Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman

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.

What a delight…I tittered, snickered and laughed out loud.  When my husband asked what was so funny I shared with him.  Not being a reader, he didn’t see the humor.  Some of my favorite parts/quotes:

“To use an electronics analogy, closing a book on a bookmark is like pressing the Stop button, whereas when you leave a book facedown, you’ve only pressed Pause.”

“George Bernard Shaw once came across one of his books in a second-hand shop, inscribed To ________ with esteem, George Bernard Shaw. He bought the book, returned it to _________, adding the line, With renewed esteem. George Bernard Shaw.”

The whole chapter about plagiarism is hysterical. I especially enjoyed the parts about ‘anticipatory plagiarism’ (where someone plagiarizes you 100 years before you are born and the quote about Joe Biden and how he cannot NOT plagiarize.

5 Stars (Rated G)