to him! Really immersive, not for the faint of heart, and will probably require a few days off just to recover from all the highs and lows

A whirlwind memoir that traipses its way through the life of a young Texan boy, trying to come to terms with his faith, his sexuality, his mental health and his love or classic literature. Some parts are laugh out lid funny and some a chaotic and paint concepts in broad strokes but ultimately it’s a great illustration. Coming of age in America, amidst so many opposing factors, Marks tale is illuminating and thought provoking.

So interesting to read about life as a gay man being raised by religious fundamentalists, quite apart from the added interest which the role which literature has played in the author’s life. The story is ultimately an uplifting one as we see the author reach a point of self acceptance, but it is a journey with many bumps and bruises along the way. I really enjoyed the self deprecating, open and intelligent writing style.

“I opened them one by one, pressing my nose against their spines. Paperback classics were the best: slightly pulpy but sweet, not cloying, hints of vanilla tempered by late winter leaves.”

Bookmarked is a passionate memoir of a Southern man who falls into a toxic relationship with literature as he struggles with his faith, sexuality and life. Books are his obsessive refuge as an adopted kid who doesn't know who he is before their relationship falls apart and he tries to rebuild himself without them. This cycle repeats throughout the story, the narrator cannot stay away from books and they destroy his life as much as they heal him.

At every important moment of his life, a great work of Western literature is haunting the author. At first he struggles to understand what it means, how to define his relationships with the authors of the past without entering a quasi-manic state

There’s something enjoyable in memoir to see a person you don’t know - only know through the pages- evolve and heal. Where the early chapters were as chaotic as the mind of the young author, the last chapters soothed me, showed me that this furious life could end into something as calm as a simple domestic life. I should mention a wonderful chapter towards the end that is an introspective recipe and I think is the best description of how I feel while cooking.

As a reader, seeing a theme as personal as “who are you really if you keep losing yourself in books to exist?” explored in a memoir was gratifying. Reading sometimes feels like an illegal addiction, an intoxication that can cut out the real world and you see the words, the meaning of things said centuries ago in your life and you start to wonder what of it is you or them?

This could not be a review of this book without mentioning the strong impact that his religion and sexuality had on the author. Adopted into a Southern fundamentalist family, he suffers several crisis of faith, once again obsessed with words but this time religious words. Of course this doesn’t blend well with his realisation that he has fallen in love with a man, that he can stray from the path that he thought he would always follow. There’s nothing more heartwarming than seeing a queer person finally coming at terms with himself, to finally accept that he can build a life for himself where he’s happy.