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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
I enjoyed it, maybe 3.5 stars but I’ll round up for Anne Fadiman. Some essays really moved me, others I kind of had to slough through.
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
It's official. My favourite book genre is books about books. Which is surprising, because I have long been a lover of fiction who has only hesitantly and intermittently dipped her toes into the gargantuan pool of non-fiction. But I've now read Unpacking My Library, 84 Charing Cross, The Library at Night, A History of Reading and Ex Libris, all of which are on my favourites list. And some of my favourite fiction works have been about characters who love books or deal with libraries and/or bookshops in some capacity.
Still, it took me a beat to get into this book. It's a sign of the times that I, a Japanese-American raised in Hawaii, was leery of reading what is more or less an autobiography about a white woman who was raised in a well-educated, upper-middle class family. I'm a little disappointed in myself for this bias, but for better or for worse, I can no longer enjoy books in a vacuum and ignore the wider historical, socio-economic, cultural contexts in which they were written. In the long run, I think this will be a good thing. When I next read my beloved Jane Austen, I will be thinking about the tea being served by Miss Woodhouse and the fact that it probably came from India, where the British colonialists were oppressing the communities of the Indian subcontinent. I suspect I am including this spiel in my review because I'm wondering if the only way to move forward is to make sure that shared cultural activities (i.e. reading) are more conscious of the realities of the world that we live in and its underlying workings. But I digress. This topic may as well fill a separate book much longer than Ex Libris.
The point is, I love books. And anyone who also loves books, regardless of their race and upbringing, is someone I would love to at least have a cheerful conversation with, if not become lifelong friends with. And Fadiman's wonderful, charming collection of essays about my favourite subject in the entire world makes me wish that I could meet her and ingratiate myself enough to gain viewing access to her library collection.
The best thing about this book is the number of new authors and works that I found out about as I read. Nothing like getting a book recommendation from a book. I was also delighted to learn that this is not the first book I've read by Fadiman. The first was her brilliant book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which I read in 2008 for my social anthropology class. A very different piece from Ex Libris, but wonderful in its own right.
Still, it took me a beat to get into this book. It's a sign of the times that I, a Japanese-American raised in Hawaii, was leery of reading what is more or less an autobiography about a white woman who was raised in a well-educated, upper-middle class family. I'm a little disappointed in myself for this bias, but for better or for worse, I can no longer enjoy books in a vacuum and ignore the wider historical, socio-economic, cultural contexts in which they were written. In the long run, I think this will be a good thing. When I next read my beloved Jane Austen, I will be thinking about the tea being served by Miss Woodhouse and the fact that it probably came from India, where the British colonialists were oppressing the communities of the Indian subcontinent. I suspect I am including this spiel in my review because I'm wondering if the only way to move forward is to make sure that shared cultural activities (i.e. reading) are more conscious of the realities of the world that we live in and its underlying workings. But I digress. This topic may as well fill a separate book much longer than Ex Libris.
The point is, I love books. And anyone who also loves books, regardless of their race and upbringing, is someone I would love to at least have a cheerful conversation with, if not become lifelong friends with. And Fadiman's wonderful, charming collection of essays about my favourite subject in the entire world makes me wish that I could meet her and ingratiate myself enough to gain viewing access to her library collection.
The best thing about this book is the number of new authors and works that I found out about as I read. Nothing like getting a book recommendation from a book. I was also delighted to learn that this is not the first book I've read by Fadiman. The first was her brilliant book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which I read in 2008 for my social anthropology class. A very different piece from Ex Libris, but wonderful in its own right.
Amazing for any true booklover out there. Literally (ha, pun) this will make your mouth water.
I'm reading in English as a second language and always have a dictionary near me, but no book made use it for 5 or 6 words in the same freaking line. I didn't thing the writing style was exceptionally superior with all these unused-in-day-to-day-words.
When I first started reading in English I read A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I loved how I found new words that I've never heard or seen before (Not that I ever had a chance to use the word "Austere" yet, mind you). I even liked the way he defined words to fit only the current situation. But Anne just shoves word after word until I have no idea what she is trying to say.
She's no common reader, that's for sure. Unless reading in a dead language is a thing in the USA. (Is it? asking for a friend.)
And what kind of people doesn't know what's a grimoire? Has she never read/seen a horror movie in her life?
I hate this book so much.
When I first started reading in English I read A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I loved how I found new words that I've never heard or seen before (Not that I ever had a chance to use the word "Austere" yet, mind you). I even liked the way he defined words to fit only the current situation. But Anne just shoves word after word until I have no idea what she is trying to say.
She's no common reader, that's for sure. Unless reading in a dead language is a thing in the USA. (Is it? asking for a friend.)
And what kind of people doesn't know what's a grimoire? Has she never read/seen a horror movie in her life?
I hate this book so much.
Anne Fadiman's essays are written in a way you feel you are sitting in her living room having a chat with her. Her candor and generosity are refreshing.
I loved reading about combining her library with her husband's when they got married; deciding which books to keep tested their marriage.
I loved her take on equality and language: "changing our language to make men and women more equal has its costs. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. High prices are attached to things that are on the whole worth doing. It does mean that the loss of our heedless grace should be mourned, and then accepted we all the civility we can muster, by every writer worth his'er salt."
I agree with her that our "selves are in our shelves".
In Secondhand prose she describes her love for used books and saw myself in her words: "I began to enjoy the sensation of being a small link in a long chain of book owners"
If you love books, you should read this one.
I loved reading about combining her library with her husband's when they got married; deciding which books to keep tested their marriage.
I loved her take on equality and language: "changing our language to make men and women more equal has its costs. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. High prices are attached to things that are on the whole worth doing. It does mean that the loss of our heedless grace should be mourned, and then accepted we all the civility we can muster, by every writer worth his'er salt."
I agree with her that our "selves are in our shelves".
In Secondhand prose she describes her love for used books and saw myself in her words: "I began to enjoy the sensation of being a small link in a long chain of book owners"
If you love books, you should read this one.
Tikai īsts grāmattārps var tik nenormāli tīksmināties par grāmatu, kas runā par grāmatām, lasīšanu un tamlīdzīgi. Ļoti daudz gremdējos pārdomās par saviem lasīšanas paradumiem un bērnības atmiņās. Ļoti rekomendēju šo lasāmvielu līdzīgiem īpatņiem :)