Comment

Dear Fahrenheit 451

Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks : a Librarian's Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life
Jun 17, 2019
Spence randomly drops F-bombs in the most unnecessary places in her book. Every time it was jarring, and I felt embarrassed for her, as if my boss had just heard me swear. I’m not against cursing in books, but because swears are so potent, they have to be wielded wisely, not ubiquitous, or they lose all meaning and the author ends up sounding like an “edgy” teenager. It’s okay, Spence. You’re an adult. You can do swears. You can eat cake for breakfast. You still shouldn’t do either all the time even though your parents aren’t around to punish you. Although the voice narrator, Stephanie Spicer, has a clear, easy to understand style of reading, that didn’t make up for the snooze-fest near the end. The author shifts gears and decides it’s appropriate to make a list of books in a book. Books with librarians in them, for example. It’s almost like someone narrated a Goodreads list to me, giving a 1-2 sentence synopsis for each novel. I found it impossible to focus, and on my long commute, this section was a threat to my ability to stay awake.