Books I love: Ex Libris

Ex Libris; confessions of a common reader, by Anne Fadiman, was first published in 1998. It is a small book (132 pages) but the 18 essays in it are very interesting and full of wit. I love this book about loving books and reading. Fadiman writes about loving books as a common reader (quoting Virginia Woolf); just reading for one's own pleasure.

In her first essay, she wrote about how when she married, she and her husband 'married' their libraries as well, with some hilarious results. Another essay was about when she and her brother were teens on holiday in Copenhagen, and a chambermaid had left a message of reprimand, "Sir, you must never do that to a book", because he habitually leaves his book facedown on the bedside table. No bookmarks, tsk tsk! But the Fadimans believe in the carnal (not courtly) love for books - that the hard use (abuse?) of books was a sign not of disrespect but of intimacy. (I think my love for books is a bit of both kinds; I do use bookmarks, yet at the same time will write notes, etc. in them).

The essay I like best is about plagiarism; how there is "Nothing new under the sun". This book is:
"A perfect book for anyone who is passionate about books", Cormac Kinsella, Irish Times.
"A must read (must have) for all bibliophiles!" Simply Norma, Pretty Simply Normal.
Ex Libris CNB 0586

My copy of Ex Libris, bought in 2001, read immediately,
and still rereading it every now and then (CNB 2011)