Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader

by Anne Fadiman
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader  
published November 25th 2000 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
first published 1999
binding Paperback
isbn 0374527229   (isbn13: 9780374527228)
pages 176
description The subtitle of Anne Fadiman's slim collection of essays is Confessions of a Common Reader, but if there is one thing Fadiman is not, it's com...more
date added
02-01-07



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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1167)



Abigail
bookshelves: books-reading
Read in November, 2007
recommended to Abigail by: Patrick
recommends it for: Bibliophiles or Those Seeking to Understand Them...
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 of the de...more
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Ukrainer
Ukrainer rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
06/18/08

Read in June, 2008
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 “co...more
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Sydney
Sydney rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
05/26/08

Read in May, 2008
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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Kathryn
Kathryn rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
01/28/08

bookshelves: non-fiction
Read in January, 2008
recommended to Kathryn by: Melanie (thank you!)
recommends it for: book lovers!
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 tribulations of merging...more
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  5 comments

Deb
Deb rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/11/08

bookshelves: non-fiction
Read in January, 2001
recommends it for: book geeks
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 up ...more
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Lindsey
Lindsey rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/16/08

Read in March, 2008
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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Natalie
Natalie rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
09/26/07

Read in January, 2002
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 were...more
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Tracey
Tracey rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
12/18/07

Read in December, 2003
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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Lilias
Lilias rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
11/23/07

bookshelves: 1_day, nonfiction
Read in November, 2007
recommends it for: children of readers
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 probably think, “Of cour...more
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  5 comments

Alberto
Alberto rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/10/07

bookshelves: rarezas_rarities
Read in January, 2002
recommends it for: Everyone interested in reading / Todos los interesados en la lectura
Anne Fadiman describe, a lo largo de varios ensayos muy breves, el deleite enorme que ella obtiene de la lectura y de los libros no sólo como depósitos de texto (de letras) sino también como objetos. La encuadernación, la tipografía, el mero contacto del libro con las manos aparece, celebrado, en estas páginas. Más todavía, el contacto con los libros que busca Fadiman no implica la repulsión o el fastidio de tantas personas, pero tampoco la reverencia hueca: los libros son para tomarse,...more
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Becca
Becca rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
01/26/08

Read in January, 2004
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 one jus...more
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Heather
Heather rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
01/10/08

bookshelves: non-fiction, read-in-2008
Read in January, 2008
recommends it for: anyone who loves reading
I haven't even finished this book yet, but I need to give it a (glowing) review. I adore this book and I already know I'm going to pick it up time and again through the years to re-read sections of it.

Normally a book of non-fiction essays would send me running to the hills, fiction is my thing and I stick to it 99% of the time. Confessions of a Common Reader is an enjoyable exception to my rule. Ann Fadiman is anything BUT a common reader, she's the reader that we all aspire to be! But she ...more
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Brittany
bookshelves: generalnonfiction
Read in July, 2007
recommends it for: everyone I know
This was a wonderful book, full of short, sweet essays about the lives of bibliophiles. I loved reading about someone who worries about the same things I do (What if I get married and, when the time comes to merge libraries, my husband and I don't see eye to eye on how to shelve the nonfiction? And how to group the astronaut biographies?)

There were a couple of essays I didn't finish because I didn't empathize as much with them, but the lovely thing about essays is they're set up for precise...more
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Dean
08/21/07

I don't put much stock in reading books about other people reading books, or poems about writing poetry--It just doesn't rub me the right way. Ex Libris is no exception. The only interesting point to note is that I am reading this book exclusively in the bathroom while shitting. Sometimes I'll only read a paragraph or maybe just stare at the words on the back cover (we all crave words when we shit---even the back of a shampoo bottle for crissakes) but sometimes I'll take things leisurely and ...more
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Kristina
Kristina rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
01/15/08

Read in January, 2008
recommended to Kristina by: Mom gave it to me for Christmas
recommends it for: obsessive book lovers with a sense of humor
This book is great fun. A love letter not only to books, but to book lovers. Fadiman lets her book-geek flag fly proudly, confessing her strong opinions on grammar and writing instruments as well as books. If you've ever proofread a restaurant menu, argued with someone about the best way to arrange your books, or read a car manual simply because you needed something to read, this book is for you. If you have strong opinions about whether your love of books is shown through your intense preservat...more
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Julie
Julie rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
01/24/08

bookshelves: essays
Read in August, 2007
I knew Anne Fadiman first through her book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down about the treatment of a Hmong girl with epilepsy. She is perhaps more well known for her personal essays, which are charming. Those in this collection are all about books and reading or things related to books and reading--e.g. a whole essay on merginalia and should books be written in? Another on how she and her husband merged their libraries after years of marriage. She grew up in one of these geeky litera...more
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Michael
Michael rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
02/01/07

Read in July, 2006
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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Janis
Janis rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/30/08

Read in March, 2008
Ex Libris is a delightful collection of book-related essays which includes exciting subjects like proofreading, autographing books, and merging spousal libraries. I enjoyed the reading and enjoyed the topics. Nothing gets me going more than a juicy story of plagiarism! I never, ever write in books (but admire the chutzpah of people who do) and avidly read this essay as well as the one on writing with pen vs. computer. Like the author, I spent hours of my childhood building forts out of a coll...more
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Ginnie
Ginnie rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
10/24/07

bookshelves: books-about-books, essays
Charles Lamb lives! — or at least is resurrected in the form of Anne Fadiman's enchanting essays on letters and life (and their mutual illuminations). In literary reflections that play and delight, charm and enlighten, the love of books takes on unexpected configurations. Where else will you learn of inscriptions in imaginary languages, or a reading lust so imperative that 'in a pinch I'll settle for a set of Water Pik instructions'? Where else will Livy and Macaulay be found cheek and jowl wi...more
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Lena
Lena rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
02/12/08

bookshelves: 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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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 4.27 (839 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 4.28 (781 ratings)
number of reviews: 163






other editions

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader (Hardcover)
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader (Paperback)
Ex Libris (Perfect Paperback)









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"Books wrote our life story, and as they accumulated on our shelves (and on our windowsills, and underneath our sofa, and on top of our refrigerator), they became chapters in it themselves." more quotes »