Overview

The Book Rat's Daughter is Carolyn Michaels Kerr's affectionate portrait of her father, the deeply respected (and deeply book-obsessed) New Testament scholar J. Ramsey Michaels, told through the tangle of his lifelong devotion to books. A self-proclaimed ""book rat,"" Ramsey began collecting as a boy--an enthusiasm that never waned. His idea of a good time involved a dusty used bookstore, a good meal at a bargain price, and a few hours of theological or literary conversation--preferably over wine. Drawing from his unfinished memoir, some published writings, and hours of recorded interviews (because when your dad's a scholar, even casual chats turn into archives), Kerr traces not only the man behind the stacks but also the quiet evolution in their relationship after her mother's death. Structured around stories of treasured finds, antiquarian bookstore adventures, and the rhythms of a reading life, the memoir is part tribute, part travelogue through their shared world of words. It is also a study in primary sources, first editions, marginalia, and the enjoyable challenge of keeping up with a man whose everyday conversation was liberally sprinkled with such words as eschatology, dispensationalism, and hermeneutics.

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Reviews

""Carolyn Michaels Kerr's The Book Rat's Daughter is a fine act of collection and preservation, and in that way, it imitates its book's subject, her father J. Ramsey Michaels, a theological scholar who collected and wrote about old Christian religious texts. Kerr painstakingly follows the histories of major and minor book finds in her father's life, all while giving us a glimpse of Ramsey as a studious, witty man. It's fitting that the father and daughter bond over their love of Flannery O'Connor, who blends religiosity and exceptional writing. Michaels Kerr's book is both scholarly and intimate, the writing clear and graceful, stirring family history and memoir into a work that preserves the highlights of a fascinating career. It would make a father proud."" --J.D. Scrimgeour, author of Themes for English B: A Professor's Education In and Out of Class ""The Book Rat's Daughter is a must-read for anyone who loves literature or antiques or who would be curious to learn how a book can have a life of its own. With engaging anecdotes and irreverent humor, Carolyn Michaels Kerr's memoir serves not only as a loving tribute to her father, J. Ramsey Michaels, a well-published New Testament professor and Flannery O'Connor scholar, but also as an exemplar in literary sleuthing. It can make even a bibliophile fall in love with books all over again."" --Andrea Frankwitz, Associate Professor of English, Gordon College, Massachusetts

Author Information

Carolyn Michaels Kerr, author of The Bunny Suit and Other Stories (2017), is a graduate of the MFA program at Goddard College. Her work has appeared in Flannery O'Connor Review, The Missouri Review, and Christianity and Literature among other publications. Kerr lives with her husband in Hamilton, Massachusetts.

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