Bibliophobia

Reviews

“A wise, tremendously moving exploration of what it means to seek companionship and understanding, in books and in life.”—Hua Hsu, author of Stay True

“Bibliophobia gave me, well . . . bibliophobia. Sarah Chihaya has written a book that’s so wise, so funny, so understanding of all the layering foibles and tragedies that can form a person, that by the end, I held the book with a feeling of awe.”—Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby

“Bibliophobia feels like the first book I have ever read that accords the correct (massive) weight to the role of books in my own life, reminding me how high the stakes were when I first fell in love with reading, and restoring to me the sense that books are still a matter of life and death. At once a radical analysis of the relationship between reading, writing, and suicide, and a case study in how seemingly unnarratable and overwhelming experience can be transformed into a transcendent book. A must for any obsessive reader.”—Elif Batuman, author of The Idiot, Either/Or, and Possessed

“Reading Bibliophobia is like having a deep and intimate conversation with a kindred lover of literature: The world may not become better, but in this conversation we each become less isolated and lonely.”—Yiyun Li, author of The Book of Goose

“A beautiful, rapturous, and darkly funny meditation on the mutual ruin, love, haunting, heartbreak, betrayal, fear, and dependence that we share with the books that wreck and redeem our lives.”—Namwali Serpell, author of The Furrows

“An instant classic. This heady, confiding memoir offers a refreshingly nuanced take on what books do to us. Sarah Chihaya has done something remarkable: written a book about losing yourself in books that you can lose yourself in.”—Ada Calhoun, New York Times bestselling author of Why We Can’t Sleep

“Sarah Chihaya is funny, subtle, and—particularly when writing about her own life—as sharp as cut glass.”—Andrea Long Chu, Pulitzer Prize–winning New York magazine critic

“Passionate reading entwines with madness in essayist and NYU English instructor Chihaya’s plaintive debut. Evocative and astute . . . her literary analysis is thought-provoking and graceful. The result is a revelatory meditation on the unsettling resonances between life and literature.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“With beauty and precision, Chihaya weaves her experiences as a lifetime reader and deep appreciator of books into accounts of heartbreak, identity issues, mental-health crises, and family. She analyzes pivotal texts with generosity, vulnerability, and humor . . . [Bibliophobia] may encourage rereading or reading anew, and taking a closer look into how literature can sustain or derail us. It also feels like a force that may become, for some, its own brand of Life Ruiner.”—Booklist, starred review Expand reviews