The Book Rat s Daughter

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.