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sjklass 's review for:
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
by Anne Fadiman
A lovely little book about all things bookish. Growing up in a privileged, literary family, Anne has been a lifelong bibliophile. 18 essays in all, I most enjoyed "Ancestral Castles" where as a child Anne built houses out her Dad's 22-volume Anthony Trollope collection. In "Marrying Libraries" she talks about merging library's with her equally-bookish new husband. In "Never Do That to a Book" the pros and cons of writing in the margins and dog-earing books are debated.
Favourite anecdote - "When 18th century London bookseller James Lackington was a young man, his wife sent him out on Christmas Eve with a half-crown - all they had - to buy Christmas dinner. He passed a bookshop and returned home with Young's "Night Thoughts" in his pocket and no turkey under his arm. "I think I have acted wisely" he told his famished wife, "for had I bought dinner we would have eaten it tomorrow and the pleasure would soon be over, but should we live 50 years longer, we shall still have "Night Thoughts" to feast upon".
Favourite anecdote - "When 18th century London bookseller James Lackington was a young man, his wife sent him out on Christmas Eve with a half-crown - all they had - to buy Christmas dinner. He passed a bookshop and returned home with Young's "Night Thoughts" in his pocket and no turkey under his arm. "I think I have acted wisely" he told his famished wife, "for had I bought dinner we would have eaten it tomorrow and the pleasure would soon be over, but should we live 50 years longer, we shall still have "Night Thoughts" to feast upon".