Anne Fadiman is the sort of person who learned about sex from her father&s copy of Fanny Hill & who once found herself poring over a 1974 Toyota Corolla manual because it was the only thing in her apartment that she had not read at least twice EX LIBRIS wittily recounts a lifelong obsession with books Writing with humour & erudition she moves easily from anecdotes about Coleridge & Orwell to tales of her own pathologically literary family & One of the most delightful volumes to have come across my desk in a long whilewitty enchanting & supremely well-written& -- Robert Mc Crum Observer