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    Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
    Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
    Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
    Audiobook4 hours

    Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader

    Written by Anne Fadiman

    Narrated by Suzanne Toren

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Perfectly balanced between humor and erudition, Ex Libris establishes Anne Fadiman as one of our finest contemporary essayists.

    Anne Fadiman is—by her own admission—the sort of person who learned about sex from her father's copy of Fanny Hill, whose husband buys her 19 pounds of dusty books for her birthday, and who once found herself poring over her roommate's 1974 Toyota Corolla manual because it was the only written material in the apartment that she had not read at least twice.

    This witty collection of essays recounts a lifelong love affair with books and language. For Fadiman, as for many passionate readers, the books she loves have become chapters in her own life story. Writing with remarkable grace, she revives the tradition of the well-crafted personal essay, moving easily from anecdotes about Coleridge and Orwell to tales of her own pathologically literary family. As someone who played at blocks with her father's 22-volume set of Trollope ("My Ancestral Castles") and who only really considered herself married when she and her husband had merged collections ("Marrying Libraries"), she is exquisitely well equipped to expand upon the art of inscriptions, the perverse pleasures of compulsive proof-reading, the allure of long words, and the satisfactions of reading out loud. There is even a foray into pure literary gluttony—Charles Lamb liked buttered muffin crumbs between the leaves, and Fadiman knows of more than one reader who literally consumes page corners.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateFeb 7, 2008
    ISBN9781440795893
    Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
    Author

    Anne Fadiman

    Anne Fadiman is the author of The Wine Lover's Daughter, a memoir about her father (FSG, 2017). Her first book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (FSG, 1997), won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Salon Book Award. Fadiman has also written two essay collections, At Large and At Small and Ex Libris, and is the editor of Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love (all published by FSG). She is the Francis Writer-in-Residence at Yale.

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    Reviews for Ex Libris

    4/5

    1,349 ratings113 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Wonderful, witty essays on being in love with books, inside and out. I particularly enjoyed the essay where she talked about her entire family's tendency to proof-read EVERYTHING, from menus to street signs and newspaper ads. I have that habit myself.Fadiman started her life as a bibliophile by using her father's books for building blocks, and has come around to writing her own, for which we should all be grateful.Review written November 2007
    • 4/5
      A lovely little collection of essays about the odd intersections between reading and everyday life, where Fadiman talks about how we organise books in our homes (or not), how we acquire them and pass them on, how we mistreat them, how we read aloud or are read to, how the books on our parents' shelves can be raw material for building forts or a reference source in the quest for sexual enlightenment, and so on. There's a silly piece that purports to show that no-one has ever written anything original about plagiarism, and a rueful look at the joys of finding errors in restaurant menus and of writing bad but perfectly-iambic sonnets. Nothing life-changing, but probably a good book to slip into the Christmas stocking of any book-addict too young to have read it when it first came out.
    • 3/5
      Nice collection essays about reading, books, libraries and the joy of used books. Each essay picks a different aspect of the bibliophile and are of consistently high quality. I found that reading them one at a time, spread amongst my other reading to be the most satisfying way to approach the book.
    • 2/5
      I picked this up based on a recommendation and abandoned it about 75% in. I'm a sucker for books about books, bookshops, or libraries, both fiction and otherwise. But this one: no, thank you.The essays on how books are central and essential to the author's childhood, life, relationships, marriage are very well-written. The author has a droll sense of humor that emerges here and there. But. This is a person who takes herself, her reading, even the way in which she displays her books in her personal library Very Seriously. Let's just say the idea of enjoying a beach read or the pleasures of Sweet Valley High or thrill in the forbidden fruits of Flowers in the Attic would be so far out of this person's orbit as to be in an other galaxy altogether.The only thing that saves this from being completely pretentious, elitist, and insufferable is that the author's love of her books, her parents/brother, and her husband come through clearly and genuinely. Without that, this would completely drown under the weight of its literary self-importance.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      My initial rating was only three stars because I didn’t like the use of so many words I didn’t know! I got fed up having to consult my dictionary, and very nearly tossed the book onto my DNF pile. In the end I decided to skip over them and forget they were there. Anne Fadiman isn’t trying to be erudite or priggish, she isn’t blowing her literary trumpet to feel good about herself - Anne truely loves words, that’s the crux of it. She comes from a family who are all big readers, authors and self confessed bibliophiles. As a family, they like nothing better than collectively proofreading restaurant menus before ordering their meals, I love that! Once I forgave my shortcomings in vocabulary I totally enjoyed these essays and must admit to being a bit of a book junkie myself.
    • 4/5
      Delightful collection of short essays by a lover of books. This was light enough for me to hoover up in a single sitting and funny enough for me to stop and read passages out loud to whoever was sitting next to me. This is for anyone who cannot stop themselves from proofreading menus, billboards and Facebook posts. You are not alone.
    • 3/5
      Without a doubt, this book of essays is well-written, witty, and insightful. I laughed out loud at numerous places, and my smile made frequent appearances. I loved the essay on plagiarism and the one on catalogs. However, there was something a bit off-putting about it.Despite her prodigious vocabulary, I'm not quite sure the author knows what the word "common" means. Her experience with books, being the scion of well-off two parents from the New York literary elite and the wife of another member, is hardly that of the average person. The title sets an expectation of relatable material for all bibliophiles, but this simply is not the case.There is an element of literary snobbishness in this book as well. At one point, she refers to science fiction as junk, and throughout, it's made clear in tone and content that only certain types of reading qualifies as truly reading. As a reading omnivore, I have no space for that in my life. As an egalitarian, who passionately believes in the inherent value of others, I find the smugness a bit unbearable.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I have to start my review with a disclaimer. I love books differently than author Anne Fadiman and that nearly assured I wouldn't enjoy this book. You see, Fadminan is of the school of thought that the vessel of the book is inconsequential and it's only the meaning contained within that matters. I agree with her in part. The meaning absolutely matters. But to me, the vessel is also important. I collect books - I buy a book and read it and if I really like it, I'll track down a first print to add to my collection. The first version I bought can get beat up, but I try to keep the first print mint. That's just something I enjoy. I enjoy the crisp lines of a squared cover. I like the smooth, unblemished jackets and the bright titles shining from the shelves. Fadiman offers a anecdote about how her father would rip out chapters of paperbacks as he read them to keep the book lighter for travel. I once dated a girl whose father did that too. That wasn't a deal breaker with her, but 10 years down the line, that's one of the things I remember about her. Yes, I probably have problems.Anyway, back to the book. Anne's writing at least to me, was a little condescending, but she seems to have earned it to some degree. She's very bright and well-versed in literature. I just didn't enjoy the tone. The stories could have been warm and welcoming, but as I said, I was already at odds with her about her book philosophy and I didn't like the tone. So instead of warm and welcoming, I felt put off. Her stories weren't deep or touching, but that can be fine for a comfortable read. Unfortunately, again the condescending tone was a big detriment to my enjoyment of the work. From the astounding amount of positive reviews, this book will probably appeal to most LibraryThingers, but Fadiman isn't the right author for me.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      It has become familiar. Perhaps, excessively so. I have ventured again for family reasons to a funeral home. This is five times in the last nine months. This reflects a turning of corners in my family dynamics. While it isn't unusual for people at my work to pass prematurely, there has been a statistical glut in my family where people live beyond the norm and have now passed in quick succession. I have also begun buying books with regularity upon leaving the funeral home or cemetery. In itself, this isn't unique. I buy books all the time. Somehow this smells strange.

      Monday night I left a funeral home in Salem, a small town north of here where I lived on two occasions; once as a child fresh from Detroit and once with my grandmother for a year during my early twenties. Walking out, I was overcome with concern about my sister's family and choosing not to dwell on such, I went over to a charity shop where I found Ex Libris waiting for me. While many of the 18 essays in Ms. Fadiman's book aren't about reading, there a few about writing and editing, I found myself carried along. What else should one expect from distilled magazine pieces?

      The nod about books on books was lasting. Such a notion is still a privilege of the used book repository.
    • 5/5
      A great book for book lovers! A collection of personal essays on various bookish topics, such as the joys of second hand book shopping, how to organise a personal collection, and a chapter on books about books (in a book about books, delicious!). I am only deducting half a star because she only reads very serious, very literary works, with a slight snobbish sneer for sci-fi.
    • 3/5
      While Fadiman definitely comes across as a book snob, and maybe even a bit elitist, I can’t quite hold it against her because she shares such incredibly warm and personal stories, and you get the impression that she does not mean to come across as condescending. She even humbles herself throughout the book, albeit it still seems to keep her a couple of rungs above the rest of us.But I really like Ex Libris. Fadiman made me laugh, consider a few new authors, and my bookmark for this was a post-it with a few interesting sounding new works.Ultimately, what I’m coming away with here is a comrade in marginalia, the great idea of reading aloud to my kids at the breakfast table, and a sudden desire to brush up on my Virginia Woolf.Okay, I’ve been meaning to do that last one for quite some time, but yeah. If you like books about books, I would totally suggest looking into Ex Libris.
    • 5/5
      In this collection of personal essays, Fadiman carefully selects every word to evoke the love of a written page. It reminds me why I read and why I love to share what I read with others. Perhaps the sentiment is best encapsulated by her following insight: "All readings are performances...When you read silently, only the writer performs. When you read aloud, the performance is collaborative." Yes, yes, yes.
    • 5/5
      A book lover, Fadiman shares her insights into the reading experience with humor and beguiling prose.
    • 4/5
      January for me is reading books about books and literature so that I can pick up ideas on even more books to add to my ever expanding TBR pile. It's also the perfect post- Christmas hunker down and indulge in a bibliomaniacal reading fest time. Ex Libris is a compendium of tales about Anne Fadiman and her family and their relationship with reading and I do hope the grammar is correct here as there is a whole chapter devoted to wince worthy grammatical errors and very funny it is too. I have to say her opinion on how to treat books left me with a nervous tick. It's not that I don't see her point of view - I do really and I can understand they joy to be found in finding an old volume which holds the evidence of former readers ( not sure about squashed insects but if I was an entomologist I am sure they would be a thrilling discovery ) but personally when a book is a common enough edition then I prefer my spines unbroken and without the previous occupants notations, which I find distracting. My hubby got a bookmark this Christmas for the very reason Anne's brother got a scolding from the hotel chambermaid - I am firmly on the side of respecting the body of books and caring for them as best I can. I read the whole book in one evening and loved it and a much better experience of gluttony than scoffing a whole box of chocolates in one sitting and I had the bonus of aching arms from my extreme reading session so I feel it was a good workout too - who needs a gym!.
    • 4/5
      The subtitle of Anne Fadiman’s “Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader” is misleading; as portrayed through her essays, she is certainly more of an elitist reader. While there are a handful of quite delightful and very funny essays that strike just the right chord for the "common" bibliophiles and logophiles, most of the essays had an unmistakable snobbish tone. Overall, this book was a disappointment.
    • 5/5
      I loved this from first word to last. A collection of essays first published in Civilization, each about some facet of the love of books or the written word. Her first essay, Marrying Libraries started the collection off on a high note with me; after 10 years together, I still can't quite embrace the marriage of my books with MT's: he has his shelves and I, mine. I've only recently (last weekend) catalogued his books in my database software; until that point neither of us knew what he had or didn't. Other highpoints of the collection for me included Never Do That To a Book, My Ancestral Castles and Secondhand Prose. Fadiman's essay on plagiarism was...interesting. I'm fairly sure it's heavily satirical, (it's 10 pages long and has 38 footnotes, some rather absurd) but reading it, it is clear that she has strong feelings about the theft of other people's work. I was left with the feeling that she felt conflicted about such a sticky subject. She has also written an outstanding essay on compulsive proofreading, whose title includes those handwritten edits that are impossible to reproduce on a screen with nothing but a keyboard. But it's one of my top three favourites of the book. Ex Libris wraps up with a small chapter of recommended reading; a list of books about books; a list I'll be using in the next few days as I look for more titles to add to my TBR.
    • 4/5
      A collection of essays about books and reading and writing them. Fadiman's tone is gently humourous and she writes affectionately about her family. I related strongly to the chapter on being a compulsive proofreader.
    • 4/5
      4.5 stars. Charmingly amusing, these little essays made me appreciate inscriptions, discover new words, and laugh at the eccentricities we bibliophiles share.
    • 3/5
      Smart, dryly funny essay collection.
    • 3/5
      Oh shoot, I've read others in the genre since and have forgotten most of what I thought of this. (I read it before I was on GR.) One thing I do remember is being unable to empathize with how the author hoards. Nor am I as impressed by having the same edition one had marked up in high school or whatever, though that bit makes a little sense for a few very personally influential books. Speaking for myself, I want to read a book, say a few words about it on a GR review, and either return it to the library or Release it to another reader.

      ETA - took another star off. I still prickle a bit when reminded of her assumptions that her relationship to books is the right one. I just can't go with the idea of defacing them. And popular fiction is a worthwhile use of one's time. Ah, I'm gonna start sounding defensive if I go on. Suffice to say, you'll read this yourself and form your own opinion, I know you will. If you haven't already.
    • 5/5
      I love books about books.I just can’t get enough. I love reading books about what other people love about books. I love knowing that there are other readers out there who love books as much as I do, who collect books as obsessively as I do, and whose houses are as packed with books as mine is. I love all of that.(I also couldn’t help loving the title, as I have an “ex libris” tattoo.)If you love that, too, then you will definitely enjoy Anne Fadiman’s collection of essays about her reading life.Anne’s essays are funny, insightful looks into various aspects of book-loving. She discusses the difficulty she had in finally “marrying” her library with her husband’s. She writes about growing up in a book-loving, vocabulary-expanding family; about the woes of being a compulsive proofreader; about the pleasures of long and sometimes archaic words; about the agony of penning the perfect inscription inside a book cover. Her essays are funny, clever, and peppered with interesting words. (I definitely expanded my vocabulary while reading.)unnamed_5_2I feel a sort of kindred spirit in Anne. I kept seeing bits of myself in her—especially in the way she physically treats her books. To her, books are meant to be loved, and loved hard. They’re meant to be handled, cried over, eaten over, and written in.The Fadiman family believed in carnal love. To us, a book’s words were holy, but the paper, cloth cardboard, glue, thread, and ink that contained them were a mere vessel, and it was no sacrilege to treat them as wantonly as desire and pragmatism dictated. Hard use was a sign not of disrespect but of intimacy.To me, a sign of a good book is how close the cover is to falling off. I’ve never understood people who want to keep their books looking pristine, and I’ve always felt a little bit guilty about not being afraid to really manhandle my books. After reading Ex Libris, though, I feel affirmed.This is a quick and very entertaining read for book lovers everywhere.
    • 5/5
      This is a delightful slim book, a collection of personal essays about her love of reading.
      In "Marrying Libraries", she and her husband embark on merging their libraries. "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." They had to agree on which order to shelve their books, how to deal with the duplicates, whether to be a lumper or a splitter. "His books commingled democratically....mine were balkanized by nationality and subject matter. Like most people with a high tolerance for clutter, George maintains a basic trust in three-dimensional objects. If he wants something, he believes it will present itself, and therefore it usually does. I, on the other hand, believe that books, maps, scissors and Scotch tape dispensers are all unreliable vagrants, likely to take off for parts unknown unless strictly confined to quarters." It was only once they accomplished this mammoth task that they really felt married.
      I always love reading about the passionately held attitudes of bibliophiles towards their books. One of my favourite essay was "Never Do That to a Book". When her brother left a book open and facedown on a hotel night table, he was chastised with a note from the chambermaid: "SIR, YOU MUST NEVER DO THAT TO A BOOK". This categorises the chambermaid as a "courtly" lover of books. The Fadiman family on the other hand, are "carnal" lovers of books. It is all about the words, not the physical structure that holds them, so it is "...no sacrilege to treat them as wantonly as desire and pragmatism dictated."
      Dog-earing, bookmarking, spine-breaking are all just variations of useful ways to mark your progression through a book. "...closing a book on a bookmark is like pressing the Stop button, whereas when you leave the book facedown, you've only pressed Pause."
      Fadiman treasures the books for the words they contain, and so values the worn and marked up book. It reflects its life, its caresses, its communion with the reader. In "Secondhand Prose", when receiving a very old 2-volume book set with uncut pages, she realises the books have never been read and "...was overcome with melancholy...I had the urge to lend them to as many friends as possible in order to make up for all of the caresses they had missed during their first century."
      These are wonderful reflections on the joy and deep satisfaction of being a Reader. She writes gracefully, with humour, and with passion.

      I wish there were more essays - this book finished too soon.
    • 4/5
      A fun, entertaining, and humorous reflection of the author's love and passion for all things books and language, and a description of a life lived for such pleasures. These essays made me evaluate just what kind of bookworm I am and just what kind of bibliophile I want to become
    • 4/5
      The subtitle of Ex Libris is "Confessions of a Common Reader" but I kept getting the impression that the author of these essays, Anne Fadiman, is far from a common or typical reader. While what she says doesn't go over my head, Fadiman is clearly erudite and from a highly literary family (her father was the late Clifton Fadiman) and I sometimes felt a bit envious that I wasn't as highly-born in a literary way. Neither the family I grew up in or currently am in ever sit around discussing books or quoting from books or read aloud to each other beyond a passage that might catch someone's fancy. So, I couldn't relate to her in that way. But that's okay, really.But, as a life-long reader (though certainly not at the literary/intellectual level as Fadiman), I could relate to some of what she said. For example -- her discussion on what she terms "The Odd Shelf" -- a section of one's library that doesn't really relate to the rest -- hers is on polar exploration. Mine would be on architectural styles. I liked how she pointed out that used bookstores (which, as she loves because she knows, as I do also, that if something in one catches your interest, you better take it home that day. Barnes and Noble, say, have the same books over and over again) often have a section titled "Books on Books" while Barnes and Nobles probably would not, because it is a genre that is on the decline. One final thought-provoking thing that Fadiman brings up -- she is relating what a friend who formerly worked in a used bookstore tells her -- when dispersing of someone's library (as in all the books from someone's estate), there's that realization that "books get their value from the way they coexist with the other books a person owns, and that when they lose their context, they lose their meaning (p. 153)". I really don't expect my kids to keep my books after I die (a very long time in the future, hopefully!), but this was somewhat of a sobering thought. Realizing that the books I own are part of my identity.And, now that I've finished reading Ex Libris, it will join the "books on books" section of my library!
    • 5/5
      I just adored it! When I got my first job and apartment I joined Book-of-the-Month Club, which I believe owed its existence to Clifton Fadiman--though that is probably because his is the only name that stuck with me.At any rate, the Fadiman name drew me in, and I was not disappointed. The essays contained between its covers more than entertained me...this is one of those books I was sorry to finish.
    • 4/5
      A charming group of essays about reading and books
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed most these essays but I found that I am not as well read or an intellectual reader as Ms. Fadiman and others who will probably love this book are. References to older classics like "The Odyssey" did not resonate with me since I have not tackled them and probably never will until retirement. If you are more than an average reader who reads more than just what the publishers are pushing at any given week. If your idea if an enjoyable evening is spending time perusing bookstores, then you will find many of the essays very enjoyable and the book will be definitely worth your time.
    • 5/5
      I received this book as a gift from a friend at a gala celebrating my conclusion of learning the talmud. The inscription included the phrase, "For another part of your brain." A perfect inscription, it turns out. Fadiman's passion explodes from the page at the reader, and the 18 essays capture the essence of the joys of reading from completely different angles. This means she took great care with her selections, as undoubtedly she has had much more to write about the subject. Also fantastic were her neologisms, which were perfect creations used in perfect contexts. If you love books, buy this for yourself and let it grace your shelf in an honored spot. If you know anyone who loves books, buy this immediately for them. They'll absolutely love it. It's the sweetest book about books that I've ever read, ever.
    • 4/5
      Very nice little book with great essays and anecdotes about reading, writing and book collecting. I'm sad I didn't buy a hard copy of this when it was $4 on Amazon the other day. Ah well. Definitely worth a read.
    • 5/5
      Thanks to all of the LT readers who brought this to my attention - I know this is a favorite for many around here and now it is for me as well. This is a slim book of personal essays on the love of reading, words, and books. Every book lover should read (and own) this book. There are eighteen essays included. I loved "Marrying Libraries" about the merging of Fadiman and her husband's books; "The Joy of Sesquipedalians" about the love of obscure words; "Never do that to a book" about the differences in how readers treat their books; "Inset a Carrot" about compulsive proofreading; "My Ancestral Castles" about family inheritances of books and love of reading; and "Secondhand Prose" about the magic of used books. Fadiman beautifully weaves personal family experience as the daughter of book lovers, wife of a writer and book lover, and mother of children who she hopes will continue their love of books, together with history and anecdotes in these essays. Highly recommended.