Tag Archives: Anne Fadiman

“My thoughts bustle along like a Surinam toad, with little toads sprouting out of back, side, and belly, vegetating while it crawls.” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

He looked at his own Soul with a telescope. What seemed all irregular, he saw and shewed to be beautiful Constellations: and he added to the Consciousness hidden worlds within worlds. –Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notebooks It’s his birthday today. I’ll … Continue reading

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2022 Books Read

Some re-reads this year, but a lot of new-to-me authors as well. New novels written by faves. Been a year of upheaval and transitions. I’ve managed to keep up my regular reading schedule. I just don’t feel right if I’m … Continue reading

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2013 Books Read

It’s been a hell of a year. Devastating as well as redemptive. I started it out in Memphis, and end it here in New Jersey. And now my new niece Pearl has arrived! It’s been both a busy year as … Continue reading

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The Books: At Large and At Small, “Coffee,” by Anne Fadiman

Next up on the essays shelf: At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays, by Anne Fadiman Anne Fadiman opens this essay remembering her sophomore year in college, when, on a nightly basis, she would meet up with two boys who … Continue reading

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The Books: At Large and At Small, “A Piece of Cotton,” by Anne Fadiman

Next up on the essays shelf: At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays, by Anne Fadiman A powerful little essay about the American flag. Anne Fadiman and her husband had moved out of Manhattan after living there for many many … Continue reading

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The Books: At Large and At Small, “Coleridge the Runaway,” by Anne Fadiman

Next up on the essays shelf: At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays, by Anne Fadiman Anne Fadiman is a Coleridge fangirl. This entertaining and informative essay is part book-review (reading a two-volume biography of Coleridge) and part meditation on … Continue reading

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The Books: At Large and At Small, “Procrustes and the Culture Wars”, by Anne Fadiman

Next up on the essays shelf: At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays, by Anne Fadiman While Fadiman does not go after the “culture wars” with the same scorched-earth policy that Camille Paglia did (and still does), her aim is … Continue reading

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The Books: At Large and At Small, “Night Owl”, by Anne Fadiman

Next up on the essays shelf: At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays, by Anne Fadiman Anne Fadiman is an “owl” and her husband is a “lark”, meaning: she prefers to stay up all night and go to bed around … Continue reading

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The Books: At Large and At Small, “Ice Cream”, by Anne Fadiman

Next up on the essays shelf: At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays, by Anne Fadiman “Ice Cream” is a perfect example of what the wonderful Anne Fadiman is up to in this collection of essays. Taking her cue from … Continue reading

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The Books: At Large and At Small, “Collecting Nature”, by Anne Fadiman

Next up on the essays shelf: At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays, by Anne Fadiman Anne Fadiman is a writer cherished by the O’Malley family, for her book Ex Libris (excerpted here) made up of essays by Fadiman having … Continue reading

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