Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman

This is a collection of essays about books and the people who love them. It is truly a delight. Fadiman muses on everything from merging libraries with her husband, to flyleaf inscriptions, to cataloging one’s library with a humorous level of compulsion. I especially liked her essay on obsessive proofreading. Strangely, I got misty-eyed when I read the acknowledgements at the end of the book, probably because she dedicates it to her husband and parents. Her love of books is intricately bound to her love for them. Favorite Quote: “Marriage is a long-distance course, and reading aloud is a kind of romantic Gatorade formulated to invigorate the occasionally exhausted racers.”