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djpax13 's review for:
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
by Anne Fadiman
Ms. Fadiman paints a vivid picture not only her own love affair with books, but she also demonstrates the value, necessity, and the capacity for pleasure found in books for any dedicated reader. This little book of essays, with titles such as "The Joy of Sesquipedalians" and "The Catalogical Imperative," are written with clarity, wit, and a true sense of what it means to be a bibliophile. I don't know how many times I nodded my head in agreement at a particular peculiarity that only avid readers can identify with, or chuckled in amusement about some habit or quirk that I recognized in my own life. At the same time, her essays helped me to identify some of my own oddities in regards to books (not just anything can serve as a bookmark; it has to have meaning) and habits (my "currently reading" list tends to be a pile of books that migrates around my room and in and out of book bags-yes, I have more than one-and my backpack until I am through with them, after which they must be placed in a specific position and manner on my shelf). Now if I could just form a coherent system for that magical day when I am able to unbox all of my books at once so that they may no longer remain separated from each other, rather than simply coming out for fresh air at random and then only a semester at a time!
This is my first encounter with Anne (I feel like I should call her be her first name after the close personal details that she imparts in her essays), and I look forward to reading some more of her work. These essays helped me to remember not only my childhood days of reading, but also how my love of literature was reawakened in college and now seminary. There were two essays that I found myself skimming (sorry, Anne, but I don't think you would mind), and overall, greatly enjoyed this book.
By the timestamps on Goodreads, it may seem that it took me a very long time to read this book. Worry not, however, that delay is due simply to my other reading obligations (graduate school theology courses mostly), and I suspect that this would take a reader with even an average reading speed a few days to work through.
This is my first encounter with Anne (I feel like I should call her be her first name after the close personal details that she imparts in her essays), and I look forward to reading some more of her work. These essays helped me to remember not only my childhood days of reading, but also how my love of literature was reawakened in college and now seminary. There were two essays that I found myself skimming (sorry, Anne, but I don't think you would mind), and overall, greatly enjoyed this book.
By the timestamps on Goodreads, it may seem that it took me a very long time to read this book. Worry not, however, that delay is due simply to my other reading obligations (graduate school theology courses mostly), and I suspect that this would take a reader with even an average reading speed a few days to work through.