Ex Libris, Anne Fadiman
Ex Libris, Anne Fadiman
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Ex Libris
Confessions of a Common Reader

Author: Anne Fadiman

Narrator: Suzanne Toren

Unabridged: 4 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 02/07/2008


Synopsis

Perfectly balanced between humor and erudition, Ex Libris establishes Anne 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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Pakinam on August 04, 2024

"تكتبُ الكتب قصة حياتنا،وعندما تتراكم في مكتباتنا تصبح بحد ذاتها فصولاً من تلك القصة.." من كتبي،اعترافات قارئة عادية ..كتاب للناقدة الأدبية والمراسلة الأمريكية آن فاديمان وهو عبارة عن ١٨ مقالة كتبتهم الكاتبة خلال أربع سنوات.. المقالات كلها بتتكلم عن الكتب سواء عادات غريبة لبعض القراء ،طرائف عن المؤلفي......more

Goodreads review by Steve on May 10, 2013

Like many a Goodreader, no doubt, I have a thing for books about books. In this particular case, there’s a chapter in the book about books about books. (It might be tempting someday to write a book about such books about books about books, but let’s not get silly, or meta-silly for that matter.) Any......more

Goodreads review by JSou on February 10, 2017

Just a couple weeks ago, a great review of this book popped up on my update feed, (Ah, the magic of Goodreads) so when I spotted it at a booksale I went to last week for a dollar, I grabbed it quick. If you haven't read Jon's review yet, check it out: [URL not allowed] Thanks t......more