Letter to a Future Lover: Marginalia, Errata, Secrets, Inscriptions, and Other Ephemera Found in Libraries by Ander MonsonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Collected essays inspired by the things left in library books - this is the type of book I'm always drawn to, the type that I could see myself writing, and yet Monson's take was worlds different from what I expected.
First thoughts: There are moments of genius in these essays. Other times, I'm confused. I know they weren't originally bound and ordered this way, so I wonder if there's an order to the essays that would reveal a different narrative. I found some of the topics extremely interesting with my 1.5 class library school background.
Favorite quotes:
"Each book in which you lose yourself equals ten thousand you will not have time to read." (bittersweet!)
"Own the ways we break, it seems to say: understand that the fault lines of a mind or body are individual, and honor them."
"We often move through books more quickly than is wise." (guilty)
"Everything we've written, what we've read, what we've collected, what we've bookmarked on what pages, what notes we left pressed herein, what we have included, discarded, defaced, lost and then replaced, how it's filed and organized: it's all a carrier, a vector, an edifice of us."
Recommended for: librarian wannabes, love letter leavers, organizers, memory keepers, collectors, and romantics.
Final thoughts: Hmm. An interesting book to dip into, and a solid short-but-slow read, if that's what you're feeling.
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