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Anne Fadiman
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Ex Libris Paperback – November 25, 2000

by Anne Fadiman (Author)
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Perfectly balanced between humor and erudition, Ex Libris establishes Anne Fadiman as one of our finest contemporary essayists.

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. Writing with remarkable grace, she 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 blocks with her father's 22-volume set of Trollope ("My Ancestral Castles") and who only really considered herself married when she and her husband had merged collections ("Marrying Libraries"), she is exquisitely well equipped to expand upon the art of inscriptions, the perverse pleasures of compulsive proof-reading, the allure of long words, and the satisfactions of reading out loud. There is even a foray into pure literary gluttony--Charles Lamb liked buttered muffin crumbs between the leaves, and Fadiman knows of more than one reader who literally consumes page corners.

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  1. Print length
    162 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    November 25, 2000
  4. Dimensions
    5 x 0.42 x 7.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0374527229
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0374527228
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A smart little book that one can happily welcome into the family and allow to start growing old.” ―Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

“A book for bookworms . . . 18 stylish, dryly humorous essays” ―Entertainment Weekly

About the Author

Anne Fadiman is the author, most recently, of the essay collection Frog (2026). Her first book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (1997), won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Salon Book Award. In 2017, she published The Wine Lover’s Daughter, a memoir about her father. Fadiman has also written two essay collections, Ex Libris and At Large and At Small, and edited Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love. She is Professor in the Practice of English and Francis Writer in Residence at Yale.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 25, 2000
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 162 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0374527229
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0374527228
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.42 x 7.5 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #127,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:

About the author

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Anne Fadiman

Anne Fadiman

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Anne Fadiman is the Francis Writer-in-Residence at Yale. Her most recent book is "The Wine Lover's Daughter," a memoir about her father that the Washington Post called "wonderfully engaging" and Christopher Buckley called "the best family memoir yet to come out of the Baby Boom generation.” Her first book, "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down," is an account of the unbridgeable gulf between a family of Hmong refugees and their American doctors. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, among other awards. Fadiman is also the author of two essay collections. The London Observer called "Ex Libris" "witty, enchanting, and supremely well-written." NPR said of "At Large and At Small," "Fadiman is utterly delightful, witty and curious, and she's such a stellar writer that if she wrote about pencil shavings, you'd read it aloud to all your friends."

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
437 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find this book to be a fun collection of essays with an easy, entertaining writing style. They appreciate the author's use of language to stretch readers' vocabulary and her enthusiasm for life. Customers describe the book as erudite and witty, with one customer noting it provides an excellent overview of significant literature.

Select to learn more

ReadabilityEssay qualityWriting styleHumorEnlightenedLanguageSpiritStyle
50 customers mention "Readability"47 positive3 negative

Customers find the book highly readable and entertaining, describing it as a fun collection of short stories.

"Love this book. If you are a reader and want to read about reading, this is it." Read more

"This book is a treasure. While reading the essay re compulsive proofreading I began to feel normal...." Read more

"It is indeed a marvelous book, If you love reading in any language, this book is especially recommended for you...." Read more

"...Witty, funny, a must read for book lovers." Read more

20 customers mention "Essay quality"20 positive0 negative

Customers praise the essays in this book, describing them as wonderful and uplifting, with one customer noting that each chapter is a masterpiece.

"A beautiful and uplifting book for anyone who loves books and reading. It is one of those books that you will want to read again and again!" Read more

"Ex Libris is a fun book filled with short stories. It's a book about books, basically. But it's so much more than that...." Read more

"...This time I bought two just to stay stocked! This wonderful book of essays is a must for any avid reader." Read more

"Such a lovely book of essays. Extremely enjoyable and fun. Don't miss this if you're a book lover...." Read more

15 customers mention "Writing style"14 positive1 negative

Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, describing it as clever and easy to read, with one customer noting how the author shares personal experiences from her childhood.

"Quite a booklover and word lover, is this a wonderful author...." Read more

"Wonderfully written - made me laugh" Read more

"I love her essays. She is a brilliant writer." Read more

"...Very cleverly written, and a joy for all compulsive readers who maintain libraries in their home of treasured books." Read more

13 customers mention "Humor"12 positive1 negative

Customers find the book humorous, describing it as entertaining and witty, with one customer noting it's fall-out-of-your-chair hilarious.

"This book is a treasure. If you like thoughtful, light, witty and insightful essays, this is a book you won't be ablre to put down and onr you'll..." Read more

"...but each of the other chapters are little masterpieces. Witty, funny, a must read for book lovers." Read more

"Funny and fascinating set of essays..." Read more

"...The author has a wonderful sense of humor along with an endearing love for books. Enjoy!" Read more

12 customers mention "Enlightened"12 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's insightful essays and erudite content, with one customer highlighting its literary allusions and wittiness, while another notes how it explains concepts like civility and civilization.

"...Ms Fadiman's prose is charming, erudite and entertaining...." Read more

"Found some of the stories entertaining and insightful and some not so. However, I did enjoy her use of language to stretch the reader's vocabulary." Read more

"This book is a treasure. If you like thoughtful, light, witty and insightful essays, this is a book you won't be ablre to put down and onr you'll..." Read more

"...more than others but found all of them to be interesting and enlightening...." Read more

8 customers mention "Language"8 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the author's use of language, particularly how she stretches readers' vocabulary through her writing.

"...However, I did enjoy her use of language to stretch the reader's vocabulary." Read more

"...this book more - the author's love of books and of reading and of words and of family come through in a series of beautifully written essays on her..." Read more

"...With a few exceptions, I thought they were very eloquent and succeeded in transmitting the author's (and her husband's) lifelong love of books and..." Read more

"...Every word is well chosen." Read more

5 customers mention "Spirit"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the spirit of the book, noting its enthusiasm for life, and one customer mentions how it echoes their feelings about reading.

"...Woven into her language is also an enthusiasm for life and a love of people that truly brings her work together...." Read more

"...I feel that Anne is a kindred spirit and I'm sure others who love to read will feel that way as well." Read more

"...You'll also want to read her fantastic book, The Spirit Catches You, and You Fall Down." Read more

"This book echoed my feelings about reading. I read widely and am always reading several books at the same time." Read more

4 customers mention "Style"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's style, describing it as an elegant collection of 18 essays.

"A beautiful and uplifting book for anyone who loves books and reading. It is one of those books that you will want to read again and again!" Read more

"This is an elegant book of 18 essays on the topic of reading and books. Ms Fadiman's prose is charming, erudite and entertaining...." Read more

"...enough to pull you in before they end almost suddenly, but with great style...." Read more

"Beautiful collection of essays..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • GM Mooney
    5.0 out of 5 stars Anne Fadiman is a Treasure!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2024
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    A contemporary essayist from a scholarly family, a wife and mother and university professor, Anne Fadiman has written a few books that are a must for VERY stimulating reading. Ex Libris is a favorite of mine - all about books and language (hobbies of all her family) - a favorite chapter is "Inset a Carrot" - fall-out-of-your-chair hilarious, as is a lot of her musing about people's use and misuse of language. I've not read a more engaging non-fiction author!
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  • audrey frances
    5.0 out of 5 stars flawless essays on a subject dear to you, gentle reader
    Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2002
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    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.
    9 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Holly
    4.0 out of 5 stars Collection of 18 essays
    Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2021
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This slim volume (162 pages, including the acknowledgements) has been on my bookshelf for quite a while, just waiting to be read. It was purchased after a writing/reading blogger I follow mentioned it more than once as a book which significantly influenced her reading and had a life-long impact.

    Like any essay collection, some I enjoyed more than others but found all of them to be interesting and enlightening. She writes about everything from her childhood, surrounded by books, to combining her library with her husbands only after being together for ten years and being married for five. I particularly found the essay 'My Odd Shelf' to be compelling as it directly relates to my own reading life and I have never heard another author address it.

    Ms. Fadiman grew up in a family much different than mine and it could be easy to classify her background (and therefore her essays) to be as upper-crust and snobbish. However, one of the reasons I enjoy reading is to understand others' backgrounds and perspectives. This collection accomplishes that, in addition to an excellent overview of significant literature that is helpful.

    Bottom line: Quite a good volume that is 4+ stars for me. I also purchased it recently as a graduation gift for a young woman who just earned her bachelor's degree in creative writing. It will be a nice addition to her library.
    10 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars For compulsive lovers of words and book that want to laugh
    Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I feel like Santa Claus rushing this book into fellow word lovers hands. I was laughing so much my husband stole the book from me before I finished it. Was fun to repeat a short story and laugh together
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Marcy L. Thompson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Speaks to the book fanatic
    Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2000
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    What a marvelous book!
    When Anne Fadiman started to describe the merger of her library with her husband's (never mind that they had been married for years and had children together, this was the event that convinced her they were *really* married), I knew I had stumbled on a kindred soul. Anne Fadiman can write, and she chooses to write about what it means to live a life surrounded by (and wallowing in, let's admit it!) books.
    Her love affair with the written word permeates this book. The details of her life are completely different than mine, but this book made me feel like I understood her from the inside out. I read large parts of this book out loud, to anyone I could find who seemed like they might find it amusing. Most of them ran out and got themselves a copy of the book. I can't read it out loud to you, so all I can say is if you love reading, if you are consumed with a love of the written word, Anne Fadiman's book will speak to the deepest part of your soul.
    16 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Nora
    3.0 out of 5 stars I did enjoy her use of language to stretch the reader's vocabulary
    Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2014
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Found some of the stories entertaining and insightful and some not so. However, I did enjoy her use of language to stretch the reader's vocabulary.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Suzanne LeClair
    5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely a must read for book lovers!
    Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Such a lovely book of essays. Extremely enjoyable and fun. Don't miss this if you're a book lover. I feel that the author and I could be great friends, you will too.
    Helpful
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  • isomdc
    4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting read
    Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2024
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    This book was picked for our neighborhood book club. Not one I would have picked; however, it was enjoyable. As someone who enjoys reading there were many things throughout these essays that made me smile as I could relate to a lot of them. Thanks for an interesting and enjoyable read!
    Helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Helena
    5.0 out of 5 stars Genial!
    Reviewed in Spain on February 12, 2021
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Una libro de ensayos sobre el acto de leer y la importancia de los libros en nuestra vida en el que me he sentido completamente identificada. Divertido, irónico, ácido...
    Report
  • Atulya Sinha
    5.0 out of 5 stars A HIGHLY UN-COMMON READER
    Reviewed in India on October 22, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Anne Fadiman (1953 -), the author of “Ex-Libris,” belongs to a renowned literary family. Her father Clifton Fadiman was an American writer, editor and television personality, known for his erudition and breadth of knowledge. Her mother Annalee Jacoby Fadiman was a war correspondent during WW2 and later worked as a scriptwriter. Not surprisingly, the author and her brother grew up in a highly intellectual environment, which she describes as Fadiman U (short for University)! For good measure, Anne is married to writer George Colt – and their pet dog is named Typo!

    This book is a compilation of eighteen essays originally published in her column “Common Reader” in “Civilization,” the magazine of the Library of Congress. These essays are about literary topics such as merging libraries, proofreading and plagiarism, but they are surprisingly enjoyable. In addition to a deep passion for the topics she writes about, Fadiman has a delightful sense of humour, as the following excerpts will show.

    In the first chapter the author recalls that five years into their marriage “our libraries had remained separate, mine mostly at the north end of our loft, his at the south.” They decided to merge their libraries, with mutually agreed rules, but “…by far the hardest task came toward the end of the week, when we sorted through our duplicates and decided whose to keep. I realized that we had both been hoarding redundant copies of our favorite books ‘just in case’ we ever split up.”

    “When I was growing up,” the author says in the next chapter, “not only did my family walk around sprouting sesquipedalians, but we viewed all forms of intellectual competition as a sacrament, a kind of holy water, as it were, to be slathered on at every opportunity with the largest possible aspergill.”

    In the subsequent chapter, she talks about her fondness for books about polar exploration. “Americans admire success. Englishmen admire heroic failure… When the corpses of some of Franklin’s officers and crew were later discovered, miles from their ships, the men were found to have behind their guns but to have lugged such essentials such as monogrammed silver cutlery, a backgammon board, a cigar case, a clothes brush, a tin of button polish, and a copy of ‘The Vicar of Wakefield.’”

    In ‘Nothing New Under the Sun’ there are as many as 38 footnotes in a chapter which is just 8 pages long. “The more I’ve read about plagiarism,” remarks the author, “the more I’ve come to think that literature is one big recycling bin.”

    This is a book which will be truly relished by the un-common reader who might share the author’s obsession with the sequence in which her books are arranged on her shelves, her compulsive proofreading habit or her devotion what she calls ‘You-Are-There Reading’, meaning the practice of reading books in the places they describe!
    Report
  • Ms. C. J. Mcelwee
    5.0 out of 5 stars This one's for the Obsessive/Compulsive bibliophiles!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 1999
    Verified Purchase
    You can always tell an obsessive/Compulsive reader and collector of books, they like nothing more than a book about books! And this should reside on the "odd shelf" amongst a number of others of its type all worthy of your time. This little book is sheer delight to the likes of you and I who would rather buy a book than probably almost anything else. I found myself between these pages, and in or between the definitions Ms Fadiman records. My parents were not quite as bookish at this stage, although they both claimed an obsession with reading in their youth, and we had books in the house; so as soon as I was able to earn pocket money it was straight up to the secondhand bookshop that resided in the less fashionable part of the high street to spend hours pouring over the possibilities to take up residence in my diaphanous bag home. The touch and smell were intoxicating and I would even put up with the grumpy storekeeper (and often they are old grouches - I often wonder if it is because they resent having to part with their finds!) in order to indulge my passion. A Christmas without a pile of oblong festively-wrapped parcels (my mother often felt I needed something more practical in my stocking!) was always a disappointment. Fortunately, it was also a rarity if everyone else was to have a good time! Also, perhaps not surprisingly my siblings followed in my footsteps into bookishness, and although we have many overlaps of taste, we tend to collect in different areas, so increasing the family horde.
    I live on the first floor of a small London flat, and my friends are always surprised not to find that I have, involuntarily, moved to the ground floor (hopefully when the current tenants are away!). It is a compulsion to possess both the physical book and the intellectual content of a book which is obviously why so often they are called friends. Ms Fadiman captures this in her essays. She also captures how like fragrance a book is, picking it up it is sometimes more evocative than a photograph of the time it was read, where it was bought or by whom it was gifted. I will certainly be gifting this volume to one or two over the coming festive season.
    I always loved the description that I heard Umberto Eco make in a documentary once, when he said that at night when he left his library, he often had a sense of all the books whispering to each other behind his back. It is a wonderful analogy of what goes on in any readers mind.
    Report
  • Ms. Margaret Blair, author, Gudao, Lone Islet, The War Years in Shanghai and Shanghai Scarlet
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Box of Delicious Literary Chocolates
    Reviewed in Canada on April 29, 2013
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman

    Anne Fadiman comes from a famous literary family, and these short pieces reflect her background well. Her light-hearted reflections on books, and the part they play in the lives of those who love reading, offer insights into her family and other people that can be of interest to all bibliophiles.

    This book of essays is like a box of delicious chocolates with different centres, not to be devoured in one greedy session, but tasted slowly, one by one, with appreciation.
    Margaret Blair
    Report
  • Bindu Manoj
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader
    Reviewed in India on September 13, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Don't be fooled by the title, the author is no common reader. Daughter of well known American author, editor and radio and TV personality Clifton Fadiman and screen writer and world war II journalist Annalee Jacoby Fadiman, it is but natural that Anne Fadiman grew up breathing books and words. One of the most delightful books that I have read in the recent past, this is 'a collection of 18 essays written over a period of four years.'

    When you have a father who has written books like 'Wally the Wordworm', 'Reading I've liked', and edited the likes of 'The World Treasury of Children's Literature', 'The World of the Short Story:A Twentieth Century Collection' and so on, how can one not fall in love with books? And the cherry on the pie is getting married to another bibliophile, and together accumulating books,

    'on our shelves and on our windowsills, and underneath our sofa and on top our refrigerator'

    Each essay is about one aspect of books, reading, authors, even writing instruments, these are things that we usually think about in a normal manner,taken for granted as part of your routine life. But when someone starts talking about it, each of these seem to have a life of its own. The first chapter, 'Marrying Libraries' is about how two libraries stand apart trying to retain their individuality, slowly start merging together while trying to keep at least their demeanors different, at last to find one day that they cannot distinguish where one ended and the other began. Just like any other marriage, isn't it?

    The hunger for new words - the more difficult, the better - comes out in the next chapter 'The Joy of Sesquipedalians'. The joy of what, you ask? Then wait for others like adapertile, agathodemon, opopanax and retromingent. I'd rather not spoil the joy by telling you what it is all about.

    She then continues with the 'Odd Shelf' - where books on subjects totaly unrelated to the others that you normally have, tend to gravitate towards - 'Sonnets' and then "Never Do That to a Book'. In this chapter she classifies love of books as 'courtly' where

    'A book's self was sacrosanct to her, its form inseparable from its content'

    and 'carnal' where

    'a book's words were holy, but the paper, cloth, cardboard, glue, thread, and ink that contained them were a mere vessel.'

    The musings continue with 'True Womanhood,' where she talks about a book that was inherited from her great grandmother, 'The Mirror of True Womanhood:A Book of Instruction for Women in the World.' The author, one Reverend Bernard O'Reilly, seems to have been reborn in bits all over the world, the thoughts on how a woman should live hasn't changed much over the years, for this was the bootomline:

    'Woman's entire existence, in order to be a source of happiness to others as well as to herself, must be one of self-sacrifice.'

    'Words on a Flyleaf' is about the inscriptions that you add to a book that is gifted, and 'You are There' about the absolute thrill of reading a book in a place that the book talks about. 'The His'er Problem' is about the cryptic word 'Ms.' that refuses to divulge whether you are single or married, rightly so I would say. Why should you know that about a woman when a man is a universal 'Mr.' ? Its also about how the word 'man', is universally considered to be about the human race in general, but how those authors has almost always have a 'man' in mind when they write about it.

    'r/ Inset a Carrot e/' is about her family of compulsive editors who

    'can imagine few worse fates than walking around for the rest of one's life wearing a typo'

    In 'Eternal Ink', the author reminisces about and romanticizes the ink pen and its royal ancestor the feather and compares it to their insipid off spring, the computer. As she rightly says,

    '' When you've seen one pixel, you've seen it all'

    I can hear my friends chuckling or even laughing out aloud when I say my favorite essay is 'The Literary Glutton.' How can I not jut like, but absolutely adore an author who says,

    ' When I read about food, sometimes a single word is enough to detonate a a chain reaction of associative memories. I am like the shoe fetishist who, in order to become aroused, no longer needs to see the object of his desire; merely glimpsing the phrase "spectator pump, size 6 1/2" is sufficient'

    'Nothing New Under the Sun' is a tongue in cheek array of observations on how it is impossible to have anything original in literature. Almost each sentence in this chapter has a reference attached to it. You nod your head vigorously as you read how a compulsive reader will settle for even a catalog that is lying around if she can't get hold of a book, in 'The Catalogical Imperative'

    'My Ancestral Castles' is about how strong parental influence is in matters literary as it is in other matters in life. She bares her parents to us in these words,

    'My brother and I were able to fantasize far more extravagantly about our parents' tastes and desires, their aspirations and their vices, by scanning their bookcases than by snooping in their closets. Their selves were on their shelves.'

    'Sharing the Mayhem' recollects the joys and perils of reading aloud and 'The P.M.'s Empire of Books' is about the science of storing books. You have to read it to believe the exact measurements and structure of a library book case to hold eighteen to twenty thousand books. All it needs is a space of twenty by forty feet. You don't trust Anne Fadiman? So, what if I say the proponent of this theory is

    'that Gladstone: four times British Prime Minister, grand old man of the Liberal Party, scholar, financier, theologian, orator,humanitarian, and thorn in the side of Benjamin Disraeli'

    'Secondhand Prose' takes the reader through those quaint and not so quaint shops where you find unkempt desks, dusty shelves that are almost on the verge of breaking down and if you are lucky as the author, you may find about 300,000 used books and also walk out with nineteen pounds of books in your hand. As she says,

    'Now you know why I married my husband. In my view, nineteen pounds of old books are at least nineteen time as delicious as one pound of fresh caviar.'

    As if all this was not enough, she adds a final chapter of 'Recommended Reading,' references of more books about books.

    Anne Fadiman has transformed something that could easily have been dull, bland and high brow into a dish that is so delicious that you want to devour it at once and also savor it bit by bit.

    I felt totally inadequate and deliriously happy at the same time, never thought that would be possible. Impossible is nothing, you see :)

    Verdict: If you are the kind of reader who romances, loves and lusts books, apart from breathing them, you just cannot miss this one.
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