Anne Fadiman

2.75 stars. I wanted to love this book, because I love books and reading in general.

The author loves words, and the more obscure, the better, it seems. This was what turned me off the most, because it just seemed so pretentious. I'm an avid reader who reads a wide variety of genres, authors, etc., and there were a ridiculous number of words I didn't understand. Since I was reading this for fun, I didn't want to have to look up all those words in a dictionary. Suffice it to say, this isn't super layperson-friendly.

There were some stories here and there that I enjoyed, though I wasn't particularly inspired by the books or authors mentioned within. Fadiman and I have very different moral and religious beliefs, as well, so I didn't connect with her much.

There is profanity here, including the name of Christ used as an exclamation.… (mere)

A refreshing different look at a Book on Books, by a very bookish person from a literary family.
Beautiful descriptive language, clever wording, good turns of phrase, ample literary morsels.
“Americans admire success. Englishmen admire heroic failure.” p24
“Catalogues: our mailbox hatches them by spontaneous generation, I know they really are the offspring of promiscuous mailing lists, which copulate in secret and for money.” p114
Big vocabulary, I frequently looked up words. Eg sesquipedalian (polysyllabic; long word).
… (mere)

A collection of essays by various people (no one that rang a bell for me) on rereading a book - a different one for each person and essay. Some of the essays were very enjoyable, most frequently the ones about books I've read and enjoyed, or books that sounded interesting to read later. Some confirmed me in my intention of _not_ reading the featured book. And some kind of slid by, either the subject or the opinions finding no resonance with me (though clearly the language used has affected me - not unusual). I prefer Fadiman's own essays, but there were some enjoyable bits here; I might dip back in sometime, though I don't think I'll read it through again.… (mere)

This collection of essays illuminates Anne Fadiman's love of books and shows how books have influenced and infused her life. She covers a wide range of topics from her own curiosity about Arctic explorers especially the Victorian failures to her family's obsession with proofreading.

Essays about merging her library and her husband's library after their marriage and about the care and treatment of books were my favorites. While she and I have different feelings about writing in books, I do share the habit of leaving books face down and sprawled open as I'm reading them. The idea that using a bookmark indicates a stop while leaving the book open and facedown indicates a pause is one I hadn't had before but do agree with.

I don't share her feelings about used books and really don't want to find someone else's crumbs in the gutter of a book but can understand how they could appeal to some other different reader. Nor do we read the same sort of books. "Literary" and "Classics" are phrases that lead me to look for some different book while they seem to draw her in.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. Fadiman's love for books shone clearly through each page.… (mere)