Sydney's review
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
by Anne Fadiman
One of my favorite books. I've read this no fewer than thrice. Anne Fadiman inspired me not only to read, but to write.
-Kate
I read this a few years ago and thought it was a really splendid book. You'll have to mention some of the highlights so that I can recall what I liked about it...
Sydney's review
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman
Sydney's review
rating:
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. But the quality I found the most impossible to digest ultimately is her desire to out-visceral anyone else's love of books. The early chapter where she divides book lovers in the platonic courtly type or the carnal type distills this desire. According to this chapter, you only really really really love books if you treat them like the Fadimans do, including ripping off and trashing the half of the paperback you've already read before you get on the plane so it doesn't weigh you down. She als...more
One of my favorite books. I've read this no fewer than thrice. Anne Fadiman inspired me not only to read, but to write.-Kate
I read this a few years ago and thought it was a really splendid book. You'll have to mention some of the highlights so that I can recall what I liked about it...