Loved, loved, loved this ARC I received courtesy of netgalley. As a fellow librarian and lover of books, I especially enjoyed her stories about reader's advisory. And her letters to the books she is weeding are hilarious! I found myself compelled to read bits out loud to my husband. This book had me laughing out loud and in tears at some points. I highly, highly recommend this to librarians and or book lovers. Unfortunately for me, I have even more books to add to my to read piles. On the top? The Virgin Suicides.......

Disappointing, Scattered. Meh. This book neither held my interest nor inspired me to pick up any of the books she recommended. Maybe I just didn't relate at all to the author, even though I was a librarian for 32 years?

Dear Fahrenheit 451 starts off so strong. The beginning of the book starts out with such an accurate explanation of librarianship that I felt like I could have written it myself. And I enjoyed it for the first few letters. Unfortunately, after a while, it became a bit repetitive and the letters were hard to differentiate. I also wondered if there would be much appeal for the book beyond librarians and truly avid (and nonjudgmental) book lovers, because it feels like most people wouldn't understand the appeal of discussing so many different books. I say that the readers would have to be nonjudgmental because of the varied opinions, and how easily someone could be turned off by the views on certain books they may or may not have liked. In that vein, I wish that Spence had been a bit less predictably judgmental at times. Bashing Nicholas Sparks and Twilight is hardly a radical move, and it feels like a no-risk opinion to have.

Other quibbles: Spence's use of the phrase "spirit animal" in the Frog and Toad Adventures chapter made me cringe and I hope it will be removed before final publication. Also, it would have been nice to see Spence address more radical titles than the standard ones found in most English classes. I understand that the book needs to be accessible, but it could have been an excellent opportunity to introduce readers to other titles.

OH man I loved this book. I connected with the author's letters on so many levels: as pre-teen and teenage me reading Judy Blume and Sarah Dessen books for fun; as college English Literature major me reading both wonderful and terrible books considered the great novels of the world; as library school me reading some of the classics I didn't have a chance to pick up in college as a means of brief escape from the misery of graduate coursework; and MOST importantly as librarian me, a conglomeration of all of those readers. I often think about what I'd like to say to the books that have had an impact on me, books I've both loved and hated. Annie Spence says it for me. I obviously enjoyed it as a fellow library professional, but I think any reading enthusiast will get great joy and satisfaction out of reading Spence's letters. Bravo Annie!

I was interested in reading this as soon as a I saw it, both because I am also a librarian, and because I enjoy reading this kind of memoir (book memoir? reading memoir?). This was such a fun read. I laughed out loud on multiple occasions. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading (and has gone through the trials of breaking up with a once-beloved book).

OMG!! This bok is so amazingly awesome. I have been telling all my fellow library co-workers about it. It's so refreshingly humorous and I feel like Annie knows exactly how I feel when it's time to weed. I'm so glad I took the time to request this book. It's a keeper and should be on every shelf in America!
Thanks for the laughs😂,
Annette

A wonderful review of books by Generation X Librarian. I loved the quirky letters to the books (as though they are real and yes, there are to those of us who love books). Humorous, fun, easy to read. Just fabulous.

Dear "Dear Fahrenheit 451,"
I have to say that you hooked me in with the very first letter. Once you described your childhood and your career, I knew we would be best friends. Like your author, I grew up less than wealthy and used books to go on adventures and vacations we could never take in real life. I fell into being a public library librarian and love most of the career...Come on there are points in every job where you could just do without. I loved the letters to books you haven't read and WHY you haven't read them. I honestly think that high school teachers should make writing letters to the books the students are assigned to read another assignment and then hand them a copy of them as they leave for college telling them to reread the book now that they are older and wiser. Thank you for creating the spark in me to want to reread some of the books that are sitting on my shelf right now just begging for me to come home once more.

It was a pleasure,

Molli

There is no task librarians love and loathe more than weeding, or one more misunderstood by patrons. All books, good or bad, have a shelf life – they may be tattered and torn from too much love or neglected and lonely because they are out of date, unattractive, or just plain poorly written. Spence’s homage to the books in her collection, both the keepers and those that must go to the great book drop in the sky, will resound not only with librarians, but all book lovers. A true testament to our devotion to the written word

Wow! Slip into the world of the public librarian; funny, ironic, frustrated, informative, defensive, combative, inventive, enthusiastic, and generous. I enjoyed this book, period.

This quick reading book is a celebration of books and the people that love them. Every librarian will identify with it and recognize many of the conversations with patrons. Book lovers will recognize the love for books and the need to be surrounded by them. Full of book suggestions and love of the printed word. It is a must read for all librarians and book lovers.

I am writing this with happy tears in my eyes. Yes, Dear Fahrenheit 451 made me so happy that I cried. And I want to hug my librarian friends and every librarian on shift at my local library. Annie Spence is totally my new author bestie. I want to drink wine and read books with her.
Dear Fahrenheit 451 is a wonderful, irreverent, and heartfelt book about books. The first part of the book is the letters mentioned in the title - they are great! The rest of the book is filled with book recommendations for every mood and type of reader.
If I hadn't started this book at bedtime, I would have read it in one sitting. It is definitely a book I will come back to over and over. I will not be weeding it from my shelves.

I love this book. As a librarian I connect with everything she's written. I haven't laughed this hard because of a book in a long time.

This was a really sweet book with a narrow appeal, mostly to veteran librarians or booksellers. I had read many of the books she discussed, but I confess that I skipped most of the parts about books I wasn't familiar with. I loved her asides about library patrons.

I strongly suspect this was assembled from a series of blog posts, where the format would have been, in smaller doses, fun and charming. Instead, this is cutsey letter after letter to the books Spence is weeding from her public library and home collection--for being trite, worn out from use, or hopelessly out of date.

This was a fun read. It tells you personal thoughts on a wide variety of books from all different genres. I couldn't put it down and found myself laughing more often than not. I will hand sell this book as soon a I can short list it at my store. Well done. Thank you for the ARC on this one. Can't wait to get it in.