by Annie Spence
2. I prefer “Do Tell” to “Tell All.” The former sounds more like giddy friends holding hands and whispering than skeazy, invasive “Tell All.” Stay off my nuts about it.
Celebrity Biographies
1. For a list of my All-Time Top Bios and Memoirs, see here.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
1. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” means “If you sit in Dad’s chair, you’ll see you can see your basket behind the TV.”
Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
1. For a list of books to read after Ghost World, see here.
The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer
1. But for a list of books about girls and romance that don’t make me cringe, see here.
The Ice-Skater’s Bible, 1982 edition, by Richard Montgomery
1. Award received: Olympic Gold, pairs program.
Cult of the Born-Again Virgin: How Single Women Can Reclaim Their Sexual Power by Wendy Keller
1. Of course, if you like something about yourself, it has to be “secretly.” Why would women openly like things about themselves? That’s ridiculous.
He’s Just Not That into Literacy: Turning Your Lover into a Reader
1. This person’s mom got the Pungent Chicken Liver recipe from page 233 of the 1969 edition of Evan Frances’s Family Diet Book, so don’t let her tell you she “threw it together.”
NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The wonderful Toad-isms quoted here are from the following stories by Arnold Lobel, in order of appearance: “Spring,” “Swimming,” “The Hat,” “Cookies,” “Alone,” “Christmas Eve,” “Tomorrow,” “The Hat.”
The plays quoted here are all selections from volumes 1 and 2 of Scenes for Student Actors by Frances Cosgrove. The plays quoted are as follows, in order of appearance: Small Miracle by Norman Krasna, The House of Connelly by Paul Green, Nine Til Six by Aimee Philip Stuart, Big Lake by Lynn Riggs, The Last Mile by John Wexley, Berkeley Square by John L. Balderston, Something to Live For by George O’Neil, The First Legion by Emmet Lavery, Lucrece by Thornton Wilder, The House of Connelly by Paul Green, Accent on Youth by Samson Raphaelson, When Ladies Meet by Rachel Crothers, Dodsworth by Sinclair Lewis, and Rebound by Donald Ogden Stewart.
* * *
This book would not, could not be without my agent, Laurie Fox, and a little bit of fate, but mostly Laurie, who liked my writing and took a leap with me and has since provided so much knowledge and encouragement.
Endless thanks also to my editor, Amy Einhorn, who gave me guidance and reminded me to trust my voice, whom I know is the best because every time someone asked who my editor was and I told them, they just about did a spit-take, and to associate editor Caroline Bleeke, who gave me great encouragement and answered each question I had not only promptly and correctly but sweetly. Conveying all these things over email is an art. To the team at Flatiron Books, who made me feel welcome and showed me patience with the occasional gentle push when needed and who worked hard to make this book into A Book.
To my library friends, Heather Booth and Samantha Minnis, who helped me think like a librarian when my brain was mushy. To Kristen Talaga, who partnered with me to make the Fine Print blog a thing, and Brice Bush who supported me and had a secret shelf of ridiculous books for me to cull from.
To my family, who never thought I wouldn’t write a book. To Michael and Walden, who left me to type and freeze in the back room and, after I resurfaced, warmed my icy hands in theirs and drew me pictures to make me feel “very much better.”
To Daniel Tiger, who allowed me an extra half hour of work without the guilt. To Bruce Willis and the cast of Moonlighting, who welcomed me with open arms when I couldn’t write another word.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Annie Spence can read while doing almost anything else: walking, cooking breakfast, pretending to be interested in a conversation. She has spent the last decade as a librarian at public libraries in the Midwest and lives in Detroit with her husband and son. Dear Fahrenheit 451 is her first book.
Visit her online at www.anniespence.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Introduction
I. Books—The Letters
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Calculating Book: Fun and Games with Your Pocket Calculator by James T. Rogers
The Miss Marple Series by Agatha Christie
Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Pulitzer Prize–Winning Books
Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian by E L James
Big Stone Gap Series by Adriana Trigiani
Misery by Stephen King
The Fancy Bookshelf at a Party I Wasn’t Technically Invited To
Street Biking: How to Ride to Save Your Hide by Bob Jackson
Frog and Toad Storybook Treasury by Arnold Lobel
Killing Kennedy and others by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
The Easy Rawlins Mystery Series by Walter Mosley
Scenes for Student Actors: Dramatic Selections from New Plays by Frances Cosgrove
Color Me Beautiful by Carole Jackson
The Fledgling by Jane Langton
Cornzapoppin’!: Popcorn Recipes and Party Ideas for All Occasions by Barbara Williams
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Coming Out Straight: Understanding and Healing Homosexuality by Richard Cohen
Book That Jeffrey Eugenides May Have Owned and Written Personal Notes In
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Women of the Street: Making It on Wall Street—The World’s Toughest Business by Sue Herera
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel García Márquez
The One-Hour Orgasm: A New Approach to Achieving Maximum Sexual Pleasure by Bob Schwartz
Another Saturday Night of Wild and Reckless Abandon: A Cathy Collection by Cathy Guisewite
Celebrity Autobiographies
Celebrity Biographies
My Truck Book by Ellen Kirk
Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
The Harlequin Romance Spinner Rack
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Books I Imagine My Upstairs Neighbor Reads
Principles of Bloodstain Pattern Analysis by Stuart H. James, Paul E. Kish, and T. Paulette Sutton
An Education by Lynn Barber
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin
The Leisure Alternatives Catalog, 1979, edited by Joseph Allen
Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer
The Penguin Roget’s College Thesaurus in Dictionary Form compiled by Philip D. Morehead
Marley and Me by John Grogan
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Public Library Children’s Section
Pictorial Anatomy of the Cat by Stephen G. Gilbert
Revenge of the Lawn: Stories, 1962–1970 by Richard Brautigan
The Ice-Skater’s Bible, 1982 edition, by Richard Montgomery
Cult of the Born-Again Virgin: How Single Women Can Reclaim Their Sexual Power by Wendy Keller
Bunnicula by James Howe
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Better Homes and Gardens Dieting for One
Forever by Judy Blume
Magnificent Library Featured in Beauty and the Beast Movie
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Future Book Collection
II. Special Subjects—Library Employees—Assistance to Readers
I’d Rather Be Reading:
Excuses to Tell Your Friends So You Can Stay Home with Your Books
Book Hookups:
Ménage à Livre (You and Two Books)
Readin’ Nerdy:
Books About Librarians
Falling Down the Rabbit Hole:
Books That Lead to More Books
He’s Just Not That into Literacy:
Turning Your Lover into a Reader
Literal Reality:
Get Outta This World, Get into These Books
Blind Date:
Good Books with Bad Covers
Recovery Reads:
A Book Lover’s Hair of the Dog
Through Thick and Thin:
Books for the Lazy, the Lively, the Long-Winded, and the Lethargic
For Keeps:
Books I’ll Never Break Up With
Collect Them All!
Epilogue
Notes
Notes and Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
DEAR FAHRENHEIT 451. Copyright © 2017 by Annie Spence. All rights reserved. For information, address Flatiron Books, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.flatironbooks.com
Cover design by Lauren Harms
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-10649-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-11388-7 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250113887
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: September 2017
