To book lovers out there, are you the sort who expresses your love for your books by maintaining them in pristine condition? Or do you scribble notes and highlight paragraphs to show your fondness?
Do you have this compulsive urge to buy books? Are you the sort who can’t tear yourself away from a bookstore and the sight of books excites you to no end? Is your home filled to the brim with unread books?
Is there a favourite pen you write with? And why is it so special?
Are you a compulsive proofreader such that restaurant menus, newspapers, advertisements and all sorts of printed matter don’t escape your eagle eye for correct spelling and grammar?
If you marry a fellow book-lover, how are you going to marry your libraries as well?
In Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, Anne Fadiman explores these various situations in her witty essays revolving round her love (obsession perhaps?) with books. Coming from a literary family, Fadiman had grown up among books, and it’s no wonder, too, that her better half is a writer. Book lovers are always suckers for fellow lovers of the written word. And yes, DSD digs literary men too. Very much so. Unfortunately there aren’t many around in the sunny little island of Singapore. Hmm.
Ex Libris is an extremely enjoyable read for bibliophiles. You can identify with pretty much everything Fadiman writes about. Her wit and succint writing is a textbook example of what good writing should be. Her voice shines through and you feel like you’ve really gotten to know Fadiman (just in terms of her love for books) at the end of it. Each essay is a few pages long and the book’s really thin, so it’s a great one to take along for that bus or train ride.
Many thanks to d who lent me the book. I was tempted to hijack/kidnap the book, but of course I won’t ‘cos I’m always respectful of books and their rightful owners. 🙂