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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #484348 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The subtitle of Anne Fadiman's slim collection of essays is Confessions of a Common Reader, but if there is one thing Fadiman is not, it's common. In her previous work of non-fiction, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, she brought both skill and empathy to her balanced exploration of clashing cultures and medical tragedy. The subject matter here is lighter, but imbued with the same fine prose and big heart. Ex Libris is an extended love letter to language and to the wonders it performs. Fadiman is a woman who loves words; in "The Joy of Sesquipedalians" (very long words), she describes an entire family besotted with them:

When I was growing up, not only did my family walk around spouting sesquipedalians, but we viewed all forms of intellectual competition as a sacrament, a kind of holy water as it were, to be slathered on at every opportunity.

From very long words it's just a short jump to literature, and Fadiman speaks joyfully of books, book collecting and book ownership ("In my view, 19 pounds of old books are at least 19 times as delicious as one pound of fresh caviar"). In "Marrying Libraries" Fadiman describes the emotionally fraught task of merging her collection with her husband's:

After five years of marriage and a child, George and I finally resolved that we were ready for the more profound intimacy of library consolidation. It was unclear, however, how we were to find a meeting point between his English-garden approach and my French-garden one.

Perhaps some marriages could not have stood the strain of such an ordeal, but for this one, the merging of books becomes a metaphor for the solidity of their relationship. Over the course of 18 charming essays Fadiman ranges from the "odd shelf" ("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") to plagiarism ("the more I've read about plagiarism, the more I've come to think that literature is one big recycling bin") to the pleasures of reading aloud ("When you read silently, only the writer performs. When you read aloud, the performance is collaborative"). Fadiman delivers these essays with the expectation that her readers will love and appreciate good books and the power of language as much as she does. Indeed, reading Ex Libris is likely to bring up warm memories of old favourites and a powerful urge to revisit one's own "odd shelf" pronto. --Alix Wilber

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Customer Reviews

Ex-Cellent!
Anne Fadiman has inherited her father's literary genes and dedicates this wonderful labour of love (of books), written with humour and yet successfully conveying the travails of being one, who loves books more than herself.. Until she gets married and is forced to reckon with the book collection of the man, George Howe Colt, whom she now loves - this becomes the first and hilarious essay about an episode called 'Marrying Libraries'.

There are funny and touching essays, with my favourites - and mind you that IS difficult to choose - being 'You are there' and 'Insert a carrot/ caret'.. If, in phone calls with friends, describing their holidays, you have ever found yourself thumbing your books to read to them one paragraph that talks about the same place OR if you have ever found yourself itching to proof-read Amazon reviews (er, the one beneath this one for instance, which mis-spells many a word), these two will find your love too! I also liked 'the Joy of Sesquipedalians' about over-the-top vocabulary.. I was reminded of how my father taught me, in my childhood, 'tough' words by relating them to other words or things, by making them come alive beyond their existence on paper..

I identify with Anne and her lifelong love affair with books (as well as 'the His'er problem)! Spending more money monthly on books than I do annually on clothes or shoes; Being blind to what a store looks like so long as it is called 'bookstore', esp those quaint stores, that are dying faster than you can say, er, 'bookstore', incl one called the Silver Moon, a feminist bookstore on Charing Cross in London which I think has now closed down too..; Buying books instead of flowers or pots in garden centre second-hand digs; Being 'advised' by movers that the next time we move, I should consider leaving my books behind (and I ask why? so that we can move all our stuff in a car??); Disliking having some friends over because they finger my books.. all these ought to be signs of something sinister about books. Is there?

In similar vein, I would recommend 'The Child that books built' by Francis Spufford and 'Reading in Bed' edited by Steven Gilbar, but with the caveat that it is only Anne Fadiman's work that is a class apart and touches your soul as well as your mind.. Highly recommended (10 out of 5 if I could..)

A lovely book for book lovers
This short volume is ideal reading for any bibliophile. It contains eighteen essays, each six to eight pages in length – perfect for filling an otherwise idle ten minutes or so. Each one is unfailingly well written, funny and learned, and Fadiman is a lucid and likeable writer.

The essays are about the buying, collecting, organizing and reading of books – particularly engaging examples concern Fadiman and her husband finally deciding to combine their separate libraries; the various ways of marking a page (do you mark it with an object – and if so, what type of object? – or do you simply leave the book face down at the page?); the ‘Odd Shelf’ in one’s personal library (Fadiman describes the ‘Odd Shelf’ as ‘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’); and the revealing nature of book inscriptions.

An especially attractive feature of the essays is how they reveal Fadiman’s bibliophilia not as a replacement for other emotional attachments (not an unknown characteristic of bibliophiles), but as highlighting the strength of her relationships with her husband, children, parents and friends. Ex Libris is an intensely human book about a relationship with objects.

Very enjoyable.

The perfect little volume to take with you on a journey or read it all in one sitting cosied up by the fireplace
This little book is a very human and personal collection of thoughts, emotions and opinions that will be immediately recognisable to any booklover. Bibliophiles, especially those who love old books, will be sure to find something to delight amongst Anne's essays.

Anne's essays (you see, already I feel I am on first name terms with the author - it's that kind of book) include hilarious musings on her proofreading compulsions. The account of a Fadiman family meal out in a restaurant is well worth a chuckle as Anne, her mother and her brother each spot grammatical and spelling errors on the menu before taking note of what there is to eat. The amalgamation of Anne's and her husband George's book collections at their home is another funny. The chapter `Never Do That to a Book' amused me no end, as I am of the opposite school to Anne. Anne likes her copies well-worn, dog-eared, thumbed and with plenty of marginal notes to show their history and how well loved they've been. I, on the other hand, whilst I love old books and appreciate a well-written inscription which can add a special something to a treasured volume, I do however like them to be clean, and without too many marginal notes, and if there's underlining on the pages then however much I would like a copy it will stay on the bookshop's shelves. Bookmarks are a necessity too - no leaving them open upside down on the bedside table for me... well, unless they really are tatty old paperbacks and then it's ok!

There are many more literary musings to enjoy in Ex Libris, and yet it's a nice small book, with concise essays, so there is never a moment of boredom. It's the perfect little volume to take with you on a journey for bite-sized reading, or read it all in one sitting cosied up by the fireplace with a glass of wine. Recommended reading for all true booklovers.