I mentioned Dear Farenheit 451 (2017) by Annie Spence in one of my Weekend Miscellanies a while ago, and a bit later a review copy came through the post – whether or not the two things are related, I’m unsure, but thank you to the publishers! Books about books are always, always welcome, and this made a nice book to read on a little solo day out to Stow on the Wold and Charleston House (a National Trust property). Sadly, two secondhand bookshops have closed in Stow since I was last there – but another has opened.
Dear Farenheit 451 takes the form of Spence writing little letters to many books. Some of them are books she’s loved at different times of her life – from Judy Blume to The Time Traveler’s Wife – while others are books that she’s shelved or discarded in her job as a librarian. The last section of the book is all about book recommendations – either ‘if you like this then try this’, or books that pair well together, or other things of that ilk.
I really enjoyed reading it. Her bookish enthusiasm is evident, and I loved that she wrote about an unusual and personal selection of books. True, I had heard of relatively few of them and read a tiny amount, but I’d much rather this than another list of Best Books Ever with all the expected candidates.
It seems churlish to wish it were a slightly different book than it is – but I have to admit that I would have preferred it if it were less sweary and (I can think of no other word for it) vulgar. ‘As sh*t’ – without the asterisk – is used as an amplifier all the time, for instance, and I suppose the whole tone shook me out of my 1920s mindset.
But that’s a small price to pay for this level of bookish fun. It’s not a set of thorough literary analyses, or even unthorough ones, but it is a fun, lively look at the different books that surround Spence for one reason or another.
Sounds lovely! I like books about books and the idea of letters is an interesting one.
I can never hear about Stow on the Wold without thinking of Dunny on the Wold in Blackadder and Colin the Dachshund. – I really hope you know what I’m talking about or you’ll think I’ve lost my mind :-D
I also thought that the language was a bit of a turn off and marred a really original and interesting book. It was almost as if she was trying to prove that librarians (or any book readers) are really ‘cool’ people despite the fact that they read books…and the swearing was her way of trying to win over non readers.
I like the premise of this book. I get rather bored by constant swearing in books though…
There’s a blogger who writes her reviews as letters to books too, but I can’t think who it is at the moment.
Could that be Juliana at A Blank Garden?
Sounds fun apart from the swearing – it would detract rather than add and I can’t think why it’s there. But I’ll still keep an eye out for this one.
What Karen said!