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Summary: The Bibliophile Bible.
Review: Lovely, endearing, addictive little book. Every bibliophile should read it at least once. It's a light book but incredibly well written. It compiles about 12 essays, each discussing a different tenet of Ann Fadiman's compulsive book worship. All of us who enjoy reading will find commonalities with Fadiman. The love of book shelfing and re-shelfing, the joy of encountering new words, the frequent visits to bookstores, the reading out loud, etcetra etcetra....she covers practically everything, whilst interweaving into the text humorous anecdotes and personal titbits. The chapter which fascinated me the most was the one about plagiarism in literature, especially the story about the man who published her mother's work in a book under his own name and then dedicated the book to her mum!!! The nerve! I still cant believe it...I would have been mortified if I were in her mother's shoes. If you love books, Ex Libris will keep you entertained for hours...read one or two of the essays every night - you'll be thoroughly amused and oh, for the sesquipedalian-lovers out there, you'll need a dictionary by your side, because you're sure to bump into a few long words that you've never seen before.
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Summary: flawless essays on a subject dear to you, gentle reader
Review: This is an enchanting book of essays compiled from articles originally published in Civilization, the magazine of the Library of Congress. The subjects alone are enough to bring a smile to any "common reader", a phrase used by Virginia Woolf (and borrowed from Samuel Johnson) to connote an educated layperson who reads for pleasure rather than scholarship or criticism. Ms. Fadiman turns a lovely phrase, and the reader will often feel they've found a kindred spirit. Topics include the intimacy of combining libraries, the enjoyment of long words, that odd shelf in your library, the carnal versus the courtly love of books, inscriptions, reading literature about a place while you are there, used books, proofreading, plagiarism, catalogues and reading aloud. While reading about these delightful subjects you will also learn about the author and her family, Arctic exploration, Thomas Macaulay and a host of other indispensable bits. The book succeeds on all fronts. It was a pleasure to read a book that made me break out the dictionary, and a dangerous little section at the back recommends yet more books that you probably don't need but that will undoubtedly make your life sweeter, as this one does. It can be read quickly, but you'd be wiser to savor it. Highest recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: Ex Libris
Review: Though Anne Fadiman's collection of short stories is entitled Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, it is clear that she is not a common reader at all. Fadiman combines humor, grace and eloquence into a group of stories which defines what it means to be a reader. These stories range from tales of compulsive proofreading, to the intricacies of sharing personal libraries to plagiarism. Each of the eighteen stories is intensely personal and yet easy to relate to. Fadiman lets her reader into her intensely academic and at times neurotic mind and enlightens us on something most readers take for granted: the joy of reading.
A much more intimate side of Fadiman comes through in these stories, as compared to her novel The Sprit Catches You and You Fall Down and shows the reader an entirely different facet of Fadiman's personality. In the opening story, Marrying Libraries, Fadiman writes on the experience of combining libraries with her husband George. It immediately exposes Fadiman's neurotic, often obsessive and compulsive lifestyle (especially when it comes to books). She describes the process, which took place years after they had been living together and even after they were married, as a chaotic scene played out on their living room floor. The dividing of shelf space, deciding which copy to chose of repeat books, how to organize: chronologically or alphabetically led to, "one of the few times he [ George] has seriously contemplated divorce" (Fadiman 6)
Fadiman writes much of these stories around the character's in her family (who obviously share her great love for reading), namely her husband, father and children. The intimate details woven into her narrative give these stories and essays a tangible, textured feel. Reading, for the love of reading, is a personal, intimate act. We do it in our bedrooms, our sunrooms, our backyards and porches. It is something we share with the people we love and respect most. This is what makes Fadiman's essays on reading great. Instead of making only academic analyses as she has the training and experience to do, she reflects the impact reading, writing and language has on people.
The images used in Ex Libris wonderfully relate the tactile aspects of books and reading. You can smell the musty damp air in Secondhand Prose when she describes a used bookstore through, "indifferent housekeeping, sleeping cats and sufficient organizational chaos" (Fadiman 151). And you can imagine the author's own apartment by, "the several thousand pounds of books already over crowding our shelves" (Fadiman 152). Similarly in The Catalogical Imperative, the reader can see Fadiman and her alter-ego Sadiman riffling through, "catalogues devoted exclusively to salsa, equestrian gear, electric grills, extra-large clothing, extra-small clothing, tours to sites at which UFO's have landed and resin reproductions of medieval gargoyles" much like the various catalogues that land in my mail box every day (Fadiman 114).
In You Are There Fadiman reflects on the "You-Are-There-Reading" reading style that she obviously prefers, Fadiman conveys the importance of place in literature. She relates three stories about being places while reading a book about that particular place. For me, this chapter instantaneously brought back the sound of my dad's voice reading to me from my favorite children's book Paddle to the Sea (about a toy wooden boat navigating its way to the sea through the great lakes) as we edged along the north shore of Lake Superior. She writes about her daughter not reenacting but actually being scenes from Eloise in the Plaza Hotel, an image that would bring back memories for anyone who was a voracious and imaginative reader as a child.
We have entered an age, I believe, in which books play a far less important role in our lives than they once did. Literature is becoming hidden under media that is brighter, louder and faster. Fadiman reminds us of a past time which is richer. Throughout these stories Fadiman fluidly articulates reading's inherent value and the joy that reading can bring. She uses her own experiences with books and intertwines them with memories and emotions, thus bringing this message to her readers. She adds her vast knowledge of literature, history and prose to her love of reading, writing and language to create stories that we as "common readers" could never capture so well.
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Summary: Share your bibliomania!
Review: Collected essays about books - what could be better than to take a dip into someone else's bibliomania! Have you ever worried about moving books into a new home? Pondering storage for your books? What a wonderful psychosis. Very enjoyable.
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Summary: You'll want to purchase many copies of this book
Review: My friend loaned me Ex Libris for summer vacation with the warning that I would want my own copy after reading it. She was right. Within a week I ordered 8 copies, one for me and one for seven my bibliophile friends. This is a wonderful book filled with terrific insights about all of us readers, fantastic vocabulary (be sure to have a dictionary handy), and excellent recommendations. This is an perfect gift book for teachers, book club friends, and avid readers.
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Summary: Funny and Inspirational
Review: This made me want to read every book ever written, but at the same time to keep reading the book I was holding! I was also inspired to immediately visit a used bookstore or to reorganize my bookshelves. This is a wonderful book: funny, inspiring, and the essays short enough for even the shortest attention span! Recommended to all, devoted readers or not!
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Summary: What a family, what a book
Review: This is a lovely book. Quick to read and enjoyable from the front to the back. Fadiman is from a family of writers and -- more importantly -- readers. Her home growing up was filled with words, manuscripts, writing, books and good reading. The love of books and words comes through in her shining prose in this book. Beautifully written and fun to read, this a book that any dedicated reader should have on his or her bookshelf.
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Summary: Books, wonderful books.
Review: It is Christmas, and the very best gifts of all I can get are books. I never get as many as I am hoping for, so after Christmas a visit to the bookstores in my Norwegian hometown is a must. And this year will be as all others, though this year is also a little special. A good friend gave me Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris, and reading this book gives me a double reason to browse the bookstores the coming week.
The book contains 18 essays about book loving, and is written by a person with a deep love of books. If you don't love books before reading this book ,I'm sure after reading it you will follow me on my book tour. The essays range from the story where Anne tells us how her book collection marries her husband's, it tells about different ways to treat books and she tells us about her origins, a family of book lovers. I have always made dog ears in my books, and felt a little bad about it, how can I treat my beloved books this way, now suddenly I can see that I'm not alone, and still I can call myself a book lover. Books are to be used, the more the book shows it is used, the more it has been loved. In one of her essays Fadiman tells about Thomas Babington Macaulay and the way he reads books about the places he visits while he actually is there. Anne, you and Macaulay have another soulmate here in middle Norway. When I travel my suitcase is always so heavy I almost can't carry it. And what else in life can be compared to reading Johanny Spyri's Heidi for your daughters when actually visiting the town, reading Victor Hugo on a goat down the Seine, or The Road to Asmara, while sitting in a cafe in Asmara, the capitol of Eritrea. My Christmas reading this year contains (among others) of Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, and when visiting the Nidaros Cathedral this Christmas Day I had to bring a big purse to bring with me the book where Kristin visited this Christchurch of Nidaros. We moved a couple of months ago. With a family of six it was wonderful to move to a bigger house, but there are fewer bookshelves here (at least so far). I have a book collection of several thousand books, and have now, for some weeks tried to go through the collection to see which books I can give away - oh, a terrible job. Anne Fadiman has through Ex Libris showed me that I can keep all my books, and even buy more, there is only a question of enough shelves, or fantasy enough to find other places for your books. I will still give away books, I will not be without the pleasure I see in other people's faces when I show them my boxes with books to be given away, and they can take when they want. But I will also still buy books. I can't live without them, and I'm sure I have fantasy enough to find room for them. Must end my review now, it is time to read a book or two for my fine year old daughter. Britt Arnhild Lindland, Norway
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Summary: The Bibliophile Manifesto
Review: Books created by collecting an author's magazine columns are usually shoddy work at best. So what makes this compact volume such an instant classic? The subjects? The prose? The charm? All I know is that if I only had time to save one book from my house before it burned down, it would be this one - because it would help console me for the loss of all the others! (...)
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Summary: ex libris
Review: Ok, it's awkward to admit that a professor of English buys books at the supermarket but... addicts among us unite! Ex Libris is the funniest and most astute book about book lovers I've ever read. Until I read Anne Fadiman, I thought that Dorothy Sayers was the only popular author who tested readers of Milton for fun and profit. I'm going back to the supermarket to buy one for all my bibliophile amici.
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