This presentation explores the intersection of the literacy practices of home and school, when a rural working-class man reflects on his learning trajectory from the standpoint of the present. The data consists of five life story interviews conducted with Noel, a man in his 30s who lives in a small rural town in Sweden. The analysis of Noel’s learning trajectory shows that much of the learning that is going on (whether it be through conversation or through reading) is reappropriated by the ancestral culture that surrounds Noel. This presentation will elaborate further on these processes of re-appropriation with a focus on issues on masculinity, class and schooling.