{"product_id":"bibliophobia-a-memoir","title":"Bibliophobia: A Memoir","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"A wise, tremendously moving exploration of what it means to seek companionship and understanding, in books and in life.\"--Hua Hsu, author of \u003ci\u003eStay True\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Stirring and sparkling.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003ePUBLISHERS WEEKLY \u003c\/i\u003eAND\u003ci\u003e ELECTRIC LIT \u003c\/i\u003eBEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE MONTH: \u003ci\u003eTime, Los Angeles Times, Cosmopolitan \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eBooks can seduce you. \u003c\/b\u003eThey can, Sarah Chihaya believes, annihilate, reveal, and provoke you. And anyone incurably obsessed with books understands this kind of unsettling literary encounter. Sarah calls books that have this effect \"Life Ruiners\". \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHer Life Ruiner, Toni Morrison's \u003ci\u003eThe Bluest Eye, \u003c\/i\u003ebecame a talisman for her in high school when its electrifying treatment of race exposed Sarah's deepest feelings about being Japanese American in a predominantly white suburb of Cleveland. But Sarah had always lived through her books, seeking escape, self-definition, and rules for living. She built her life around reading, wrote criticism, and taught literature at an Ivy League University. Then she was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown, and the world became an unreadable blank page. In the aftermath, she was faced with a question. Could we ever truly rewrite the stories that govern our lives? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eBibliophobia\u003c\/i\u003e is an alternately searing and darkly humorous story of breakdown and survival told through books. Delving into texts such as \u003ci\u003eAnne of Green Gables, Possession, A Tale for the Time Being, The Last Samurai\u003c\/i\u003e, Chihaya interrogates her cultural identity, her relationship with depression, and the intoxicating, sometimes painful, ways books push back on those who love them.","brand":"Sarah Chihaya","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53720561484140,"sku":"9780593594742","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0912\/7985\/1884\/files\/9780593594742-us.jpg?v=1778177253","url":"https:\/\/commercestreetbooks.com\/products\/bibliophobia-a-memoir","provider":"Commerce Street Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}