Customer Reviews

A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict

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This is a engaging, entertaining memoir by a true book lover. The leisurely, slightly discursive way in which John Baxter unfolds his life story led me into imagining I had struck up a conversation with him in a musty second-hand book shop; and found his story so entertaining that I invited him across the street to a dark, smoky pub to continue the tale over several tall pints of lager.

Baxter grew up in Australia, and has since called London, Los Angeles and Paris home. He's been a broadcaster, novelist, biographer and film critic. The one constant thread in this far-ranging life has been his love of books. As a young adult, he became obsessed with science fiction. While living in London, he stumbled on a rare copy of a Graham Greene children's book, which served as the basis for a Greene collection he spent several years building.

In this book, he celebrates some of the most memorable people he's encountered along the way, including book runner Martin Stone (A book runner makes his living, if you can call it that, by buying and reselling books from flea markets, thrift stores and the like); and several literary greats, including Kingsley Amis, Ray Bradbury and Harry Harrison. He also explores collectors of erotica, the difference between Paris and London bookshops, skewers the ignorance of many eBay sellers, and has a grand good time through it all. The closing scene, where he brings all the books he owns together in one place for the first time in his life, had a special resonance for me....it's something I dream of in my own life. For book lovers everywhere.--William C. Hall

Though I do not believe in censorship, books like A POUND OF PAPER: CONFESSIONS OF A BOOK ADDICT need to be hidden from family members. Bibliophiles know the affinity that film biographer John Baxter shares with us. Though not chasing around the world like Mr. Baxter has, book lovers will comprehend the need to hit the obscure bookstore whether on a business trip or a vacation. Going to Europe includes visits to the neighborhood bookstores of Athens and Rome (Greece and Italy not Georgia) as key to the itinerary.

Book lovers can commiserate with Mr. Baxter as everyone thinks you're a nut whether one grows up in rural Australia or the urban Bronx. Mr. Baxter provides a bit of book history beyond just the printing press invention and gives insight into proofs and galleys, and limited editions. He also goes into depth of what havoc and destruction the Information Age via the Internet has had on bookstores including the global yard sale of eBay. Though he adds other personal non-book elements of his life, it is his love for the printed media that will hook readers like me whose house displays the destruction of several rain forests (it is hard to be an environmentalist in my abode). Clearly for book hoarders though film addicts might try a spin as Mr. Baxter is part of that community too.

Harriet Klausner

This was a terrible disappointment. More of a memoir than anything about book-collecting, it was so disjointed it is hard to say what it was about or what the point was. There seemed to be no context or fabric to the book.

There were, however, HUNDREDS of references to obscure authors, actors, film-writers, magazines and books. There were pages at a time where I was completely lost because I had no idea about whom the author was speaking, but he wrote as if the person was well-known to the reader.

Baxter leads the reader around the world from his beginnings in Australia, thence to Britain to the US and ending in France. Again, there is no context. He would flip from a reference to the obscure artist, to an anecdote about himself or some bookseller or collector and then perhaps mention how he had acquired a book.

If viewed as a book about collecting books, you will not learn much. If viewed as a memoir, there was little that was interesting about the author's life and there was precious little about his life other than acquisitions.

There were a very few nuggets about what makes a book valuable or diminishes its worth to a collector, but they were too few and far between.

If you could not tell by now, I can not see much reason to read this book. I think Mr. Baxter flattered himself to think that either he or his collection would be of general interest.

I am a book collector and I enjoy my passion very much. Many people would say I'm obsessed but it only takes a book like this one to remind myself that I'm in the minor leagues.

Part memoir and part peek into the world of book collecting, Baxter tells of his youth in the wilds of Australia where, like many of us, he delved into the world of comic book and science fiction collecting. He matured along the way with an interest in Graham Greene before dumping that collection and moving onto other literary interests.

And he did not stay in the wilds of Australia forever. He travelled and made his way up in the world of film and publishing. Baxter has had the fortune as a film critic, writer and collector to meet a number of interesting people, from the writers he collected to eccentric bookmen like Martin Stone. The book has a definite British flavor, though Baxter has made some forays into the United States. Still, any book collector will see things he recognizes in Baxter's experiences and, in some cases, things we wished we could have experienced ourselves.

Let's face it, a person with a passion for book collecting will feel some jealousy when reading of some of Baxter's finds and encounters. Unfortunately, most of us do not have the means and/or opportunity to do some of the things Baxter has done. But this does not totally diminish the fun in seeing how he was able to come to have the experiences he had and it makes for a great read for anyone interested in books.

By Bill Marsano. The very first thing you should know is that this is a book about collecting, not just book collecting. Collecting--the determined search for specific objects on a given theme--is pretty much the same kind of mania for all collectors, whether they're after vintage cars, rare stamps and coins or--as in this case--books, and whether the treasure they seeks are top dollar or bottom. Every kind of collecting develops its own little cultures and subcultures, its side streets and back alleys, its characters loved or hated or legendary. And, of course, its litany of heart-lifting successes and heart-breaking failures. So if you collect (as distinct from accumulate) or if you know a collector, this book is a definite buy.

John Baxter's collecting, which began with science fiction, made him into a short-story writer then a scriptwriter then a novelist and a teacher. He begins his trek in a desolate tank town in Australia, where things start slowly, but he soon moves on--and ups the pace and tension--to London, the U.S. (East Coast and West) and finally Paris. The whole journey runs along like a thrill ride as you join Baxter in a series of adventures and misadventures with his assortment of bookstruck ne-er-do-wells and genial lowlifes.

There are only pluses to this book. Plenty of amusing incidents and anecdotes, lots of inside information about book collecting (appplicable to collecting in general) and to top it all off, superb writing. Baxter writes vivid, imaginative, entertaining prose. He is a delight to read.--Bill Marsano is an award-winning travel writer, an editor and a desultory book collector.

The book is a mixture of tidbits about famous collectors, the author's coming of age in Australia, obscure collectibles/authors, and whatever else came to the author's mind. Maybe a hardcore collector could keep up with this account.
I gave it up after 118 pages. I love books and was interested in the Australian descriptions, but became discouraged by the disjointedness of the book.

John Baxter grew up in rural Australia during the 1950s, and found that reading books was not highly regarded. Owning and collecting books was by no means a common pursuit then either, but this didn't stop John from developing a passion for books, and their ownership, which has grown through obsession into a major collection.

I don't completely share the obsession, but I love reading books about books. I enjoy finding out what books other bibliophiles value, and why. The connections between books, their authors and readers are interesting to read about as well.

In John Baxter's case, while his book hunting has taken him around the world, his first significant find was in London, in 1978, when he saw a copy of a rare children's book by Graham Greene (`The Little Horse Bus') with an asking price of 5pence. On the same day John met Martin Stone, one of the legends of the book-selling world, who became his mentor and friend. What makes this book memorable is the inside look into the various worlds of book collecting: the sometimes fascinating people involved in the trade (such as Martin Stone); distinguishing some of the many variables that make books collectible or not; and (of course) his contact with literary figures such as Graham Greene, Kingsley Amis and Ray Bradbury.

Along the way, John Baxter became a biographer (he has written biographies of George Lucas, Woody Allen, and Stanley Kubrick) and has written a number of other books about films and those who make them. It's interesting to read about how the boy from rural Australia ended up living in a Paris penthouse with a library worth millions. But the real fun, for me, was in the appendices: from the various lists that some collectors would like to fill (such as all of the winners of particular prizes); to which published book an individual would choose to grab from their shelves if their house was on fire; and finishing with some book collecting gems culled from eBay. My current favourite from the final category is:

`ALEX HALEY SINGED 1st ED. - `ROOTS' - HB w/DJ'

`Rarity can be created, but not value. That has to be achieved. It gathers on a book like the patina of a bronze, over decades of diligence and care.'

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

I've been on a kick lately where I'm reading lots of "books about books," and/or "books about reading," which led me to pick this one up. The subtitle "Confessions of a Book Addict" is an apt one, as this is essentially a rambling memoir whose only unifying theme is the author's love of books. And while it does delve into the rarefied (and often grubby) realm of book collecting and collectors, that's not really the focus. Actually, other than the author's lifelong love of books and telling a good story, there is no real focus -- which really isn't a problem, since Baxter is able to maintain the breezy entertaining cadence of born raconteurs. And although like many raconteurs, his stories sometimes veer in unexpected directions and digressions, they are rarely unwelcome ones.


Baxter (a sometime fiction writer and noted film biographer) begins at the beginning, outlining his drab and dreary Australian childhood. Like so many bored kids, he found an outlet in books, films, and eventually pulp magazines. As a teen and young man, he grew up something of a science-fiction fanboy, joining the inner circle of Australia's minuscule sci-fi community, while working a dreary job for the national railroads. After some initial forays into writing (including bios for a porn mag), he heads to London, where his love affair with books turns him from a consumer into a collector. The reader tags along with Baxter as he hobnobs with the weird-but-true characters of the used book trade in London, before he heads off to Roanoke, Virginia to teach, then Los Angeles, and eventually Paris, accumulating and then shedding books along the way.

One has to accept that a lot of the authors and personalities he encounters and discusses aren't exactly household names -- especially for American readers. But the point is not name-dropping (well, maybe that's a little bit of the point), but to recall the bon mots and funny moments he's has around the literati and the scrubby "runners" who formed the backbone of the pre-internet used book trade. And as Baxter ages, the anecdotes shift from bidding on books off the back of a cart in a filthy London back lane, to the high tech book trade now conducted on Albiris and eBay. Collectors of any ilk will thrill along with Baxter as he recounts finding treasure troves of rarities in places overlooked by others -- hope springs eternal! And even if you're not a collector, it's hard not to smile at his colorful descriptions of such disparate scenes as outback movie theaters, '70s orgies (not something I expected in a book about books!), the peculiar nature of Paris bookshops, and the proper decor of one's office in a small Southern college.

To be sure, this is a book by a book lover and for other book lovers. That said, it's not 100% about books by any stretch, and the meandering prose has its dead spots. But on the whole, it's a pretty entertaining memoir, full of unexpected scenes and insights.

What a wonderful book this is. John Baxter shows us his real self and the things that matter the most to him. If you're interested in getting inside stories about the used and rare trade, this is the book for you! Filled with bits that are fascinating, funny, sad and all true.

Very engaging book for biliophiles. Found myself in all the book nooks & crannies of the world. As a merchant seaman I have been to Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, Copenhagen book shops & stalls seeking books to read on the voyage back to San Francisco.