Sneak Peak: A Book Addict’s Treasury
So I didn’t assign this book. I didn’t even handle the galley, but I didn’t have to do either to know it’s more bloggable than Hilary Clinton catching herpes. A Book Addict’s Treasury by Julie Rugg and Lynda Murphy (April, Frances Lincoln; see LJ 4/15/07 for the complete review) seems to go beyond your Roget’s by ”following the threads of ideas in what can often resemble a conversation between authors from different centuries.” The quotes, 350 in total, come from the likes of Erasmus, Edith Wharton, Umberto Eco, Descartes, and Groucho Marx and consider every imaginable aspect of the writing life.
To quote the irreverent press release, “Indeed, if you buy only one book this year, this one is probably not for you.” Sounds like my kind of pulp. Fans of this kind of anthology might also like these recommended reads from our Book Review database: Anne Fadiman’s Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, Maureen Corrigan’s Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading, and Anna Quindlen’s How Reading Changed My Life.
Regarding Anne Fadiman’s book, apparentlly one passionate book lover chose to sample one of her essays without accreditation. There is a long editor’s note in Sunday New York Times, regarding Ben Schott’s NYTimes essay Confessions of Book Abuser”:
“An essay in the Book Review on March 4, “Confessions of a Book Abuser,” by Ben Schott, defended the ways people physically “mistreat” books. Readers have subsequently pointed out a number of resemblances between Schott’s essay and “Never Do That to a Book,” an essay on the same subject by Anne Fadiman that was part of her 1998 book “Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader.”
Among several thematic similarities that readers commented on are references to a system of dog-earing pages either at the top or at the bottom depending on referential purpose and to travelers who rip previously read sections from paperbacks and discard them before boarding an airplane. But the most striking resemblance occurs in the opening lines of each essay. Schott’s begins: “I have to admit I was flattered when, returning to my hotel room on the shores of Lake Como, a beautiful Italian chambermaid took my hand. . . . Escorting me to the edge of the crisply made bed, the chambermaid pointed to a book on my bedside table. ‘Does this belong to you?’ she asked. I looked down to see a dog-eared copy of Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Vile Bodies’ open spread-eagle, its cracked spine facing out. ‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘Sir, that is no way to treat a book!’ she declared, stalking out of the room.”
Fadiman’s essay begins: “When I was 11 and my brother was 13, our parents took us to Europe. At the Hôtel d’Angleterre in Copenhagen, as he had done virtually every night of his literate life, Kim left a book facedown on the bedside table. The next afternoon, he returned to find the book closed, a piece of paper inserted to mark the page, and the following note, signed by the chambermaid, resting on its cover:
“Sir, you must never do that to a book.”
Questioned about the similarities, Schott, who has recently been contributing freelance work to The Times, said that he had never read Fadiman’s essay before it was brought to his attention, also by a reader of the Book Review, and suggested that the thematic resemblances were a coincidental result of the narrowness of the topic. He maintains that the encounter with the Italian chambermaid took place as he described it, in 1989, when he was 15.
Had editors been aware of Fadiman’s essay, the Book Review would not have published Schott’s.) “
Comment by Wilda Williams — March 26, 2007 @ 1:01 pm
Hi. Cool design. Keep up the good.
Good luck.
Comment by weqmmr — May 23, 2007 @ 6:58 pm
Hi. Cool design. Keep up the good.
Good luck.
Comment by weqmmr — May 23, 2007 @ 6:58 pm
Scat movies….
Scat movies….
Trackback by Scat movies. — May 20, 2008 @ 3:52 am
Buy vicodin without a prescription….
What does vicodin look like. Vicodin. Vicodin detox. Long term vicodin use. Buy vicodin without a prescription. Buy vicodin without script. Vicodin withdrawal….
Trackback by Vicodin. — June 13, 2008 @ 2:11 pm
Sell ephedrine….
Ephedrine products. Ephedrine weightloss drops. Ephedrine hcl michigan. Ephedrine side effects….
Trackback by Oxidizing ephedrine makes meth. — June 19, 2008 @ 3:08 am
citizens property insurance corporation president…
distemper Milton choosers boning absently Constantinople …
Trackback by citizens property insurance corporation president — June 25, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Grand junction co cooking classes….
Grand junction co cooking classes….
Trackback by Grand junction co cooking classes. — July 5, 2008 @ 4:37 pm
7 card stud strategy listed…
locating bracing conversion plaintiff:…
Trackback by 7 card stud strategy listed — July 7, 2008 @ 6:26 pm
citizens property casualty insurance…
Bierce rustler compelled …
Trackback by citizens property casualty insurance — July 10, 2008 @ 8:30 am