 |
| via Amazon.com |
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession seems like it's a great cat and mouse story, but in reality, it's more bland than interesting. Allison Hoover Bartlett interviewed several people in the rare book world, including Ken Sanders, a rare bookstore owner in Salt Lake City, Utah and the security chair of ABAA, as well as, John Gilkey who found a way to steal thousands dollars worth of books. Interestingly enough, I enjoyed reading about the history of book collecting, how to find a first edition and other fun book factoids than the actual story.
Bartlett finds herself in the middle between interviewing the man trying to catch the criminal(s) and Gilkey whose psychological justifications led to a cycle of stealing. It was fascinating reading about his upbringing and his logic. While Bartlett was digging into the motives that people have in book collecting, she got just as obsessed in the story (originally a magazine article) as Gilkey and Sanders. Overall, it's an interesting story and the the book is a fast read, finishing it in less than five days, but redundant and tedious. It does give a refreshing perspective on books and what they mean to our society, but it also made me what to steer clear of the collecting world. ;)
3/5 stars
{Read in June 2012}
