I was given this book, unregistered, as a RABCK from Bobbarama. (Thank you so much, Bobbarama!)

I absolutely, unreservedly loved this book!

Ex Libris is a beautifully written compilation of essays on reading. I think that at least in some of the essays and/or passages, every book lover will recognize some of themselves.

I recommend this book so enthusiastically and whole-heartedly to booklovers of every kind, that I plan on starting a ring with it. This is a book lover's must-read!!!

Bookring:

1. Morsecode {New York) (first up)
2. TwiggySC1973 (South Carolina
3. Melinda010100 (Wisconsin)
4. Joanthro (Colorado)
5. Lolamarie (California
6. cnfotp (Oxfordshire, UK)
7. Jessibud (Toronto)
8. Ri (moving back to U.S. in summer. Last in ring.)
back to MissTree

This lovely little book arrived safe and sound in Buffalo today.

While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I must admit that it made me feel a little inadequate. Despite the fact that I am a lifelong reader (who studied comparative literature as an undergrad), Fadiman and her bibliomaniacal family made me feel like I haven’t read nearly enough.

Irregardless this is a lovely little book. Fadiman has wonderful insights and a great sense of humor.* “The Catalogical Imperative” in particular had me laughing out loud. I recognized myself in a number of the essays including “Inset a Carrot/Insert a Caret.” I also loved “Marrying Libraries” though again here I need to confess that my husband and I had no such qualms. Our libraries (at least the segments that aren’t in storage) are happy commingled on our bookshelves and in piles all over the apartment.

While I’m at it, I should go ahead and confess that I don’t think I knew any of Fadiman’s twenty-two test words from “The Joy of the Sesquipedalians”. Though I am interested in hearing from the rest of you whether you recognized any them.

I’ll be sending this along to TwiggySC1973 the next time I go to the post office.

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* a dry sense of humor like I have. Did you read the footnotes in “Nothing New Under the Sun”? I got a huge kick out of them. :)

Received in the mail today...hope to get started on it at lunch!

Finished the book on Friday and mailed off. Strange thing...I made the JE on Friday but I guess it didn't take..IMAGINE That. Anyway, some of the parts are me as a reader and I swear if I didn't have anything to read I would have reading DTS.

This book arrived in Wisconsin earlier in the week, but I have not had computer access to journal it. I have already skipped around and read a couple of the essays and will find time this weekend to spend more time with it- it looks delightful!

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I am sending this off to Joanthro. And I did not know a single word in the 'Joy of Sesquipedalians'!

This book arrived in yesterday's mail. I'm looking forward to reading it!

I echo MissTree in her love for this book. This is one of those wonderful treasures that I will have to find for myself and reread periodically. I actually remembered several of these essays from the short-lived magazine Civilization - what a shame that isn't still in print!

In one of life's little coincidences, a friend shoved Fadiman's other book, The Sprirt Catches You and You Fall Down at me with the injunction to "Read this!" a day before Ex Libris arrived in the mail. I have read about three chapters of that book and it is wonderful as well. So, if you find a copy, read it! ;-)

Mailed off to lolamarie earlier today.

Received in today's mail! This is next on my list to read...

I enjoyed these essays. I do agree with morsecode, though. After reading about Fadiman's family, I felt woefully "under" read.

Thanks for sharing MissTree. This is on its way to cfnotp soon!

Posted 6/17/06

This arrived with me yesterday, thank you! I have another bookring which I'm reading at the moment but will get to this one very soon...

What a wonderful book! I really enjoyed Anne Fadiman's essays on my favourite subject - books! I especially enjoyed Never Do That To A Book (are you a carnal or a courtly lover of books - carnal for me, definitely!) and The His'er Problem. Oh, and I didn't know any of the 22 words :)

I am PMing Jessibud to get his'er (!) address and will send the book along asap. Many thanks for sharing this gem of a book :)

This book arrived on Friday but this is the first opportunity I've had to journal it.

It looks and sounds like great fun and I look forward to reporting back soon with my own impressions.

My favourite quote from this book:

"When I visit a new bookstore, I demand cleanliness, computer monitors, and rigorous alphabetization. When I visit a secondhand bookstore, I prefer indifferent housekeeping, sleeping cats, and sufficient organizational chaos to fuel my fantasies of stumbling on, say, a copy of Poe's Tamerlane..."


For the most part, I really enjoyed this book. Fadiman has enough of a sense of humour to make me laugh out loud often and overlook her sometimes over-the-top name-dropping of books and authors I have never heard of (and likely will never read). I will admit to skimming whole paragraphs, but not often. The essays which I enjoyed immensely included *My Odd Shelf*, *Inse^t a Car--t*, *You Are There* and *Secondhand Prose*.


MissTree, I do have one confession. I hope you will forgive me, but I truly could not help myself. My general rule is that I NEVER write in books that don't belong to me. However, I did write in this one. I used pencil and marked it very lightly so that it can be erased once you've seen it and it will not leave a trace but I just HAD to do it. I just had to. And, in my heart I know that Anne Fadiman would approve. I'd bet money on it.

Fadiman devotes an entire essay to the obsession (and yes, pleasure!) she and her family have always had for finding typos in printed material. Some of the ones she quoted are hilarious and I felt truly vindicated for my own secret delight in being part of that little club; I, too, figuratively rub my hands together in glee sometimes when I find a typo in a book or newspaper. So, imagine my squeals of laughter when I read this chapter, knowing that, less than 30 pages earlier, I had found a typo in this very book and marked it in pencil!! I've read and re-read it and I am quite certain that Fadiman did not intend it (and probably does not even know about it). It is certainly just an omission by the editor. But right there, on page 53, is the following sentence:

"Did she want to smash its author with a coal shovel for suggesting that reduced circumstances meant asking your servants to plump chintz-covered cushions INSTED of satin ones?"

[capitals, mine] Yes, it's true, that is exactly how it is printed.


Anyhow, thanks so much for the chance to read this fun little book. I will be mailing it off to Ri tomorrow.

I love getting a well traveled ring book! Thanks for sending this one on, Jessibud!

I loved this one! I am currently 5 months pregnant and my "baby brain" has not allowed me to get much reading done. I can hardly focus for more than a couple minutes at a time. However, the short essay format of this book fit perfectly with my erratic reading schedule! I actually finished this a couple weeks ago while on Thanksgiving holiday, but hadn't gotten around to unpacking my overnight bag until now! Eek! Anyhow, thanks for the ring Miss Tree! It is always so nice to read about other book obsessed readers! I especially enjoyed the bits about Anne's books beginning to co-mingle with her husband's!

Ex Libris has made its way back home, and seems to have made a lot of friends along the way! :-)

Thank you, everyone, for participating, and for the fun journal entries!

Jessibud, I will not erase what you wrote on pg. 53! How fitting and hilarious that you found that typo! *g*