Dear Fahrenheit 451: Librarian Annie Spence Tells Books What She Thinks About Them

Back in my late twenties I considered returning to school for a degree in library science. My BA in English was not getting me very far in the late 1970s economy.

It made sense, after all, for when I was a girl hanging around libraries I imagined being the book answer person. Patrons would shyly come to me, uncertain and lost, and I would give them instructions on how to find that end-of-the-rainbow treasure of The Perfect Book for their reading pleasure.

I dreamt of being intimate with books, knowing them deeply, freely dispensing of my fount of wisdom.

Over the years I have known many librarians in many small Michigan communities. But I never joined their numbers.
Instead, I grew up to blog about books. I still get to freely dispense my fount of whatever, but sans salary.

When Dear Fahrenheit 451 appeared on NetGalley, it caught my eye right off, and I put in a "Wish For It" request which, I am grateful, Flatiron Books granted. I was happy to learn that author and librarian Annie Spence is a Michigan native who grew up in Metro Detroit and who currently is a librarian in Metro Detroit. I do love supporting Michigan and Detroit area authors!

Subtitled, Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks, a Librarian's Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life, this bookish memoir includes letters to specific books and short essays on "Special Subjects" including Books about Librarians, Good Books with Bad Covers, and Turning Your Lover into a Reader. Spence adopts a casual writing voice, dealing out jabs and jokes, gushing paenes and sage advice, never boring or dull. Spence's love of books and what they have given her is celebrated, but she also reflects the truism that we fall out of love with some books and others leave us flat.

The books Spence addresses are varied, many of which I have not read and frankly, I skimmed some letters to books I don't know at this time. This is not a book you must read cover to end, you can pick and choose, returning to it now and then. At other times she piqued my interest in a book I had not read, like Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides, set in Detroit; I have only read the author's Middlesex and The Marriage Plot.

There are letters to Color Me Beautiful and The Hobbit, Wicked and Cannery Row, Blood Meridian and Matilda, the Harlequin Spinner Rack at the library, and the Public Library Children's Section. She addresses problems all readers share: I'd Rather Be Reading, Excuses to Tell Your Friends So You Can Stay Home With Your Books, and He's Just Not That Into Literacy: Turning Your Lover into a Reader. Book suggestions are offered with short reviews of books on a theme, and the Books I'll Never Break Up With includes her "forever bookshelf" loves.

Spence has written an extended love letter to books and libraries, extolling the joy of reading. It was great fun to read.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Dear Fahrenheit 451
Annie Spence
Flatiron Books
$18.99 hard cover
ISBN: 9781250106490