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Bibliophobia : a memoir / Sarah Chihaya.

Chihaya, Sarah, (author.).

Summary:

"Have you ever read a book and felt so gutted by it that you knew you'd never recover? That it made you sit differently in your own skin? A book that complicated everything you believed in and changed the way you read the world around you forever? This is what Sarah Chihaya calls a "Life Ruiner". Sarah's Life Ruiner was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. When she read it in her high school English class, she could no longer pretend not to notice how alien she felt as a Japanese American in a predominantly White suburb of Cleveland. Shaken, she set out on a quest-for the book that would show her who she was and how to live in an inhospitable world. There were lots of scripts available, and she tried to follow them-skinny athlete, angsty artist, ambitious academic. But a lifelong struggle with depression thwarted the resolution to every plot, and when she was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown, the world became an unreadable blank page. In the aftermath, she was faced with a question: can we ever truly rewrite the stories that govern our lives? Alternately searing and laugh-out-loud funny, Bibliophobia is a deft combination of memoir and criticism in the vein of Geoff Dyer and Olivia Laing. Through a series of books, including The Bluest Eye, Anne of Green Gables, Possession, A Tale for the Time Being, and The Last Samurai, Sarah Chihaya interrogates her cultural identity, her relationship with depression, and the necessary and painful ways that books can push back on the readers who love them"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780593594728
  • ISBN: 059359472X
  • ISBN: 9780593594742
  • Physical Description: xiv, 214 pages ; 22 cm
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York : Random House, 2025

Content descriptions

Formatted Contents Note:
Bibliophobia -- Canadian world -- Cut, shuffle, cut -- The non-existent pelt -- A glass essay -- A tale for nonbeing -- Unquiet graves -- Epilogue. Yarrow stalks.
Subject:
Chihaya, Sarah > Books and reading.
Chihaya, Sarah > Mental health.
Critics > United States > Biography.
Books and reading > Psychological aspects.
Genre:
Autobiographies.

Available copies

  • 15 of 16 copies available at NC Cardinal.
  • 1 of 1 copy available at McDowell County Public Library. (Show)

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 16 total copies.
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Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Marion Library BIO CHI (Text) 37810460011611 Adult New Biography Available -
Albemarle Main Library B Chihaya (Text) 31010000898702 Adult Biography Available -
Black Mountain Library B CHIHAYA (Text) 0020660429034 Adult Biography Available -
Cumberland Headquarters 801.9509 CHI (Text) 31781069061461 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Goldsboro Library B CHIHAYA (Text) 900005000284162 Adult Biography Available -
Harnett County Main Library B CHIHAYA Chi (Text) 33630005519728 Adult Biography Available -
Henderson Main Branch CHIHAYA (Text) 33258009648150 Adult Biography Checked out 08/25/2026
High Point Library 801.9509 Chihaya (Text) 30519010962507 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Hope Mills Library 801.9509 CHI (Text) 31781069061479 Adult Nonfiction Available -
North Asheville Library B CHIHAYA (Text) 0020660429174 Adult Biography Available -