The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is a non fiction work by Allison Hoover Bartlett. The biography focuses the criminal life of John Gilkey but is more in depth than just the factual recounting of his crime spree. Bartlett immerses herself in the Book Collection community while doing the background work for the book. She attends expos and really attempts to understand what drives collectors in their passionate pursuit of printed texts. Bartlett discusses the psychological drive behind many of the collectors behaviors and how it is almost an obsession for some. Others collect things that have a specific attachment or attraction to- books falling into a similar category. She talks about her own connections with books and the memories they evoke.
At the center of the book is her interaction with and in depth interviews of Gilkey. She attempts to analyze his motivations and his rationale for his behaviors. It is amazing how much Gilkey is able to justify his behavior and to never truly acknowledge what he has done is wrong. It made me think of the cases where they interview people after they have ransacked and stolen things from retailers, saying its ok because they are big companies and insurance pays for it. This thinking is a shallow and unconscionable attitude that belies a victim mentality or a self serving attitude that they are justified in breaking the law. Robin Hood mentality is not an excuse to commit crimes and this book gives a glimpse into the thought process of someone who believes it is.
While the book does read like a novel at times, I did not find it as compelling and engaging as Bad Blood (Goodreads review) . This book definitely read more like a non fiction work than a fiction one but was still very interesting.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An interesting non fiction book that is written in the form of a story rather than a fact retelling. Bartlett uncovers the world of rare book collecting, looking at both the obsessive nature of the hobby and the people who collect. At the center of the book are a thief, John Gilkey, and the man determined to catch him and other book thieves, Sanders. There is some thought placed on the motivations behind the theft and the psychological drive of the two men. All in all an interesting read
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Challenge Prompts
The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:
- Library Love #LibraryLoveChallenge Book #26
- Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2022 Book #33
- Back List Reader #Backlistreader Book #23
- Memoir #12 Written by an author or journalist
- Non Fiction Reader #ReadNonFicChal Book #1- Social History
- 52 Book Club #the52bookclub #34 An author’s photo on the back cover
- Around the Year in 52 Books #37. A book that uses all five vowels in the title and/or author's name
- Bookworm #50 Read a True Crime book
- BooklistQueen #booklistqueenreadingchallenge2022 #44. Nonfiction Bestseller
- Beat the Backlist #BTB2022 #13 non-fiction
- Nancy Drew #28. The Clue of the Black Keys (1951) - read a book with a lot of black on the cover
- Nerd Daily #NERDREADING2022 #36 non fiction or audiobook
- OWLS 22 #49 Daily Prophet: A nonfiction book
- PopSugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #36. A book you know nothing about
- Pick your Poison #35 a book about an obsessive hobby
- Monthly Keyword #MonthlyKeyWordGXO Feb Keyword Book
- Reading Randomizer yes
- 52 books in 52 weeks #17 secret agent man
- Unruly Reader Bingo #23 one hit wonder
