Ex Libris - Confessions of a Common Reader

This witty collection of essays recounts a lifelong love affair with books and language. Writing with humour and erudition, Fadiman moves easily from anecdotes about Coleridge and Orwell to tales of her own pathologically literary family.This witty collection of essays recounts a lifelong love affair with books and language. Writing with humour and erudition, Fadiman 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 building bricks with ther father's 22-volume set of Trollope, and who considered herself truly married only when she and her husband merged book collections, she is well-equipped to expand upon the perverse pleasures of compulsive proofreading, the satisfactions of reading aloud, and the siren call of literary gluttony.