Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love

Posted on by Anne Fadiman
Rereadings Seventeen writers revisit books they love Is a book the same book or a reader the same reader the second time around The seventeen authors in this witty and poignant collection of essays all agree on the answer Never The editor of Rereadings

Is a book the same book or a reader the same reader the second time around The seventeen authors in this witty and poignant collection of essays all agree on the answer Never.The editor of Rereadings is Anne Fadiman, and readers of her bestselling book Ex Libris will find this volume especially satisfying Her chosen authors include Sven Birkerts, Allegra Goodman, VivianIs a book the same book or a reader the same reader the second time around The seventeen authors in this witty and poignant collection of essays all agree on the answer Never.The editor of Rereadings is Anne Fadiman, and readers of her bestselling book Ex Libris will find this volume especially satisfying Her chosen authors include Sven Birkerts, Allegra Goodman, Vivian Gornick, Patricia Hampl, Phillip Lopate, and Luc Sante the objects of their literary affections range from Pride and Prejudice to Sue Barton, Student Nurse.These essays are not conventional literary criticism they are about relationships Rereadings reveals at least as much about the reader as about the book each is a miniature memoir that focuses on that most interesting of topics, the protean nature of love And as every bibliophile knows, no love is life changing than the love of a book.

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    291 Anne Fadiman
Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love

  1. Anne Fadiman, the daughter of Annalee Whit Jacoby Fadiman, a screenwriter and foreign correspondent, and Clifton Fadiman, an essayist and critic, was born in New York City in 1953 She graduated in 1975 from Harvard College, where she began her writing career as the undergraduate columnist at Harvard Magazine For many years, she was a writer and columnist for Life, and later an Editor at Large at Civilization She has won National Magazine Awards for both Reporting 1987 and Essays 2003 , as well as a National Book Critics Circle Award for The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Ex Libris Confessions of a Common Reader, a collection of first person essays on books and reading, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1998 Fadiman was the editor of the intellectual and cultural quarterly The American Scholar from 1997 to 2004 She now holds the Francis chair in nonfiction writing at Yale Fadiman lives in western Massachusetts with her husband, the writer George Howe Colt, and their two childrencmillan author annefa

496 Reply to “Rereadings: Seventeen writers revisit books they love”

  1. Tony Blair thumbing through the contents Hey, this one could be interesting It s a series of essays about the delicate question of what it actually means to have read a book Do you know what I mean A talking donkey Wow, Tony Blair What are you doing in one of PB s reviews Tony Blair Er haven t you seen the news lately Don t donkeys watch TV any I m supposed to be the middle east peace envoy and look at the place look at it Tony turns tv on to news channel blam pow Nato air strikes Yemen Syria P [...]

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  2. An interesting conceit at the invitation of the editor, the wonderful Anne Fadiman, seventeen writers revisit books they had read in their youth and describe the results Unfortunately, the results are mixed, at best Perhaps one would need to have read all 17 books in question to derive full value from this book But that seems a little much to expect Overall, I think I was disappointed in how poorly some of the authors managed to convey the original passion they had felt for their particular choi [...]

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  4. I think it is extremely important to note that Anne Fadiman is the editor of this book, not the author, and her preface introduction was by far the best part of the book There is something about her writing when she talks about books reading, rereading, treasuring or otherwise that is completely lacking in pretension and just comes across as an honest story about her and the book The rest of the authors included in this book do not share her talent and are prone to egotistical romps through thei [...]

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  5. I loved the premise of this anthology it is always a beautiful thing to witness someone talk about the books they love, the books they have found worthy of rereading over and over again In some ways the books we reread tend to be the books we can t let go of the books that have shaped us and still haunts us to this very day After all, why else should we reread them While some of the essays in this anthology were beautifully done I also found myself skipping a few along the way It grew very tires [...]

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  6. A collection of essays in which various authors and essayists discuss rereading their favorite works, fromThe Charterhouse of Parma to the back of Sgt Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band I haven t read most of the works discussed in this book, so while I enjoyed all of the essays, some of them lost some resonance for me I actually thought Fadiman s introduction, in which she discusses readingThe Horse and His Boy with her son was one of the most effective, perhaps because I feel a personal connecti [...]

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  7. It s absurdly touching when people who obviously love books talk about books they loved early in life This is a collection of seventeen short essays admirably equal in quality from the Rereadings column of _The American Spectator_ One of the recurring themes is how frequently the future writers tended to identify with the second banana character, not the protagonist.

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  8. This is fascinating book for the well read Since I m not very well read, a lot of these essays were over my headbut they were interesting Diana Kappel Smith s writing about A Field Guide to Wildflowers and David Michaelis s piece about Sgt Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover connected the most with me This book inspires rereadings.

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  9. I agree with other reviewers in that the essays are for the most part only enjoyable if you re familiar with the books the authors have read re read I just wasn t interested in most of the ones I hadn t read, and so I skimmed or skipped almost all of them Two that I think would be enjoyable to anyone are the essays, My Life with a Field Guide and The Ice Palace They were quite excellent and truly conveyed the passion of the author reader.Generally, I wouldn t recommend this to very many readers [...]

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  10. I loved the concept, and I m an admirer of the collection s editor, Anne Fadiman, but alas, the execution fell short for me I m not familiar with any of the contributors, so that diminished my interest Fadiman s introduction was my favorite essay Beyond that, it was largely the case that the essays I most enjoyed were those for books that I had read myself I was sufficiently intrigued by a couple of essays that I m considering adding Lord Jim and something by D.H Lawrence to my TBR list where th [...]

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  11. At fourteen, I read quickly, furiously compulsively I went through five, six novels a week or suffered from withdrawal Arthur Krystal in his essay, Kid Roberts and Me.This collection of essays edited by Anne Fadiman had been one of those books that caught my eye every time I saw it I just knew there would be at least one essay that would speak to me as a reader Even though I used to scoff at rereading, I knew these writers were readers and we would be able to relate to one another.In the last fe [...]

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  12. This year I ve decided to make rereading a priority and so this essay collection was a perfect read to pick up Just like any essay or short story collection, there are both strong and weak pieces The book itself isn t amazing, but the sentiment it shares is an important one It s another great reminder that I need to make time to reread books I love.I wish there had been a few essays that referenced books I know I could identify with the piece on Pride and Prejudice and Brideshead Revisited, but [...]

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  13. This book had a lot of promise seventeen writers read a book that they had loved when they first read it, either in their teens or twenties, and then discuss whether the way they felt about it had changed I thought it would be fun to read re reviews of books I ve read by authors I ve read Unfortunately, I really hadn t heard of any of the writers who wrote the reviews okay, I ve heard of Luc Sante but haven t read anything by him , and I had only read one of the books that was reviewed two, if y [...]

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  14. Anne Fadiman, of Ex Libris Confessions of a Common Reader fame, put together this anthology from past The American Scholar pieces on rereading Out of the books discussed, I ve only heard of 5 and actually read 1 the last piece, on the Sgt Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band lyrics, was the only non book of the bunch, and a very interesting read Still not a fan of The Beatles, though I enjoyed this little book, although I do not think it compares to Ex Libris.While I did not know of the majority of [...]

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  15. This collection draws from the Rereadings section of THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR Writers consider books that have been pivotal in their personal or intellectual development Editor Anne Fadiman has gathered pieces from a wide variety of authors, film makers, and journals writing about everything from PRIDE PREJUDICE to the album lyrics to SGT PEPPER S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND The essayists also vary sharply in their approach to their material Some are nostalgic Others tongue in cheek A few are measured a [...]

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  16. An too anticipated enjoyment perhaps, of another Anne Fadiman loan from Mr Montes, is what ruined the read for me Except for two or three, most of the 17 essays I found exceedingly self indulgent to indulge in a favorite s story s impact, past and present, was called for a few just aimed to indulge the reader in their ramblings in ennui Or possibly, I may not have been able to connect with some chapters because the books reviewed were obscure to me Nevertheless, in instances like this, I m usual [...]

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  17. A great premise revisiting books that you read when you were younger and comparing your reactions then and now but many of the essays come across as heavy duty literary criticism rather than anecdotal I felt like I was in over my head most of the time, but I kept on reading anyway In the end, I wasn t sorry It s always enriching to read about why others love to read and what they ve learned from their reading.Some of the authors whose work is represented are Jane Austen, Colette, Katherine Mansf [...]

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  18. This is a sweet collection of writings from people going back to a once read and loved book and reading it again with age and experience behind them Some of the books they revisit are classics, but the interesting essays are about those books that critics wouldn t place much value on to begin with for instance, a series of books about a nurse in the 1950s that offered a role model for a career woman, or a nature guide to spotting and naming plants that started one woman s obsession with knowing [...]

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  19. Like Shelf Discovery The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading but for people who were reading Jane Austen and DH Lawrence as kids instead of Judy Blume Even though I have read very few of the books discussed, what I really liked was the writers relationships with the books I love rereading books, and don t do it very often, though I m looking forward to revisiting some of my childhood favorites with Maddy My favorite essays were the ones on Pride Prejudice, Peterson s Field guide to plants and [...]

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  20. I LOVE books on books This book is collected essays from various writers on their favorite books that they have re read over and over again To read about books people are so passionate about is great, but I would have preferred to read about books I heard about as not time is spent on the plot of the books You leave not really knowing if you d be interested in the books they re talking about or not Out of all the essays, I only had heard of three books Franny and Zooey, Pride and Prejudice, and [...]

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  21. Rereadings mixes the memoir and personal essay with literary reflection as authors return to books they read when younger The essays worked for me whether I had read the books or not Or liked the books or not Some reread literary classics like Whitman, Austen, or Stendahl, others children s books, and the list also included a Peterson s guide to Wildflowers and the liner notes to Sgt Pepper s I have some serious rereading to do myself in the coming year and I appreciated the ambiguity and hesita [...]

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  22. I find myself rereading books I have loved in the past and getting new ideas and insights because of my additional age and life experiences.Am enjoying this book because I have read some of the lit that is being reviewed by the authors In particular, I enjoyed the insights into Sue Barton, Nurse because I loved and read the entire series as a young girl Looking at these books from a grown woman s perspective is very instructive not only of the era they were published in the 40 s or 50 s but on m [...]

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  23. A wonderful collection of essays about rereading favorite books Each essay is written by a different author, and the essays and their subject matter vary as much as the authors do.Do you have a book or that you ve enjoyed rereading If so, you ll probably find something recognizable here.I haven t read most of the books that were described in the essays some of them are pretty obscure, so it isn t a surprise , but I really enjoyed them vicariously, and enjoyed reading how the authors perspective [...]

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  24. Interesting collection of essays about the various authors experiences reading a book and then revisiting the literature later in life The essays provided a peek into the personal life of strangers some good, some not so good Several of the essays were very enjoyable to read usually those which reference material I had read myself I think the literary minded would enjoy this book but it was a good read regardless although I did not relish each story like I did Anne Fadiman s collections of sho [...]

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  25. I loved this set of evocative essays The set of 17 reviews, each by a different author, of books beloved in their youth was a poignant examination of how as we change, the meanings of the books in our lives also change It was particularly good timing for me, since I ve recently re read some favourites from many years ago and found it quite distressing how many of them just fell apart for me on re examination The variety of books reviewed and authors reviewing them added depth as well and left me [...]

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  26. Oddly enough, I reread parts of Rereadings edited by Anne Fadiman after picking it up at the library Seventeen authors share books that they have reread as adults and contrast the experience to their youthful impressions of the books I particularly enjoyed Allegra Goodman s review of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and her thoughts on rereading, I return to it not because it is the best novel I have ever read, or the most important, but because of the memories and wishes I ve folded in its pa [...]

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  27. Great not only do I have to read the books of the seventeen authors featured but now I want to read all the books that those seventeen favoredny for the second time My must read list is getting ridiculously long That being said, this is a great little book for real book lovers It is nice to read that others get so excited about their favorite books and read them over and over again Now I don t feel so strange about rereading Siddhartha and the Little Women series on a yearly basis.

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  28. I loved Fadiman s Ex Libris ages ago This book has a nice intro, but the first essay is a little pretentious are most of the restd the book gets progressively duller To be fair, I was reacting to the English major taking himself too seriously aspect of these essays if that won t turn you off, give em a try I have to say, though, that for me the best part of the book is the introduction by Fadiman.

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  29. I love books about reading For example, I loved reading Fadiamn s own series of essays on reading, Ex Libris And, at times, I loved this book, too But since it s a series of essays written by different people, you can anticipate some uneven quality Some essays made me want to read the book in question, and some made me question why a particular book had even evoked enough passion for the essayist to begin writing in the first place.

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  30. These pieces are taken from a feature in The American Scholar in which various writers were asked to revisit a book that had been important to them when they were younger A lot of good writing here and worthwhile meditations not only on the selected books but on the joys of reading Many of the essays made we want to read the subject works and other works by the reviewers You can t ask for than that from a book about books.

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