Dear Fahrenheit 451
Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian’s Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life by Annie Spence
Published: 2017
Narrated by: Stephanie Spicer
Length: 05:35 (244 pages)
I loved this! It would be a great book to turn to if I find myself in a reading slump again this year. Her love of books in this is so contagious that it’s hard to come out of it without immediately picking up a new book and diving in.
The format that she came up with is perfect. Each essay is just a letter addressed to a book, some purely comedic and others more heartfelt. She often doesn’t even go into the plot at all, and I don’t remember coming across anything I felt was a spoiler. She writes about the place the book holds in her life – what it means to her, where she got it, what problems she had, and any stories related to it. My favourite was her piece on The Time Traveler’s Wife, a book I haven’t read but is on the shelf, as she used it to beautifully discuss how a book can mean different things to you when re-read at different stages of life.
Annie Spence is a librarian, so there’s a lot of library love in this book if that’s your thing, and many of the letters are being written to books that’s she’s had to remove from the library to make room for other books. So this not only covers books she loved, books she hated, but also random books that she needs to cull, which really adds variety to the essays.
I may also need to read The Virgin Suicides now, as she was just so enthusiastic about it.
6 Comments
Silvia
I’m glad it was a good read for you, Rob. I have read The Traveler’s Wife, but, meh, -not my cup of tea. I have also heard about The Virgin Suicides at Goodreads this past year, and I think I considered it too. I’d love to see what you think of it if you get to read it yourself.
Rob
Yeah, I’m not sure if The Time Traveler’s Wife will be my kind of book either, we’ll see. It’s been on my shelf for years now, and I haven’t yet had a real urge to pick it up, hah.
What I love about these essays is that it’s not necessarily about the book itself directly, so even though it’s a book I haven’t read, and only really have a mild interest in, I can still love what she writes about it.
I think I might pick up the audiobook for The Virgin Suicides this year.
Silvia
I got you, I also love those books about the reading process and what books mean to us readers, -no matter what the titles are
Silvia
And The Virgins in audio is a great idea.
Ruthiella
Books about books are catnip to me! I have this on one my list and it sounds fantastic. Thanks for letting us know that there aren’t any spoiler issues! That is my main worry about these kinds of works.
Rob
Yes, me too! I love reading about books but really hate encountering major spoilers. I’ve been meaning to read The Year of Reading Dangerously, but have been wary of this issue.