Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader

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Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader

by Anne Fadiman

4.20 · rating details · 3,248 ratings · 631 reviews

Anne Fadiman is--by her own admission--the sort of person who learned about sex from her father's copy of Fanny Hill, whose husband buys her 19 pounds of dusty books for her birthday, and who once found herself poring over her roommate's 1974 Toyota Corolla manual because it was the only written material in the apartment that she had not read at least twice.

This witty co...more

Paperback, 162 pages

Published November 25th 2000 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published January 1st 1998)

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Feb 25, 2010

JSou rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, owned, essays

Just a couple weeks ago, a great review of this book popped up on my update feed, (Ah, the magic of Goodreads) so when I spotted it at a booksale I went to last week for a dollar, I grabbed it quick. If you haven't read Jon's review yet, check it out:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/677...

Thanks to a bout of insomnia last night, I finished this and loved it. I feel like shoving this book onto some family and friends who think I'm much too obsessed with all things b...more

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Jan 24, 2008

Abigail rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Bibliophiles or Those Seeking to Understand Them...

Recommended to Abigail by: Patrick

Shelves: books-reading

Ah hopeful conceit, that borrowing this book would suffice! I ought to have known better, and indeed, after reading Anne Fadiman's entertaining collection of essays, it is clear that I will need to obtain a copy of my own. Such was my sense of recognition when reading some of these pieces, that I get the sense that I will be revisiting this title periodically.

A collection of eighteen short essays devoted to the author's "lifelong love affair with books and language," some o...moreAh hopeful conceit, that borrowing this book would suffice! I ought to have known better, and indeed, after reading Anne Fadiman's entertaining collection of essays, it is clear that I will need to obtain a copy of my own. Such was my sense of recognition when reading some of these pieces, that I get the sense that I will be revisiting this title periodically.

A collection of eighteen short essays devoted to the author's "lifelong love affair with books and language," some of the delights of Ex-Libris include: Fadiman's account of the "marriage" of her library to that of her husband's; the distinction she draws between "courtly" and "carnal" bibliophiles (she classifies herself as one of the latter); the joys of inscriptions (in which I learned that the title page is customarily reserved for the author's signature); and the author's thoughtful discussion of gender issues in language.

Some of the author's bibliophilic idiosyncrasies, such as her incurable penchant for proofreading in any and all situations, and her preference for the "eternal" medium of ink, are quite familiar to me. Others, such as the joy of catalogs, were entirely new. I too can remember paging through the J. Peterman catalog, but my predominant reaction was one of irritation at their classist pretension. Does anyone remember the shirt that was meant to recall those "good old days" when your father put down a peasant revolt? Revolting is the right word!

Her taste for questionable catalogs notwithstanding, I found myself mostly in sympathy with Fadiman, whose essays reveal a wonderful sense of humor, tempered by a deeply-felt humanity. My only true criticism is reserved for the final essay Secondhand Reading, in which I believe the author completely misses the mark on used bookstores. To require that they provide the same sense of personality and intellectual community and cohesion, as would a personal library, is somewhat unreasonable (Heavens! An unreasonable bibliophile?).

It would be like reproaching Grand Central, an institution ineffably linked with all that is transitory in the human experience, with providing the onlooker too brief a glimpse of its travelers' lives. The view of the Grand Concourse may be somewhat overwhelming: looking out at all the many people coming and going, seemingly unrelated, each with a story unfolding behind and before them; but then, it is not meant to be a place of repose. The home, and the personal library, are. In much the same fashion, a used bookstore is merely a way-station through which countless books pass. It is melancholy only because all journeys are melancholy...

Finally, as another reviewer noted, this book provides the basis for a lively and satisfying conversation about the topic so dear to many of the readers here on goodreads. To wit: the beauty of books and the pleasure of reading. For that, I thank Anne Fadiman. I will close by noting (mostly because I couldn't find a way to work it into the main body of my review), that I did indeed know one of the sesqipedalians that so puzzled the author. It was, of course, "grimoire." YES! Finally! Intellectual vindication of my adult enjoyment of juvenile fantasy novels!(less)

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Jan 28, 2008

Kathryn rated it

Recommends it for: book lovers!

Recommended to Kathryn by: Melanie (thank you!)

Shelves: non-fiction

I finished this book on my flight home from Florida and it provided me with great pleasure amidst my great dislike of flying. (Perchance I would have given it five stars had I read it from the cozy comfort of the couch in my den!) It felt so chummy to hear Anne's discussion of her love of books (both literary and tactile!) and I found myself nodding with agreement for many of her observations and confessions.

My favorite essays:
Marrying Libraries (of the joys and tribulation...more

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Sep 26, 2007

Natalie rated it

Recommends it for: anyone who loves to read

My aunt Heather recommended this book to me. She is exactly the type of reader Anne Fadiman is and also very frugal. So instead of buying books as gifts for me she mails me short lists of books she thinks I will enjoy and should check out at my local library.
This one was an easy beach read for me one year at Myrtle and then I read it again on a winter break. I later gave it to my cousin-in-law for a gift so I no longer have a copy of it by as I remember them each of the short stories ...more

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Mar 22, 2009

rivka rated it

Recommends it for: all book lovers

Recommended to rivka by: Jennie Peterson

Shelves: borrowed, non-fiction

I enjoyed this book, but perhaps not nearly as much as some of my friends seem to have. It's always nice to read something that makes me feel that someone out there is like me and/or my family -- that we're not completely crazy! ;)

So reading about another kid who was taught NOT to say "the hoi polloi", someone else who can't help but proofread menus, who is an obsessive book collector -- these are cool.

However. Anne Fadiman has an annoying to tendency to assume...more

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Feb 12, 2008

Lena rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

This short collection of essays on the reading life is a true delight of a book. Anne Fadiman writes with self-depreciating joy about the pleasures and pains of the book obsessed, and reading her confessions helped reawaken (and soothe my guilt) about my own book-related afflictions. Her ruminations on marrying libraries (a task I have not yet been bold enough to undertake with my own husband), the art of inscriptions, and her clever discussion on plagiarism and the originality (or lack thereo...more

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Mar 29, 2009

Koji Mukai rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

This is a collection of essays first published in Civilization, the magazine of the Library of Congress, which is where I first read many of them. These essays were written by, for, and about booklovers. My favorites include "Never Do That to a Book" where the author discusses two different ways to love a book - "courtly love" in which the reader tries to keep the book in as pristine a state as possible vs. "carnal love" in which the reader does not care a bit abo...more

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Jul 17, 2007

Lisa Vegan rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: everyone on goodreads,those who love beautiful language, essays

Shelves: favorites, reviewed, non-fiction, essays, biography, books-about-books

This is one of my favorite books. The daughter of Clifton Fadiman can write! These are wonderful essays about life, family, and most importantly, about books & reading. All are interesting & written beautifully, and they also have a lot of warmth & humor. This is a book worth owning to be able to reread certain essays every once in a while.

This book is a perfect gift for anyone who enjoys reading, books, and language.

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Apr 07, 2009

Michelle rated it

Shelves: book-books

This book was WAAY too much fun. Anne Fadiman is Clifton Fadiman's daughter, and she has collected this book of essays about book-love. She is funny and frank and the book is a delight. There are essays on merging her library with her husband's, on the delight of finding long, delicious words, on sonnets, on "carnal-love" book lovers versus "courtly-love" book lovers (for the record, I'm in the carnal-love category--my books know they are loved), ink pens, flyleaf inscript...more

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Jul 14, 2009

Wendi rated it

Recommends it for: Sarah Brannon

Recommended to Wendi by: Tina Dalton

My friend subconsciously suggested this book to me after a conversation we had about finding treasures hidden in books. She had just purchased a book for her husband, used book (the best kind), and within its pages she found a treasure trove of items left by the former owner(s). It sparked me to tell her how wonderful I thought that was, and how I loved finding notes scribbled in the margins of books. That's when she told me about Ex Libris.

This book may be sub-titled Confessions of ...moreMy friend subconsciously suggested this book to me after a conversation we had about finding treasures hidden in books. She had just purchased a book for her husband, used book (the best kind), and within its pages she found a treasure trove of items left by the former owner(s). It sparked me to tell her how wonderful I thought that was, and how I loved finding notes scribbled in the margins of books. That's when she told me about Ex Libris.

This book may be sub-titled Confessions of A Common Reader, but it's really a love story to the author's love of reading and books passed down to her, almost genetically, from her parents.

The book is a quick read, although it took me several weeks to finish it. I loved savoring her words, although, I must confess, I needed a dictionary for most of them. Maybe it was the sentiment. The idea that books are precious.

The book is a collection of Anne Fadiman's essays about words, writing, reading (books and mail order catalogs). So you can read an essay a day or a couple of essays a night like I did. My favorite essays were "Never Do That to a Book," "The Catalogical Imperative" because I love mail-order catalogs too, and "Secondhand Prose".

In "Secondhand Prose" she talks about her 42nd Birthday gift from her husband: a trip to a specific used book store where she and her husband came home with 19 pounds of books. This is me at the Friends of the Library Book Sale. I'll push and prod, earn blisters from carrying bags and sacks into which I can drop my finds, and they are finds. Fadiman writes: You may prefer Veuve Clicquot for your birthday, but give me (actually, you can't, because George {her husband} beat you to it) a nine-dollar 1929 edition of Vincent Starrett's Penny Wise and Book Foolish, a tender paean to book collecting that contains the following sentence: "Every new search is a voyage to the Indies, a quests for buried treasure, a journey to the end of the rainbow; and whether or not at the end there shall be turned up a pot of gold or merely a delightful volume, there are always wonders along the way."

I love used book stores because not only will you never know what book you might find that you can't live without, but you never know who else found that book and left a little piece of themselves behind. It's a romantic notion that not everyone prescribes to. Over the weekend I talked with a friend who absolutely hates bent spines, dog eared pages, and margin notes. We're actually trading a book - Jane Austen's Persuasion - because she can't stand the writing the previous owner left in the margins and I can't bear not to have it. So I will buy her a new book to trade for the old just to catch a glimpse of what the other woman wrote (and I don't mean Austen).

This is a book for people who absolutely love to read. Not only that, it's about books, food, other people who love books, children who love books, how to get your kids to love books without being a self-help guide. It's a journey of Anne Fadiman's life long voyage with books. It's beautifully written and a treasure. Maybe someday I'll find it in a used book store with all the things I wanted to write in the margins.

For now I must return this prize to the library where they don't appreciate good, personalize margin notes. Maybe I'll slip in a scrap of paper declaring my love for this book...who knows.(less)

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Jul 13, 2010

Madelyne rated it

Shelves: own, just-simply-a-good-read

Have you ever read a book and felt as though the author had beaten you? It is not fun. You purchase a book thinking, “Oh I’ve found a kindred spirit in this author. I can’t wait to read what he/she has to say”. Such was the book Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman.
It is a biased opinion, but I believe myself to be somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to all things book related. I am a bibliophile after all. I thought Anne Fadiman’s book would nourish those ideas. Wr...more

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Jun 10, 2011

Kelly rated it

~Preface~
This is one little book that I cannot pass up hunting for on Amazon. Will not. *checks tracking number list for fifth time* And I am now thoroughly convinced that a few good years of chair WHOMPING, voracious word eating, and a strenuous hike through the many 'eye blinks' of literature preserves one better than any Botox.

Marrying Libraries 3
I despise Fadiman for giving me one more thing to be anxious/terrified about: morphing my one day exhaustive library with t...more

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Mar 11, 2009

Kathy rated it

· review of another edition

I love books that discuss the importance of reading and I appreciate authors who can admit to an obsession with books. "I'd rather have a book, but in a pinch I'll settle for a set of Water Pik instructions."

Fadiman is the child of readers and is continuing this "habit" with her own family.
"Children are "able to fantasize are more extravagantly about their parents' tastes and discuss their aspirations and their vices by scanning their bookcase...more I love books that discuss the importance of reading and I appreciate authors who can admit to an obsession with books. "I'd rather have a book, but in a pinch I'll settle for a set of Water Pik instructions."

Fadiman is the child of readers and is continuing this "habit" with her own family.
"Children are "able to fantasize are more extravagantly about their parents' tastes and discuss their aspirations and their vices by scanning their bookcases than by snooping in their closets. Their selves were on their shelves."

This book is a memoir of sorts about her love of books and language and how the books she has read throughout her life have become an integral part of her life story.

"The heart of reading is not whether we wish to purchase new books, but how we maintain our connection with all our books, even the ones we have lived with for years."
"Over the course of years, events happen. Our books however-even ones printed long ago-remain ageless. Books wrote our life story and as they accumulated on our shelves and on the windowsills and under the sofa, they became chapters in our story."

I didn't really enjoy the chapter on polar exploration books, but I smiled all the way through the chapter on proofreading and grammar.
"The proofreading temperament is part of a larger syndrome with several interrelated symptoms. Alas, there is no 12-step program for us. We must learn to live with our affliction."

There are also just some "ponderings".
"We had promised to love each other for richer anf for poorer, even proising to forsake all others. But it was a good thing that vows didn't say anything about marrying our libraries and throwing out the duplicates. That would have been a more solemn vow."

"Closing a book on a bookmark is lke pressing the stop button whereas when you leave the book open facedown, you've only pressed pause."

This was a short book and it read quickly. Great prose and marvelous vocabulary. I hope to read some the books about books that Fadiman recommends.

(less)

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Sep 28, 2008

Corinne rated it

Recommends it for: voracious readers

As the child of two incredibly literary parents (both of them writers and voracious readers), Anne Fadiman has written a collection of essays about her experiences with books, and not just reading them. She writes about plagiarism, secondhand stores, vocabulary lovers and the inscriptions we write - all told with a self depriciating and humorous voice.

Every essay entertained me. I'm sure part of that is the fact that I am a fellow lover of not just the written word itself, but the en...more

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Jun 18, 2008

Leanna rated it

I walked past Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader at the library and immediately turned around. Without reading the dust jacket, I added the book to my pile. Any book about books must be a good book.

After reading Ex Libris, I'm not so sure. The collection of essays is ten years old, and they already feel dated—particularly an essay about pens and typewriters. More than anything, though, I take umbrage with the subtitle. Fadiman is anything but the “common reader....more

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Jul 16, 2009

Sydney rated it

Shelves: criticism

Parts of this book are utterly delightful. The chapters on combining libraries (first that of her husband and her own after ten years of marriage, later on with her father's) get to how visceral and symbolic a love a books can be. There is also the chapter on how the first thing she used to do with books (her parents') was build castles. All refreshing. But then there were moments where I thought she was Joyce Chafen (the ghastly, oblivous mother in White Teeth) particularly with Fadiman U. ...more

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Mar 11, 2008

Deb rated it

Recommends it for: book geeks

Shelves: non-fiction, favorites, short_stories

This is my favorite book of essays on reading--I've never found another that can top the eloquence, brevity, and wit contained in this volume.

Things learned: the differences between a courtly and carnal lover of books, what the word sesquipedalians means (very long words), how & when to combine libraries with a fellow book reader you've joined houses with--do you give away the ragtag copy of x book because your partner has a nicer copy? Is a re-read the same without the book you grew...more

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Mar 16, 2008

Lindsey rated it

In these brief essays, Anne Fadiman gives voice to so many delights that come with loving books. From the happy sense of frenzy that comes with entering a hole-in-the-wall used bookstore to the simple pleasure of reading aloud or being read to, she echoes sentiments I've felt all my life but does it much more eloquently than I ever could. With stories of proofreading restaurant menus with her family and organizing her shelves meticulously by category, it would be easy for these essays to come ...more

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Jan 26, 2008

Becca rated it

Recommends it for: all book lovers

I've always said if I were in a situation where I could only have one book with me, and I would be in that situation for a long time, that I would take an anthology of short stories compiled by Clifton Fadiman (Anne's father). He was just a pure genius at putting together the best anthologies.

I carried Anne's book around a long time in my car (I always keep a book in the car so that I'm never caught without a book--especially when Houston has one of its infamous traffic pileups where...more

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Nov 23, 2007

Lilias rated it

Recommends it for: children of readers

Shelves: non-fiction

First, a little bit about me: There are three things in particular that instill fear into many members of modern-day society and I embrace with pleasure. They are as follows:

1. Books (will make you BORING!)
2. Food (will make you FAT!)
3. Particularity (will make you UNBEARABLE!)

I cannot find it in myself to relate, and to some extent I've learned to deal with that. (Anyone who knows me well enough, has read the book, and happens upon this “review” will probab...more

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Dec 18, 2007

Tracey rated it

I had purchased Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader some time ago on the recommendation of several fellow 50bookchallenge readers and thought this book would be an apt way to end the year.

A collection of essays written for Civilization: The Magazine of the Library of Congress (apparently OOP), Anne Fadiman explores her love of books, reading and writing. The titles alone -- "The Joy of Sesquipedalians"*, "Never Do That to a Book" and "Sharing the Mayhem"...more

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Feb 01, 2007

Michael rated it

Recommends it for: Book lovers

The subtitle, "Confessions of a Common Reader," is modest at best. I only wish I were the sort of reader Anne Fadiman is. She consumes every book that comes her way, from large volumes of classic literature down to the owner's manual for her car. Her vocabulary is extensive; as a sort of strange game, I dug out my highlighter with the small post-it flags, and flagged every instance where I had to retrieve a dictionary. I ran out of flags, but visited the dictionary no less than 32 time...more

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Jan 01, 2008

Anna rated it

Shelves: fun-ny, favorites-old-and-new, 5q-read, 2008

I laughed out loud several times when I read this book, and forced long passages of this book on to my boyfriend, and several friends.
My boyfriend and I still keep the books in separate bookshelves - I organize more or less thematically and he (much like Fadiman's husband) organize everything by the category "books". (Actually, my boyfriend organize the books by the languages they are written in, but it still would drive me crazy.)
This is a sweet, funny and to-the-point co...more

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Jan 20, 2011

Wendy Friess rated it

Okay, so this book WON'T be for everyone, but I loved it! If you love books, and love hearing about other people who love books and why they love them and how they handle them and which ones they buy then this book will be for you too. Cleverly written essays all about books-yay!

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Sep 27, 2010

Teresa rated it

Ex Libris is a collection of 18 essays by Anne Fadiman on books and bookishness. In these essays, Fadiman writes of her family s obsession with words, merging bookcases with her husband, the case and treatment of books, her love of fountain pens, and more.[return][return]It s hard for me not to like a woman who as a teenager got totally immersed in the works of Thomas Hardy and started classifying all the boys she loved as Damons or Clyms. (For me, they were Angels or Alecs, which is perhaps n...more

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Dec 05, 2009

Trish rated it

Recommends it for: all book lovers

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Jan 20, 2009

Leah rated it

Perfectly delightful. It wasn't taxing by any means, but what book lover wouldn't want to read about another book lover's romance with the written word? Ann Fadiman is a much more serious reader than I am--she once read her roommate's Toyota Corrolla manual for fun, and she and her husband own several thousand books--but there's a bit of each of her stories that I could relate to. I especially enjoyed the essay about the different ways people treat books: there are the amorous lovers of books, w...more

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Dec 22, 2008

Andrew rated it

This short book was a quick and easy read, and author Anne Fadiman has an engaging narrative voice. While I could relate to a great deal of her stories about book obsessiveness, though, she sometimes got on my nerves a bit. Her fussy tone and obvious background as a child of privilege was intrusive for me, as someone who tends to prefer vernacular dialects, genre fiction, and trash art, and as someone who lives in near poverty and never expects anything more. Of course, part of my own near-impov...more

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Dec 02, 2008

Antof9 rated it

Shelves: about-books, 2008-read, biographies-memoirs, faves

I have a new favorite book! Like 84, Charing Cross Road, this is a book by a reader, for readers. As I said in the Top 5 Reads for May BookCrossing thread: I can't recommend it highly enough. If you love books, reading, words, literature. .. read it: )

This is the hardest kind of book review to write, because I prefer to reference things I liked and quote favorite passages in my reviews. If I did that for this book, I'd basically reproduce the entire book in my journal entry!
...moreI have a new favorite book! Like 84, Charing Cross Road, this is a book by a reader, for readers. As I said in the Top 5 Reads for May BookCrossing thread: I can't recommend it highly enough. If you love books, reading, words, literature. .. read it: )

This is the hardest kind of book review to write, because I prefer to reference things I liked and quote favorite passages in my reviews. If I did that for this book, I'd basically reproduce the entire book in my journal entry!

So I'll limit my notes to a few things, like this part on "marrying libraries" I read to my friend Jen when she got to my house 20 minutes after I read it:
His books commingled democratically, united under the all-inclusive flag of Literature. Some were vertical, some horizontal, and some actually placed behind</i> others. Mine were balkanized by nationality and subject matter. Like most people with a high tolerance for clutter, George maintains a basic trust in three-dimensional object. If he wants something, he believes it will present itself, and there it usually does. I, on the other hand, believe that books, maps, scissors, and Scotch tape dispensers are all unreliable vagrants, likely to take off for parts unknown unless strictly confined to quarters. My books, therefore, have always been rigidly regimented.</i> Really, this whole chapter is entertaining, charming, and tells us a lot about the author, and George. And I loved it.

In talking about inheriting books from parents, I both loved what she said, and also became very emotional about my own father and his books. My father died in 1998, and I still look for his copy of Les Misérables when I visit my mom. My dad loved that book, and read it in the original French. He used his copy for one of his many degrees -- this one a minor in French literature, and I remember reading the notes in his handwriting in the margins. Where is this book? It has vanished, and I want it. Can I read French? No, but that's irrelevant. Anne's story makes you smile and cry, too:

Later, of course, I kicked myself for having spurned Turgenev.  The four hundred volumes that passed to me (which included the Trollopes bu, unfortunately, not Fanny hill) were at first segregated on their own wall, the biliothecal equivalent of a separate in-law apartment.

"You just don't want your father's Hemingways to be sullied by my Stephen Kings," said George accusingly.

"That's not true."

He tried another tack.  "Your father wouldn't want his books to be a shrine.  Didn't you say he used to let you build castles with them?"

This hit home.  I realized that by keeping his library intact, I had hoped I might be able to keep my father, who was then eighty-six, intact as well.  It was a strategy unlikely to succeed.

I love this author. I read restaurant menus the same way her family does, I love word games, I love meeting new words, and I love books. The bad thing about reading this particular book is that it makes you want to hoard books ... just when I was getting good at giving them away!

When I read this, I was shocked that I'd never read it before. I shall make up for this shortcoming immediately by purchasing multiple copies and spreading them around the world :)(less)

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Jan 02, 2012

Linda Lipko rated it

Anyone who is as obsessed with books, as so many of us are, will delight in this lovely compilation of stories about books, their personal meaning, how we collect them, why we collect them, how we do or don't share them and how we may have gained a love of reading.

Some of my favorite essays include the author's comments regarding how, after joining her partner in marriage years later it was decided to meld their books. Realizing that commitments can begin and then end, both book lovers...more

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About Anne Fadiman

Anne Fadiman, the daughter of Annalee Whitmore Jacoby Fadiman, a screenwriter and foreign correspondent, and Clifton Fadiman, an essayist and critic, was born in New York City in 1953. She graduated in 1975 from Harvard College, where she began her writing career as the undergraduate columnist at Harvard Magazine. For many years, she was a writer and columnist for Life, and later an Editor-at-Lar...more

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Quotes from Ex Libris: Confessions...

“My daughter is seven, and some of the other second-grade parents complain that their children don't read for pleasure. When I visit their homes, the children's rooms are crammed with expensive books, but the parent's rooms are empty. Those children do not see their parents reading, as I did every day of my childhood. By contrast, when I walk into an apartment with books on the shelves, books on the bedside tables, books on the floor, and books on the toilet tank, then I know what I would see if I opened the door that says 'PRIVATE--GROWNUPS KEEP OUT': a child sprawled on the bed, reading.” — 145 people liked it

“I have never been able to resist a book about books.” — 48 people liked it

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title link	preview: Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46890.Ex_Libris?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312015577m/46890.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46890.Ex_Libris?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman[/url]

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader

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