Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
Registered by 
buttonbright
of Raleigh, North Carolina USA on 8/29/2016
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
buttonbright of Raleigh, North Carolina USA on 8/29/2016 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
2 journalers for this copy...
I found this book on the discount shelves of a local used book store.
Anne Fadiman is--by her own admission--the sort of person who learned about sex from her father's copy of Fanny Hill, whose husband buys her 19 pounds of dusty books for her birthday, and who once found herself poring over her roommate's 1974 Toyota Corolla manual because it was the only written material in the apartment that she had not read at least twice.
This witty collection of essays recounts a lifelong love affair with books and language. For Fadiman, as for many passionate readers, the books she loves have become chapters in her own life story. Writing with remarkable grace, she revives the tradition of the well-crafted personal essay, moving easily from anecdotes about Coleridge and Orwell to tales of her own pathologically literary family. As someone who played at blocks with her father's 22-volume set of Trollope ("My Ancestral Castles") and who only really considered herself married when she and her husband had merged collections ("Marrying Libraries"), she is exquisitely well equipped to expand upon the art of inscriptions, the perverse pleasures of compulsive proof-reading, the allure of long words, and the satisfactions of reading out loud. There is even a foray into pure literary gluttony--Charles Lamb liked buttered muffin crumbs between the leaves, and Fadiman knows of more than one reader who literally consumes page corners. Perfectly balanced between humor and erudition, Ex Libris establishes Fadiman as one of our finest contemporary essayists.
Anne Fadiman is--by her own admission--the sort of person who learned about sex from her father's copy of Fanny Hill, whose husband buys her 19 pounds of dusty books for her birthday, and who once found herself poring over her roommate's 1974 Toyota Corolla manual because it was the only written material in the apartment that she had not read at least twice.
This witty collection of essays recounts a lifelong love affair with books and language. For Fadiman, as for many passionate readers, the books she loves have become chapters in her own life story. Writing with remarkable grace, she revives the tradition of the well-crafted personal essay, moving easily from anecdotes about Coleridge and Orwell to tales of her own pathologically literary family. As someone who played at blocks with her father's 22-volume set of Trollope ("My Ancestral Castles") and who only really considered herself married when she and her husband had merged collections ("Marrying Libraries"), she is exquisitely well equipped to expand upon the art of inscriptions, the perverse pleasures of compulsive proof-reading, the allure of long words, and the satisfactions of reading out loud. There is even a foray into pure literary gluttony--Charles Lamb liked buttered muffin crumbs between the leaves, and Fadiman knows of more than one reader who literally consumes page corners. Perfectly balanced between humor and erudition, Ex Libris establishes Fadiman as one of our finest contemporary essayists.
Mailed as a Random Act of BookCrossing Kindness to a BookCrosser in Pennsylvania. It was on their Wish List.
Wish? Did somebody say "Wish"?
Mekka-lekka-hai, mekka-hiney-ho!
Mekka-lekka-hai, mekka-channi-ho!
The wish has been granted.
Long live Jambi!
Wish? Did somebody say "Wish"?
Mekka-lekka-hai, mekka-hiney-ho!
Mekka-lekka-hai, mekka-channi-ho!
The wish has been granted.
Long live Jambi!
Mailed as a Random Act of BookCrossing Kindness to a BookCrosser in Pennsylvania. It was on their Wish List. Wish? Did somebody say "Wish"?
Mekka-lekka-hai, mekka-hiney-ho!
Mekka-lekka-hai, mekka-channi-ho!
The wish has been granted.
Long live Jambi!
What a pleasant surprise to find this in the mailbox today, along with a cheery postcard from buttonbright. Thank you so much for this wishlist RABCK. Very kind of you!
It looks great, and I hope to get to it before too long.
It looks great, and I hope to get to it before too long.
There were some interesting thoughts and insights in this one, but it is definitely not my favorite "book about books." I'm afraid I found the writing style a bit pretentious and the author's narcissism rather intrusive! Thank you again for sharing this one with me, buttonbright. It will be off to another reader before too long.
Journal Entry 6 by ReallyBookish at Bus shelter at the corner of E. Brighton and W. Dorchester Streets in Furlong, Pennsylvania USA on Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Released 3 yrs ago (11/11/2020 UTC) at Bus shelter at the corner of E. Brighton and W. Dorchester Streets in Furlong, Pennsylvania USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I hope the finder enjoys the book!
