Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman
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Book Reviews of Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
Book Review: A Fun, Entertaining Book on Books & Language
Summary: 5 Stars
Anne Fadiman's 'Ex Libris' kept me entertained with these light-hearted, hilarious essays about books. Ok, so she confesses of eing a bit obsessed with her passion. Her life long love affair with books and language has become chapters in her own life story. Fadiman admits she learned about [love] from her father's copy of 'Fanny Hill.' And at one time found herself reading a 1974 Toyota Corolla manual because it was the only thing in her apartment she hadn't read.
Fadiman recounts a book lover's odyssey in her well-tuned personal essays. Finding her ("True Womanhood") in favorite anecdotes from Father Bernard O'Reilly. not seeing eye-to-eye, but thankful for him that she got to know her great-grandmother. In ("Marrying Libraries"), she didn't feel completely married without merging her and her husband's collection. Her well-worded apology on plagiarism ("Nothing New Under the Sun") is witty and raw. Her first introduction to books at the age of four, when she liked building castles ("My Ancestral Castles") with her father's pocket-sized twenty-two volume set of midnight blue 'Trollope.' Fadiman's addiction to long words ("The Joy of Sesquipedalians") would beat me in a game of scrabble. Just sitting at the breakfast table of the Fadiman's would bring new intellect to one's vocabulary. Thanks you, Carl Van Vechten! Would you know the meaning of monophysite, ithyphallic, aspergill or opopanax?
Fadiman's happiness is a round-trip ticket to any used bookshop namely New York's finest ("Secondhand Prose") ponders the words of Henry Ward Beecher, "Where human nature so weak as in the bookstore!" The temptations of books kept her in good company with Southey and Macaulay. There are family members and friends who have brought me books on many occasions and I can relate to Anne Fadiman. I enjoyed this very much. It taught me to be wise, be a good speller, tackle big words and love books alot more.
Book Review: Charming and witty
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are a bibliophile and would like to bury your nose in a charming collection of essays on reading and collecting books-then this is a book that you will enjoy reading.I picked up the book on a whim and put it away to read at some future date. Then, late one evening I picked up the book, and casually started reading it. I was hooked! I continued reading till the wee hours of the morning, and only put it away when I had finished reading the book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
This slim volume with about 160 pages has about 18 essays. And as Robert McCrum of the "London Observer," put it, "Witty, enchanting, and supremely well-written, one of the most delightful volumes to have come across my desk in a long time..."
This collection of personal essays is a celebration of the written word. After reading this book I have become a carnal lover of books and boldly make notes on the margins of the book. Fadiman says that there are two kinds of book lovers: courtly and carnal. For courtly lovers the "book's physical self was sacrosanct," but for the carnal lovers "a book's words were holy, but the paper, cloth, cardboard, glue, thread, and link that contained them were a mere vessel, and it was no sacrilege to treat them as wantonly as desire and pragmatism dictated."
Fadiman is the editor of "The American Scholar," and a National Book Critics Circle Award winner and shares her love affair with books in this collection of essays Fadiman grew up in a house filled with books. Both her parents were well known writers. Her father, Clifton Fadiman, was a critic, anthologist and a judge of the Book of the Month Club and her mother; Annalee Jacoby Fadiman was a Time correspondent.
Book Review: slap-the-knee funny, irresistible read!
Summary: 5 Stars
I laughed so hard at the essay on proofreading (one of her friends described her life as a copyeditor as analagous to that of the person sweeping up the dung behind an elephant in a parade) while waiting to board a plane that when I finally walked on, still reading, a woman in first class grabbed my arm and demanded to know what book I was reading!Don't be fooled by the Latin title and "serious" cover. These essays are tongue-in-cheek, down to earth, and absolutely hilarious, especially if you're a voracious reader-- or have ever had to do any copyediting.
Fadiman is humble and self-deprecating, describing her family as compulsive proofers-- I loved the example of them gleefully pointing out errors in restaurant menus. But it's impossible not to be bowled over by her turns-of-phrase and her wit.
The essay about how she and her husband married their book collections is also a standout-- and one that anybody can relate to who's ever been through this, whether it be with books, cds or spices!
My only complaint about this book is that it's impossible to put down, and that it's too short. When I got back from my (business) trip I immediately photocopied the essay on proofreading for the head of marketing, the artistic director, and the managing director of the theatre where I work (there had been a crisis in semicolons in my absence). This book is a reference for any teacher, writer, reader or marketer. One of the best reads of the year!
Book Review: a chronicle of a love affair with books
Summary: 5 Stars
What this is is a collection of essays about books: reading them, shelving them, collecting them, etc. etc. It's a chronicle of a love affair with books.
Almost every essay struck a chord with me: reading a car manual because there was nothing else to read (done that), playing word games as a child (yes), compulsive proof-reading of menus and signs (definitely), etc.
I laughed aloud at the essay on plagiarism (no, not a funny topic, normally) with its overabundance of footnotes. And a light bulb went on when I read the essay on the difference between courtly and carnal love of books: I've always felt vaguely guilty for not keeping my books in pristine condition--I eat while reading, read in the bath, leave them lying around, and my best-loved books are all mostly falling apart from being read and re-read. Turns out I'm in good company.
The only thing I had to overlook was what felt like a prejudice toward reading only classic literature. But honestly, I'd expected that. A book of essays about books is not likely to be written (or perhaps it's just not likely to be published) by an avid reader of contemporary genre fiction.
In a lot of respects, it's quite similar to Eats, Shoots and Leaves. They're both written solely for people who share the author's point of view, and quite probably feel pretentious and elitist to anyone who doesn't.
Book Review: Proving you can love books for more than just their words
Summary: 5 Stars
I keep this slim book of essays on my bedside table - it is something to read when I have nothing else. Or something it is just to read instead of anything else. Anne Fadiman has described the love of books and of words in all their forms in a series of short essays.Her chapters cover a range of subjects, from the discovery of rare words, merging libraries, book buying and to the odd shelf - a whole range of subjects for confirmed bibliophiles.
My favourite chapter, the one I read over and over again is "The Joy of Sesquipedelians" - when she found a book from the 1920's full of words she had never read before. It is like a short detective story tracking showing both the changing background which underlies our education and experiences, and reflects the changes in our language. Words in common use then are barely used or understood now. How many of us know the meaning of Grimoire, Paludal, retromingent, apozemical, goetic and some 17 others. These beautiful words that roll off the tongue - it seems criminal that they are now almost extinct .
The final chapter is the loveliest - a surprise birthday trip which ends up being to a second hand bookshop.
This book is a joy to read for those that find it a joy to read.