Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
- ISBN-10
- 1429929421
- ISBN-13
- 9781429929424
- Series
- Ex libris
- Category
- Literary Criticism
- Pages
- 162
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2011-04-01
- Publisher
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Author
- Anne Fadiman
Description
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.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
By Anne FadimanA collection of essays discusses the central and joyful importance of books and reading in the author's life.
-
Ruth, A Portrait: The story of Ruth Bell Graham
By Patricia CornwellIn Ruth, a Portrait, we meet this fascinating and remarkable woman. Brimming with anecdotes, this is a breathtaking journey, with stops at many of this century's epoch-making events. The childhood years of the future Mrs.
-
Ex Libris
By Ross KingBut what interested me wasn't the title or the author but the ex-libris pasted to the inside cover. It incorporated a coat of arms, a motto — 'Spe Expecto' — and a name engraved beneath in a heavy Gothic script: Anton Schwarz von ...
-
Ex Libris
By Matt MaddenHis best-known book is 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style, a comics adaptation of Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style. His recent work includes the comic books Drawn Onward and Bridge.
-
Ex Libris: Photographs and Constructs
By Ralph GibsonAn artist-printed signed and numbered silver-gelatin photographic print, eight by ten inches, inside a specially produced clothbound slipcase with a book signed and numbered by the artist.
-
Ex Libris: Stories of Librarians, Libraries, and Lore
By Paula GuranThis captivating compilation of science fiction and fantasy short fiction showcases stories of librarians-mysterious curators, heroic bibliognosts, arcane archivists, catalogers of very special collections-and libraries-repositories of ...
-
Ex Libris: The Secret Manuscript
By John OehlerThe very existence of the books she wants has remained secret for centuries. Finally persuaded by Astrid's appeals to his ancestry, Dan reluctantly agrees. But from the moment he enters the monastery, events spiral out of control.
-
Engraved Bookplates: European Ex Libris 1950-70
By Anthony Reid, Mark F. SeverinEngraved Bookplates: European Ex Libris 1950-70
-
Ex Libris: The Art of Bookplates
By Martin J. HopkinsonThis volume explores the various sources of "ex libris" inspiration, including designs by C.R. Ashbee, Eric Gill, and Rudyard Kipling.
-
Ex Libris
By Simon GrothEx Libris