In Conversation with Lizzy Hadfield

What happens when you take a private moment of reflection and turn it into a shared experience? For us, the answer is a book swap. We partnered with Mango Girl Lizzy Hadfield and her community, Buffy’s, to celebrate the stories that define us. Ahead of our London event, we caught up with her to discuss the philosophy behind her book club, the art of curation, and why there is nothing quite like the weight—and wisdom—of a well-loved book.

Mango: Where did your love of literature first begin — and how has it shaped your personal or creative journey?

Lizzy: One of my most standout memories of reading was my mum and I reading Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging aloud in the car and both of being in stitches of laugher. From there I undertook the mammoth task of trying to read all the Gossip Girl series (there are 13 books, I can’t remember if I completed it). Reading has ebbed and flowed throughout my life but has been a huge part of my daily routine for last seven years. It’s now become a huge part of my career, but it has shaped me personally in innumerable ways. It is so expansive, I have learned so many new things from reading, but it also has kept me centered in my life. There are few other activities I can think of as being grounding while simultaneously propelling me into another world.

M: What does Buffy's represent for you today? How has it evolved since you first started it?

L: It’s grown to something bigger than I could ever imagine, but the heart of it is still about creating a community and the new friendships that form at our events. There are groups who go on holiday together now, meet up with their own book clubs alongside Buffy’s, go for weekly Sunday Roasts! It’s been a space for true friendships to be made, and that is what I want Buffy’s to always represent.

M: In your view, what makes book swaps unique compared to book clubs?

L: They are way more fluid! I am under no illusion that asking people to read a book a month is a lot, everyone is busy and finding time to read is hard. So book swaps eliminate the need to have read a certain book, you can bring one you read years ago and would love to pass on to someone else, and still have the experience of meeting other book lovers at an event.

M: What draws you to the idea of preloved stories and the traces of previous readers they carry?

L: Some of the best books I have read have come from a friend who has passed it on to me, and I think that is what second hand books and a book swap brings to people. There is something so special about reading a book that someone else has annotated, seeing underlined paragraphs that have really spoken to them, it always makes me slow down over those lines and imagine what it meant to the person before me who read it.

M: How would you describe the curation of books you did for this book swap with Mango?

L: We spent a lot of time carefully considering this. As we were focusing on second hand books, it mostly had to be older novels, as new releases are less likely to be found in a second hand book shop. I wanted it to be a mix of incredible books I have read alongside ones on my ‘tbr’ (to be read), we created a list of diverse genres and writers, and I am confident every one attending will find a book they love.

M: Can you share a memorable recommendation or discovery that came from one of your events?

L: At a recent book shop a guest left a copy of Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho with the note inside “abandon all hope ye who enter”. I didn’t manage to take that copy home, as another guest chose it, but I think that was the perfect note inside that novel!

M: What kind of environment do you try to create at each gathering — is there a particular energy or conversation you hope people leave with?

M: Is there a recent book that's stayed with you, one that has shifted how you think or feel?

L: A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, one of the best books we have ever read in bookclub, instantly one of my favourite books ever. And 4321 by Paul Auster, which follows four tangential life story’s of the same character, Archie Ferguson, growing up in America in the 1950s and 60s. It really got me thinking about all the decisions an author has to make about a book, and how to contain it to just one story line, and how effective it can be to break free from that!

M: What's one book you think everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime — and why?

L: Beloved by Toni Morrison. One of the greatest writers of all time, it’s a masterpiece. It’s hard to read in style and content and I think that reading it is a wonderfully rewarding challenge.