A lovely little volume about books. Fadiman makes her love of books clear and her stories are just delightful.

Going to Ruby11.

This book arrived from Canada - thanks janey-canuck. What a cute book cover, can''t wait to read it!

I've been dipping in and out of this lovely little book for ages. I've decided it would be perfect for my first NZ book ring so it should be on a journey soon.

This book is on its way to SherlockFan as part of the NZ book ring. Bookcrossers next in the ring are: Awhina, Priceliss, Rarsberry, Zimra, LilB, Pluisje, Alkaline-Kiwi.


PLEASE NOTE: The "ring" on the front cover of the book was added by my partner - he thought it was ok to rest his glass of water on it! He didn't get into too much trouble though and could quote Anne Fadiman in his defence : "To us, book's words were holy, but the paper, cloth, cardboard, glue, thread and ink that contained them were a mere vessel, and it was no sacrilege to treat them as wantonly as desire and pragmatism dictated".
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A few guidelines for the book ring:

1. When you receive the book please make a journal entry so that we know the book has been received.

2. Prepare your beverage of choice and curl up for a great read.

3. If it takes longer to read the book than a month please make another journal entry so we know it hasn't been forgotten.

4. When you've finished the book please pm the next person on the list to get their address or make arrangements to get the book to them.

The one bad thing about BookCrossing occurs when you receive a BookRing book and know that it absolutely is a Must Have book so you need to rush out to buy a copy to keep and re-read.
Thanks Ruby11, I'm so pleased you started this ring. It arrived yesterday and I dutifully finished a book I was halfway through so didn't actually start making acquaintance with Anne Fadiman until this morning. Almost feel like saying "I am so delighted to meet you; I've heard such a lot about you."

What a delight already. When I read that books wrote the life story of the author "... 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." I knew this was my kind of book. I don't think that there is room on top of our refrigerator which is a neat fit in its cubbyhole but I think that the current recipe book might fit beside the microwave!

Glad you explained about the ring on the cover. Despite the author's quoted words in his defence I did wonder what sort of wanton desire caused your partner to lay down his glass of water on the cover of a book!!! (Forgive me please if you are not totally into frivolity.)

I'm off to phone Unity Books. If they have it I'll buy my own and move this on quickly.

LOL Sherlockfan. Alas it was more about pragmatism than wanton desire. I remember hearing the words "too many books on the coffee table and no room for my drink". Unfortunately I had to admit he had a valid point.

I'm glad you're enjoying the book, I'm pleased to be able to introduce what I consider to be a wonderful book and author to fellow bookcrossers.

Trawling, using Book Search, to see what other readers of other copies of this book had to say ( to my surprise some didn't enjoy it) I found this very useful list of chapter headings. I printed it to take to a BookClub meeting this afternoon and, with no formal book over the holidays, we are to talk about our holiday reading. This was by far my best read of about 15. I rather expect that the others will already have read this semi-classic but these notes will remind me of highlights when I explain my enthusiasm. It could be useful for others in this ring, so here you are.


Marrying Libraries - describes the challenges of the author merging her library with her husband's
The Joy of Sesquipedalians - about collecting obscure words (and specifically: monophysite, mephitic, calineries, diapason, grimoire, adapertile, retromingent, perllan, cupellation, adytum, sepoy, subadar, paludal, apozemical, camorra, ithyphallic, alcalde, aspergill, agathodemon, kakodemon, goetic, and opopanax!)
My Odd Shelf - "On this shelf rests a small, mysterious corpus of volumes whose subject matter is completely unrelated to the rest of the library, yet which, upon closer inspection, reveals a good deal about its owner."
Scorn Not the Sonnet – describing the author's attempts at composing poetry
Never Do That to a Book - about the ways we physically treat our books
True Womanhood - on the author's responses to a book of "instruction for women" that once belonged to her great-grandmother
Words on a Flyleaf - on writing inscriptions
You Are There - about the practice of reading books in the places the describe (I once took "A History of the World in 10 1/2 chapters" to the Louvre to read about one of its paintings)
The His'er Problem – and avoidance of gender bias in writing
Insert a Carrot – on compulsive proofreading (- an addiction Fadiman admits to so endearingly. Move over Lynne Truss!)
Eternal Ink – about the author’s favourite pen
The Literary Glutton – on food in literature
Nothing New Under the Sun – a witty footnoted piece on plagiarism
The Catalogical Imperative – examining the appeal of mail-order catalogues
My Ancestral Castles – regarding the influence of Fadiman’s parents’ books (- “their selves were on their shelves”)
Sharing the Mayhem – about public and private readings
The PM’s Empire of books – concerning a little known 1890 book: “On Books and the Housing of Them” by Gladstone
Secondhand Prose – about the delights of secondhand bookshops.

Thank you to 'hey-miki' from Greater London

Sorry I didn't post that this had arrived. I was so excited to get mail that I starrted to read it and have been carrying it around to snatch a few reading moments. Hopefully I'll get it finished in a couple of days so that it can be passed on quickly.

I loved this wee tome.

It was a book to linger over; to laugh with and to read aloud. I savoured every chapter. It rang true with me, my life, my past and my present.

It challenged my thinking and prompted me to find half a shelf for my ever patient husband to place a few of his collection. Our libraries are not yet completely merged - other than most of the cookbooks.

How could anyone not adore this book? Its the best book I've read in a very long time.

put in the post to priceliss this afternoon. It should reach the Tasman area about Tuesday. Enjoy.

Arrived yesterday, thanks awhina. Haven't started it yet residing on Mt TBR, 31/3/2008.

I'm having trouble trying to get into this book so have decided to pass it on, will pick it up another time. Thanks Ruby11.

This book arrived in the mail today, thanks priceliss for sending it.
Funny that its come back to Christchurch!!
I will start this book soon, when I am not reading three other books. :o)

Will start reading this book today. (17 May)

I was stoked to receive this on clearing my post office box yesterday, so much Im several "essays" in before I got round to doing the journal entry. For someone like me with a short attention span but an overwelming desire and habit to collect and hoard interesting books this sums things up well. look forward to finishing it.

Hi Zimra, this is my last resort to try and contact you about this book (I sent you a pm via BC and followed up with an email via Yahoo groups incase pms weren't getting through to you). I'm now assuming that the book has been lost or damaged, **it happens, but please have the courtesy to let me know. There are also two other bookcrossers left in the ring who may be wondering what's happened to the book as well. Thanks, Rachael

As I still haven't heard from bookcrosser Zimra I will now close this book ring. Thanks to all those who participated in the ring and special thanks to bookcrosser janey-canuck for doing a book swap.

I still have this book and are still reading this. I will forward this book on in due course. Please be patient.

Hi Zimra, great to hear from you! Sorry, I thought I was being patient by contacting you over two months after you originally journalled the book. I'm not worried at all how long it takes anyone to read it but it's good to know the books status and that it will reach others in due course.

Cheers Zimra, I found the book in my letter box today, it will be passed on to LilB on Tuesday night.

Will start reading soon. Thanks.

This is definitely my kind of book and will be keeping my eyes peeled for a copy to call my own. I could relate to most of the topics,was pointed to a lot of books to read,pleasantly re-reminded of books I had read and past pleasant book-related experiences and I also laughed out loud more than once!
I will contact the next person on the list and pass this on.Thanks ruby11.

This looks like a cute little book!
LilB gave it to me in person, what a coincidence that she has family in the area. We ended up having a mini bookcrossing meet up, because I came with my friend who is a bookcrosser and LilB came with her aunt who is also a BC.
Will read this book soon.
Thank you!

What a delight to read. I should have written this journal when I finished it a while ago, but I remember I loved all essays. Great to read all these booklovers funny habits and favourites. So recognisable! I think there was only one chapter where I did not recognise myself in, the one about picking writers and books from quoting one line. Alas I am not good at that game!

I did PM the next on the list last month but the bookcrossing site had access problems at the time. I will try again, so this little book can continue its travels

Posted today-on its way to Alkaline-kiwi!

Checked the PO Box today after being away on holiday for over 2 weeks and was very happy to see it was full. As well as this book I also had another 'book about books' in there - Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason.

Will get to reading this book soon so I can return it to ruby11 at the next Auckland meetup. Thanks for sending it on to me Pluisje!

Hi alkaline-kiwi
Take as long as you like with this one as your'e the last in the ring and I'm sure you have a Mountain of To Be Reads ;-}

Picked this one off the shelf last night as before bed reading.. this wasn't a good idea as I couldn't stop until I had read it all and now I want to track down my own copy as I found this incredibly inspiring. Warmed my book loving heart.

Recently I helped Erik with organising an 'office' area in the apartment and gave him some more bookshelf space while shifting the shelves around.. Which is why I have piles of books that need to be sorted in my 5 tier bookshelf..am wondering if I should sort the books in any theme order, or separate fiction/non-fiction. I know it is incredibly geeky of me that I am looking forward to this task and taking photos of the finished result. Reading this book and talking to other book lovers makes me feel less odd for my book habits.

On the subject of book lovers, I am a carnal book lover however I do try to use bookmarks rather than splaying. I'm not much of a proof reader and enjoy reading messages people have left in books. I love second hand bookshops (and book shopping in opshops) and books about books are great.

I recommend this book to anyone who is a book lover. Like the author it was my parents who gave me the gift of books and reading, I hope that if I have children I can do the same for them. I look forward to reading to my niece when she is a bit older and am mentally making a list of books that I will give to her as well.

I will take this book along to the meetup tonight to return to the original owner.

The traveller returns, it's been gone long enough that a re-read is inevitable before it's shared with other book lovers.