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At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays
In At Large and At Small, Anne Fadiman returns to one of her favorite genres, the familiar essay—a beloved and hallowed literary tradition recognized for both its intellectual breadth and its miniaturist focus on everyday experiences. With the combination of humor and erudition that has distinguished her as one of our finest essayists, Fadiman draws us into twelve of her personal obsessions: from her slightly sinister childhood enthusiasm for catching butterflies to her monumental crush on Charles Lamb, from her wistfulness for the days of letter-writing to the challenges and rewards of moving from the city to the country.
Many of these essays were composed “under the influence” of the subject at hand. Fadiman ingests a shocking amount of ice cream and divulges her passion for Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Chocolate Chip and her brother’s homemade Liquid Nitrogen Kahlúa Coffee (recipe included); she sustains a terrific caffeine buzz while recounting Balzac’s coffee addiction; and she stays up till dawn to write about being a night owl, examining the rhythms of our circadian clocks and sharing such insomnia cures as her father’s nocturnal word games and Lewis Carroll’s mathematical puzzles. At Large and At Small is a brilliant and delightful collection of essays that harkens a revival of a long-cherished genre.
Collecting nature --
Unfuzzy lamb --
Ice cream --
Night owl --
Procrustes and the culture wars --
Coleridge the runaway --
Mail --
Moving --
Piece of cotton --
Arctic hedonist --
Coffee --
Under water
Many of these essays were composed “under the influence” of the subject at hand. Fadiman ingests a shocking amount of ice cream and divulges her passion for Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Chocolate Chip and her brother’s homemade Liquid Nitrogen Kahlúa Coffee (recipe included); she sustains a terrific caffeine buzz while recounting Balzac’s coffee addiction; and she stays up till dawn to write about being a night owl, examining the rhythms of our circadian clocks and sharing such insomnia cures as her father’s nocturnal word games and Lewis Carroll’s mathematical puzzles. At Large and At Small is a brilliant and delightful collection of essays that harkens a revival of a long-cherished genre.
Collecting nature --
Unfuzzy lamb --
Ice cream --
Night owl --
Procrustes and the culture wars --
Coleridge the runaway --
Mail --
Moving --
Piece of cotton --
Arctic hedonist --
Coffee --
Under water
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
76 people are currently reading
2596 people want to read
About the author
Anne Fadiman
31 books617 followersAnne Fadiman, the daughter of Annalee Whitmore Jacoby Fadiman, a screenwriter and foreign correspondent, and Clifton Fadiman, an essayist and critic, was born in New York City in 1953. She graduated in 1975 from Harvard College, where she began her writing career as the undergraduate columnist at Harvard Magazine. For many years, she was a writer and columnist for Life, and later an Editor-at-Large at Civilization. She has won National Magazine Awards for both Reporting (1987) and Essays (2003), as well as a National Book Critics Circle Award for The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader, a collection of first-person essays on books and reading, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1998. Fadiman was the editor of the intellectual and cultural quarterly The American Scholar from 1997 to 2004. She now holds the Francis chair in nonfiction writing at Yale. Fadiman lives in western Massachusetts with her husband, the writer George Howe Colt, and their two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 312 reviews
September 24, 2007
So, last week I went out for sushi with my parents. I had just read the essay from this collection where Fadiman talks about being a night owl; my mom is a major night owl, so, thinking she'd appreciate it, I recommended the book to her. Turns out she knows Fadiman: they went to Harvard together, lived in Dunster House together, used to fly back on the same planes from Boston to where they lived in L.A. My mom wrinkled her nose as she told me this. She and Anne were not bestest buddies, apparently: "She was so pretentious," my mom said. "We had nothing at all in common." Um.
1. Night owls.
2. Lived in L.A.
3. Went to Harvard.
4. Lived in Dunster House.
5. Chilled food by leaving it out on the windowsill (my mom's told me for years that she used to do this with various Sara Lee cakes, and Fadiman mentions the technique in one of her essays).
6. At another time, lived in New York.
7. Fathers were writers.
8. Grew up to be writers.
9. Bibliophiles.
10. Fadiman named her daughter Susannah; my mom named her daughter...something very similar to Susannah.
11. Both aware that Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy and Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln!
I rest my case.
As for the book—I was kind of weirded out the rest of the time I was reading it, but it was still really good. This may be because Fadiman reminds me of my mom, but if so, neither of them needs to know that.
1. Night owls.
2. Lived in L.A.
3. Went to Harvard.
4. Lived in Dunster House.
5. Chilled food by leaving it out on the windowsill (my mom's told me for years that she used to do this with various Sara Lee cakes, and Fadiman mentions the technique in one of her essays).
6. At another time, lived in New York.
7. Fathers were writers.
8. Grew up to be writers.
9. Bibliophiles.
10. Fadiman named her daughter Susannah; my mom named her daughter...something very similar to Susannah.
11. Both aware that Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy and Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln!
I rest my case.
As for the book—I was kind of weirded out the rest of the time I was reading it, but it was still really good. This may be because Fadiman reminds me of my mom, but if so, neither of them needs to know that.
April 29, 2022
Great essays on a variety of subjects, large and small. Anne Fadiman is a thinker and a writer and causes the reader to think right along with her.
July 25, 2009
Oh, Anne Fadiman, how I love you. Yes, you have your George, and I have my Beth, and I'll never get to know you in anything like the way I've gotten to know you from this collection of essays and your first, Ex Libris, but it doesn't matter: I love you, anyway.
I love your never expressed belief in the power of a small, focused essay to cast a meaningful light on the world at large. I love your love of Nabokov and Charles Lamb and arctic explorers and coffee; I love that reading your thoughts about these things makes me feel smarter about them. I love that no matter what you're writing about—ice cream, or the flag, or moving day, or collecting butterflies—you bring a ruthless clarity to your own memories, to your own actions.
Here you are recalling you and your brother as budding lepidopterists: "Caught, killed, relaxed, and spread, the butterfly was laid to rest in a Riker mount, a shallow glass-topped box filled with absorbent cotton—a sort of mass grave for soldiers who had given their lives on the battlefields of suburban Connecticut. [new paragraph:] When did we realize that this was horrible?" That's just swell. And sad.
I gave away about a dozen copies of Ex Libris when it came out in paperback. Of those who actually read the book (so few of us read the books that we receive as gifts; there's already too much we want to read, and we'll be damned if we let someone else bump something of theirs to the top of the pile), all loved it to an embarrassing degree. We'd meet up and discuss fine points, leaning together conspiratorially, our voices high and heated like new lovers, and probably faintly embarrassing to behold. I expect much the same reaction when I give people copies of At Large.
And fine, yes, I know your husband is a swell guy; I've even read his book The Enigma of Suicide, and found it great and awful (awful in its greatness; the subject demands it), and I understand that you're devoted to him. And you've got children, and so on and so forth.
I understand all of that. But I love you, anyway. I only wish there were more of you to love. (Books, I mean.) (Obviously.)
I love your never expressed belief in the power of a small, focused essay to cast a meaningful light on the world at large. I love your love of Nabokov and Charles Lamb and arctic explorers and coffee; I love that reading your thoughts about these things makes me feel smarter about them. I love that no matter what you're writing about—ice cream, or the flag, or moving day, or collecting butterflies—you bring a ruthless clarity to your own memories, to your own actions.
Here you are recalling you and your brother as budding lepidopterists: "Caught, killed, relaxed, and spread, the butterfly was laid to rest in a Riker mount, a shallow glass-topped box filled with absorbent cotton—a sort of mass grave for soldiers who had given their lives on the battlefields of suburban Connecticut. [new paragraph:] When did we realize that this was horrible?" That's just swell. And sad.
I gave away about a dozen copies of Ex Libris when it came out in paperback. Of those who actually read the book (so few of us read the books that we receive as gifts; there's already too much we want to read, and we'll be damned if we let someone else bump something of theirs to the top of the pile), all loved it to an embarrassing degree. We'd meet up and discuss fine points, leaning together conspiratorially, our voices high and heated like new lovers, and probably faintly embarrassing to behold. I expect much the same reaction when I give people copies of At Large.
And fine, yes, I know your husband is a swell guy; I've even read his book The Enigma of Suicide, and found it great and awful (awful in its greatness; the subject demands it), and I understand that you're devoted to him. And you've got children, and so on and so forth.
I understand all of that. But I love you, anyway. I only wish there were more of you to love. (Books, I mean.) (Obviously.)
January 31, 2008
Over the last several years, I must have given close to a dozen copies of Anne Fadiman's previous essay collection, "Ex Libris", to various friends. It's the kind of book you just have to share with others. It didn't seem possible that another collection could match the perfection of the first, but this one comes pretty close.
Essays in the first collection focused on topics related to books and reading; the author's lifelong passion for reading shone through on every page and should resonate with any reader sharing her addiction to books. In this new collection, Fadiman demonstrates an ability to write engagingly on a wide variety of topics. Coffee, ice-cream, moving, the life of Coleridge, the essays of Charles Lamb - Fadiman expounds charmingly on these topics, and several others, making it seem easy. Like Malcolm Gladwell, she can make any topic she writes about fascinating.
Of course, writing essays so polished they sparkle like gems is anything but easy. It is a testament to Fadiman's skill as a writer that she makes it seem effortless.
Though I didn't find it as extraordinary as "Ex Libris", I still don't hesitate to give it 5 stars.
Essays in the first collection focused on topics related to books and reading; the author's lifelong passion for reading shone through on every page and should resonate with any reader sharing her addiction to books. In this new collection, Fadiman demonstrates an ability to write engagingly on a wide variety of topics. Coffee, ice-cream, moving, the life of Coleridge, the essays of Charles Lamb - Fadiman expounds charmingly on these topics, and several others, making it seem easy. Like Malcolm Gladwell, she can make any topic she writes about fascinating.
Of course, writing essays so polished they sparkle like gems is anything but easy. It is a testament to Fadiman's skill as a writer that she makes it seem effortless.
Though I didn't find it as extraordinary as "Ex Libris", I still don't hesitate to give it 5 stars.
May 28, 2020
I chose this book because I wanted something different. I needed time away from my pandemic-imposed reading diet of cozy mysteries and sweet romance (despite my growing fondness for those genres), and I decided that some serious non-fiction would fill that need. So, I picked up this small 2009 essay book - At Large and At Small – and settled in, ready for something serious and different.
My prayers were answered: ten well-written personal essays with topics ranging from butterfly-collecting to Arctic explorers. These were warm and eclectic pieces of non-fiction. Here was the much-needed change.
As I read this work (and recalled her earlier book Ex-Libris), I considered author Anne Fadiman’s writing style: curlicued prose and complex paragraphs buttressed by fanatical research, stories, and recollections, warmed by poignancy and humor. Knowing that she was a master of the essay form deepened my respect for her. Fadiman is all intellect, hard work, and precision. I was grateful for these ten erudite little gems.
Fadiman’s love for the long-ignored familiar essay (a passion handed down by her father) is plain as day in her preface. I enjoyed it. Other good pieces in the book were “The Unfuzzy Lamb” and “Coleridge the Runaway.” The former essay recovered the forgotten Charles Lamb, a tormented writer who was loved by both Coleridge and Wordsworth. Lamb had many demons. He felt unloved as a child, and his later life was intense and tragic. But he was also perhaps very the first familiar essayist, and that feat explained Fadiman’s - and many other scholars' - high regard for him. The latter essay probed the just-as-tumultuous life of his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
My favorite part of the book was the extensive reference page at the end. This mile-long source page lengthened my tbr list, and I will purchase six of those books this summer. That will be money well-spent. Thanks, Ms. Fadiman (I guess).
3 stars
My prayers were answered: ten well-written personal essays with topics ranging from butterfly-collecting to Arctic explorers. These were warm and eclectic pieces of non-fiction. Here was the much-needed change.
As I read this work (and recalled her earlier book Ex-Libris), I considered author Anne Fadiman’s writing style: curlicued prose and complex paragraphs buttressed by fanatical research, stories, and recollections, warmed by poignancy and humor. Knowing that she was a master of the essay form deepened my respect for her. Fadiman is all intellect, hard work, and precision. I was grateful for these ten erudite little gems.
Fadiman’s love for the long-ignored familiar essay (a passion handed down by her father) is plain as day in her preface. I enjoyed it. Other good pieces in the book were “The Unfuzzy Lamb” and “Coleridge the Runaway.” The former essay recovered the forgotten Charles Lamb, a tormented writer who was loved by both Coleridge and Wordsworth. Lamb had many demons. He felt unloved as a child, and his later life was intense and tragic. But he was also perhaps very the first familiar essayist, and that feat explained Fadiman’s - and many other scholars' - high regard for him. The latter essay probed the just-as-tumultuous life of his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
My favorite part of the book was the extensive reference page at the end. This mile-long source page lengthened my tbr list, and I will purchase six of those books this summer. That will be money well-spent. Thanks, Ms. Fadiman (I guess).
3 stars
May 5, 2020
This was a gift from someone after we talked about Charles Lamb and how he’s mentioned in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and 84 Charing Cross Road, but I wasn’t familiar with Charles Lamb. I still haven’t read any of his works, but now I’m familiar with his character thanks to Anne Fadiman. I also really enjoyed most of the other essays, especially Collecting Nature, Ice Cream, Night Owl, Mail, and Coffee. As this is a collection of “familiar” essays, a lot of the topics are very every day, but written with such charm and wit so that you feel a surprising connection to the author.
May 29, 2025
Not quite as gripping and delightful as Ex Libris, but she does make any topic she writes about interesting to read, from bug-collecting and Arctic explorers to the history of the postage stamp! 3.5 stars
July 28, 2025
I love Anne Fadiman. I wish I was her. Or her friend. She exemplifies the kind of writing and and prose style I long to embody.
July 8, 2022
I thoroughly enjoyed these essays. I really love the essay form and particularly these type that incorporate the personal life of the essayist with real world information. I was afraid to read this book because Ex Libris, her previous book of essays, is one of my favorite books, and I also thought her non-fiction book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down was excellent. As a vegan I was worried that her essays on butterfly capture and ice cream would disturb me. Turns out it was "no prob." (Read the book! ;-) )
I laughed out loud quite a few times while reading these essays. They each stand on their own, and I took a long time to read all of them. They’re really worth savoring. Anne Fadiman is funny, intelligent, interesting, personable, and a thorough researcher and a superb writer.
I am hopeful that Anne Fadiman will publish more of these essay compilations; if she does, I will eagerly read them all.
I laughed out loud quite a few times while reading these essays. They each stand on their own, and I took a long time to read all of them. They’re really worth savoring. Anne Fadiman is funny, intelligent, interesting, personable, and a thorough researcher and a superb writer.
I am hopeful that Anne Fadiman will publish more of these essay compilations; if she does, I will eagerly read them all.
August 11, 2012
I feel really outnumbered because so many readers gave this book 4 or 5 stars, but I just didn't like this book as well as I thought I would. Fadiman is a great writer, no question. But she's almost too intellectual for my taste. Or maybe it was just that the tone was often so formal. I did like some of the essays very much, but I had to make myself read some of the others because they just seemed so academic. I understand that the author did a lot of research and it shows, but maybe I would have liked it better if it hadn't shown so much.
October 21, 2017
Delightful. Reading this was like listening to a well-educated friend tell stories- personal tales infused with interesting facts and history. Fadiman has succeeded in making me want to read more collections of familiar essays.
October 29, 2018
I am, in general, always in the mood for an Anne Fadiman essay. I probably liked this a little less than The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down and Ex Libris, but it was still a pleasant and illuminating little collection.
May 26, 2012
Essays are a difficult genre--so easy to do badly.* I am not sure when I got hooked on them, but think I have to credit EB White [of the New Yorker/ Struck & White /Charlotte's Web]. White is one of the few who cannot write a bad sentence, even when he can write an essay I don't care about.
Anne Fadiman, daughter of Clifton, is a scholarly writer who tangle erudition with homely reflections (topics like ice cream, coffee addiction, moving) with a comfortable and easy hand. I particularly liked the piece on Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an Arctic explorer who wrote a booked called The Friendly Arctic. Fadiman marvels that anyone would find tromping across the icy wastes a genuinely enjoyable experience. She marvels at his pleasure in sub zero temperatures, living on seal fat and skipping personal hygiene. She is able to hold on to that admiration while at the same time recognizing that Stefansson may have been responsible for the death of eight crewmen during a failed expedition. This struck me as the fair but difficult task of accepting the whole man, rather than selectively choosing the attractive bits. I found myself staring into space, considering her reactions, wondering if the explorer was merely egocentric and not simply an unconventional spirit.... Any essay that encourages me to stare into space, considering what was said, gets a star or two.
Not all of Fadiman's essays are thought provoking. They are not 'casuals' (the pieces written by the heroes of the old New Yorker for pleasure brief, light reading): Fadiman researches her topics (Source Notes are provided). But they are all pleasurable and interesting. They go well with the ritual of reading before you turn out the light at night or immersing yourself in during the commute. They go well with a bowl of ice cream or a cup of coffee.
*Essays 'easy to do badly' include book reviews--which is one of the reasons I appreciate Goodreads. Uncommonly high number of really good, pleasurable-to-read reviews on this site!
Anne Fadiman, daughter of Clifton, is a scholarly writer who tangle erudition with homely reflections (topics like ice cream, coffee addiction, moving) with a comfortable and easy hand. I particularly liked the piece on Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an Arctic explorer who wrote a booked called The Friendly Arctic. Fadiman marvels that anyone would find tromping across the icy wastes a genuinely enjoyable experience. She marvels at his pleasure in sub zero temperatures, living on seal fat and skipping personal hygiene. She is able to hold on to that admiration while at the same time recognizing that Stefansson may have been responsible for the death of eight crewmen during a failed expedition. This struck me as the fair but difficult task of accepting the whole man, rather than selectively choosing the attractive bits. I found myself staring into space, considering her reactions, wondering if the explorer was merely egocentric and not simply an unconventional spirit.... Any essay that encourages me to stare into space, considering what was said, gets a star or two.
Not all of Fadiman's essays are thought provoking. They are not 'casuals' (the pieces written by the heroes of the old New Yorker for pleasure brief, light reading): Fadiman researches her topics (Source Notes are provided). But they are all pleasurable and interesting. They go well with the ritual of reading before you turn out the light at night or immersing yourself in during the commute. They go well with a bowl of ice cream or a cup of coffee.
*Essays 'easy to do badly' include book reviews--which is one of the reasons I appreciate Goodreads. Uncommonly high number of really good, pleasurable-to-read reviews on this site!
June 23, 2017
A lovely little book of lovely little essays. I especially enjoyed Procrustes and the Culture Wars, Mail, and Coffee.
July 12, 2014
This has to have been one of the most unexpectedly pleasurable and edifying reads I've experienced in a long while.
Not a fan of short stories or essays, I was put off reading this book, which was described as a series of "familiar essays in the style of Charles Lamb" ... I therefore allowed this edition to languish on my bedside cabinet far too long.
When I eventually picked it up I was swept away by it. Anne Fadiman has a brand new "no. 1 fan", though I promise, I won't be taking a sledgehammer to her ankles anytime soon!
There is a wealth of anecdotes, erudite snippets, personal insights, thoughtful considerations and intriguing meditations on subjects as diverse as coffee, the Arctic explorer Stephansson and Coleridge. It's definitely one to savour. To divulge in repeatedly.
Fadiman's command of the English (and also Latin, Greek, French ... Ok you get the picture!) language is beyond superlatives. This is one incredibly fine writer and, I can only imagine, conversationalist. I can't imagine tiring of anything she had to say.
After the 2013 Kate Zambreno awakening, Anne Fadiman is my greatest literary discovery of 2014! What on earth took me so long?
Not a fan of short stories or essays, I was put off reading this book, which was described as a series of "familiar essays in the style of Charles Lamb" ... I therefore allowed this edition to languish on my bedside cabinet far too long.
When I eventually picked it up I was swept away by it. Anne Fadiman has a brand new "no. 1 fan", though I promise, I won't be taking a sledgehammer to her ankles anytime soon!
There is a wealth of anecdotes, erudite snippets, personal insights, thoughtful considerations and intriguing meditations on subjects as diverse as coffee, the Arctic explorer Stephansson and Coleridge. It's definitely one to savour. To divulge in repeatedly.
Fadiman's command of the English (and also Latin, Greek, French ... Ok you get the picture!) language is beyond superlatives. This is one incredibly fine writer and, I can only imagine, conversationalist. I can't imagine tiring of anything she had to say.
After the 2013 Kate Zambreno awakening, Anne Fadiman is my greatest literary discovery of 2014! What on earth took me so long?
August 10, 2022
Sigh. I have a new writer friend to cherish and to seek out more of her company in love packets called books.
Fadiman is the embodiment of Dorothy Parker's "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."
For my aging memory:
Collecting Nature about her collecting butterflies as a child. I admired the freedom and encouragement her parents gave Fadiman and her brother -- a whole room for their collections!
The Unfuzzy Lamb instant love for me, about the early nineteenth century writer Charles Lamb. I now must read Tales from Shakespeare, already on my shelf.
Ice Cream Among the few essays in this book that do not incorporate as much literary referencing as I apparently enjoy so much.
Night Owl Mostly about circadian rhythms. Her husband is a morning meadowlark, and like me, she is an unapologetic night owl. Scatterings of references to other writers and their bird type.
Procrustes and the Culture Wars I'd like to re-read this essay. Ponderings on good questions about reading for serious readers, like "Should the life of the writer affect our valuation of the work?"
Coleridge the Runaway I can't say that I've read any Coleridge. Jeeze, what a mess he was. I should at least really read one thing by him, not just recognize a few opening lines of his poetry.
Mail Ah, this is Dorothy Parker quote in action: the delights of curiosity! A brief history of the mail (touching upon the joys of receiving, writing letters, and her father).
Moving A personal essay about mostly, well, moving.
A Piece of Cotton, the American Flag and 9/11. Also a more personal type essay. Man, the woman knows how to write the last lines of an essay!
The Arctic Hedonist back to my favorite type of her essays: the biography. I had never heard of the Artic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, and might never again, but I was enraptured by this essay. (Kept thinking back to another book I read this year, Julie of the Wolves and even The Left Hand of Darkness.)
Coffee I wasn't as interested in this essay (I'm very functional about my daily double cuppa halfcaff joe, Folger) but the end hit me in the heart.
Under Water Another arrow in the heart.
She also includes Sources which I appreciate very much.
Fadiman is the embodiment of Dorothy Parker's "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."
For my aging memory:
Collecting Nature about her collecting butterflies as a child. I admired the freedom and encouragement her parents gave Fadiman and her brother -- a whole room for their collections!
The Unfuzzy Lamb instant love for me, about the early nineteenth century writer Charles Lamb. I now must read Tales from Shakespeare, already on my shelf.
Ice Cream Among the few essays in this book that do not incorporate as much literary referencing as I apparently enjoy so much.
Night Owl Mostly about circadian rhythms. Her husband is a morning meadowlark, and like me, she is an unapologetic night owl. Scatterings of references to other writers and their bird type.
Procrustes and the Culture Wars I'd like to re-read this essay. Ponderings on good questions about reading for serious readers, like "Should the life of the writer affect our valuation of the work?"
Coleridge the Runaway I can't say that I've read any Coleridge. Jeeze, what a mess he was. I should at least really read one thing by him, not just recognize a few opening lines of his poetry.
Mail Ah, this is Dorothy Parker quote in action: the delights of curiosity! A brief history of the mail (touching upon the joys of receiving, writing letters, and her father).
Moving A personal essay about mostly, well, moving.
A Piece of Cotton, the American Flag and 9/11. Also a more personal type essay. Man, the woman knows how to write the last lines of an essay!
The Arctic Hedonist back to my favorite type of her essays: the biography. I had never heard of the Artic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, and might never again, but I was enraptured by this essay. (Kept thinking back to another book I read this year, Julie of the Wolves and even The Left Hand of Darkness.)
Coffee I wasn't as interested in this essay (I'm very functional about my daily double cuppa halfcaff joe, Folger) but the end hit me in the heart.
Under Water Another arrow in the heart.
She also includes Sources which I appreciate very much.
November 23, 2018
I love reading essays by Anne Fadiman. She writes well and I appreciate her intellectual curiosity for the world around us. These essays are about a variety of topics. I most enjoyed the ones that dealt with writing, reading, and the historical quirks of authors she has studied and admired. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys literature.
November 15, 2020
Joy. Whether writing about lepidoptery, vexillology or acquiring liquid nitrogen from a sperm bank to make ice cream, Fadiman is never less than charming, erudite and entertaining. This is about as perfect a collection of essays as it's possible to imagine.
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March 14, 2022A cabinet of curiosities: a warm, funny, occasionally touching catalogue of personal interests, idiosyncratic and wide-ranging. Whether Fadiman writes about butterflies and Nabokov, coffee, ice-cream, letters, or Arctic explorers, you will be entertained.
December 22, 2023
Fadiman is a delightful writer. There is an effortless charm with which she takes polling with her on flights of fancy. I adored the essays on Charles Lamb and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, there i was less enamoured of, but still pleasantly entertained by the essays on coffee and ice cream and flags.
January 24, 2018
Fadiman is a master of the essay. I am in awe. So much fun.
I just read this for the second time, and enjoyed it more than ever.
I just read this for the second time, and enjoyed it more than ever.
December 22, 2020
An interesting and witty collection of essays that made me reflect on life’s simple pleasures (e.g., “Ice Cream” and “Coffee”, two of my favourites) and wish I had Anne Fadiman’s way with words.
Other favourites: “Mail”, “Moving”, “Under Water”.
Other favourites: “Mail”, “Moving”, “Under Water”.
October 8, 2024
Thoroughly delightful
January 30, 2025
This one made me think and see life differently. Anne Fadiman has a way with words that I love.
July 23, 2021
Ice creams and butterflies, Charles Lamb and Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the American flag and coffee - just a few of the things that Fadiman writes about in this superb collection of 'familiar essays'. It's intimate, clever and written with a lightness of touch that brings a smile to your face. The kind of book that informs and delights - the perfect kind!
January 30, 2023
maybe i kind of love essays these were really cool
July 11, 2024
"Literary Hedonist" is now my favourite two-word phrase.
July 28, 2025
I find familiar essays painfully dull, but I’m glad I pushed through. The last essay, “Underwater,” was so vivid and immersive and sad. It got at, what Heather Sellers calls, “the white hot center.” Very good! Still glad Mary Ortiz recommended this
July 4, 2017
This really is a very belated review. I've read almost every essay in this book, some of them (Collecting Nature, Unfuzzy Lamb, Ice Cream, Night Owl, Mail, Coffee) several times, over the course of the last eight years but somehow never considered the book "read."
So - I decided to bite off those last two holdout essays, Procrustes and the Culture Wars, and Coleridge The Runaway, and make it official.
I love this book from its dust-jacket and decorated end-papers to it's format, writing, and ideas. The "familiar essay" (part memoir/part history - or science, or literature) is my absolute favorite format and a lot of my own writing ends up in this category (although I didn't know it had a name until Fadiman told me.)
In addition to Fadiman's personal stories and insights, there are so many interesting anecdotes and historical facts that you just don't learn through the course of a general education. Her ability to link seemingly disparate ideas into a holistic view emphasizes the interconnections between the past and the present, between private lives and public, between perception and reality.
All of the essays stand completely alone but of course it's nice to have them gathered neatly in one little book to dip into when the mood strikes. And the extensive list of resources makes for a pretty good future reading list.
So - I decided to bite off those last two holdout essays, Procrustes and the Culture Wars, and Coleridge The Runaway, and make it official.
I love this book from its dust-jacket and decorated end-papers to it's format, writing, and ideas. The "familiar essay" (part memoir/part history - or science, or literature) is my absolute favorite format and a lot of my own writing ends up in this category (although I didn't know it had a name until Fadiman told me.)
In addition to Fadiman's personal stories and insights, there are so many interesting anecdotes and historical facts that you just don't learn through the course of a general education. Her ability to link seemingly disparate ideas into a holistic view emphasizes the interconnections between the past and the present, between private lives and public, between perception and reality.
All of the essays stand completely alone but of course it's nice to have them gathered neatly in one little book to dip into when the mood strikes. And the extensive list of resources makes for a pretty good future reading list.
May 23, 2010
I struggled with whether to give this 4 or 5 stars because it's not my favorite Anne Fadiman book (_Ex Libris_ was so funny and endearing and _The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down_ was so fascinating and relevant to my interests), but it's still extremely well written, interesting, educational and funny. I may have said it before, but essays are one of my favorite genres (tied for first with British children's novels). I just get a lot out of the mix of anecdote + nonfiction + opinion(s) I tend to find in essays.
The worst part of this book is Fadiman's casual reference to her elite upbringing/lifestyle. (Maybe she doesn't know how she sounds when she tosses out mention of her lawn's "topiary peacocks" or when she identifies her Harvard dorm so familiarly (since who wouldn't know the famous Dunster Hall?) or when she repeatedly calls her current home "our SoHo loft"? Or maybe everyone in her circle just talks like that, or maybe she's just being herself?) Regardless, this is a minor irritation in an otherwise lovely collection of essays.
The many best parts of this book follow. To anyone who has read that Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society book: Fadiman includes an essay on Charles Lamb, who is frequently mentioned in the Potato Peel Pie book, and one on Coleridge, one of his contemporaries. Both essays are well researched, pretty funny and made me want to read more of their subjects' works. There are delightful essays on coffee and ice cream, which I particularly enjoyed, since those are 2 of Marcie's med school food groups (the third and fourth being "free pizza" and "protein bars"). The essay on "Mail" documents the history of the Victorian mail system and the beginning of the use of stamps, and has some hilarious commentary on email (LOL!!!). Her essays on the American flag (and specifically its changing significance after 9/11) and on a classmate who died on a canoe trip are more serious, but she excels equally in this arena as in humor. The only essay I didn't connect with very well was entitled "Procrustes and the Culture Wars;" it seemed oriented toward academics studying literature, and I didn't feel like I had the background to follow her points as well as I could have, were I her intended audience. All in all, very enjoyable read, and I hope there is much more to come from Fadiman.
The worst part of this book is Fadiman's casual reference to her elite upbringing/lifestyle. (Maybe she doesn't know how she sounds when she tosses out mention of her lawn's "topiary peacocks" or when she identifies her Harvard dorm so familiarly (since who wouldn't know the famous Dunster Hall?) or when she repeatedly calls her current home "our SoHo loft"? Or maybe everyone in her circle just talks like that, or maybe she's just being herself?) Regardless, this is a minor irritation in an otherwise lovely collection of essays.
The many best parts of this book follow. To anyone who has read that Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society book: Fadiman includes an essay on Charles Lamb, who is frequently mentioned in the Potato Peel Pie book, and one on Coleridge, one of his contemporaries. Both essays are well researched, pretty funny and made me want to read more of their subjects' works. There are delightful essays on coffee and ice cream, which I particularly enjoyed, since those are 2 of Marcie's med school food groups (the third and fourth being "free pizza" and "protein bars"). The essay on "Mail" documents the history of the Victorian mail system and the beginning of the use of stamps, and has some hilarious commentary on email (LOL!!!). Her essays on the American flag (and specifically its changing significance after 9/11) and on a classmate who died on a canoe trip are more serious, but she excels equally in this arena as in humor. The only essay I didn't connect with very well was entitled "Procrustes and the Culture Wars;" it seemed oriented toward academics studying literature, and I didn't feel like I had the background to follow her points as well as I could have, were I her intended audience. All in all, very enjoyable read, and I hope there is much more to come from Fadiman.
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