Saturday, May 11, 2013

You-are-there reading

I'm reading an enchanting book of essays, Ex Libris, by Anne Fadiman. These essays seem effortless, but like faultless craftmanship of all kinds, the appearance of effortlessness is the mark of something that is definitely not effortless. And like many great essays, these are a magic mixture of personal tone, research that does not announce itself and content that has the reader saying 'ah!'.
One of the essays is 'You Are There', an exploration of 'the practice of reading books in the places they describe'. As well as being a fan of the practice, Fadiman outlines her own, and the exploits of other passionate devotees in such places across time, including her friend Adam, 'who once read the ninth book of the Odyssey, in Greek, in what is believed to be Cyclop's cave'.
I've often felt the connection of songs to cities, but the closest I came to you-are-there reading was when I started reading Anna Funder's All That I Am while travelling through Germany last year. I understand the idea of 'you-are-there' reading, but I-was-there-when-I-was-knitting [insert name of garment or knitted object] is something that I am more familiar with.