karieh13's review against another edition
3.0
Throughout “The Man Who Loved Books”, author Allison Hoover Bartlett kept dipping her toe into the word of rare book collecting. Seemingly to try and relate to those whose all consuming passion it is, but in parts, it’s as if she is trying to get addicted herself. A book lover and a reader, she tries on the mania, but it doesn’t fit. For that, though, we have the subject of the book, John Charles Gilkey, book thief.
“If you have a bookcase,” added Gilkey, “the more you put on them, the more it builds up, the more it’s worth, the better it looks…With books, it looks beautiful, you can read it if you want, and it’s part of the ambiance of a house, isn’t it?”
(Is it a bad sign if I completely agree with the thoughts of a book thief?) But it’s more than the looks of a book collection, Bartlett finds. With Gilkey, it’s a childhood steeped in collecting (and a total lack of morals when it comes to stealing), and a desire to create an image of himself as successful and well-read…create an image, not actually do the work to get become those things.
“That people would admire Gilkey because of his book collection seemed to be at the crux of his desire. It wasn’t merely a love of books that compelled him, but also what owning them would say about him.”
“Gilkey had a wish that he could not afford to grant himself, thus those who kept him from doing so, dealers, were to blame. What must it be like, I wondered, to view the world in such a way, to feel entitled to all one desired and to be able to justify to oneself any means of obtaining it?”
This book was interesting not only because of the insight I gained into the thoughts of a criminal, but because of the look into the legitimate book world that Bartlett gives. There are many who share Gilkey’s passion, but not his lack of conscience.
“Having spent a few days among collectors and dealers at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, I sensed that many of them were also building identities through their collections, acquiring books as talismans of taste, knowledge, and affluence.”
There is humor in this as well. “For many book collectors, comic books are the gateway drug to the hard stuff. The need to find issue #5 of the Hulk morphs into a lust for hardbound copies of The Call of the Wild.”
One of the best aspects of the book was when Bartlett visits and interviews the small book dealers who, very unfortunately, were victims of Gilkey. Their passion for books and the time, care and hours they put into their businesses comes blazing off the page. These, for me, are the heroes of the book. The author paints such a vivid picture of these people and of their shops that I felt like I could actually hear the bell chiming above the door as I entered.
I love books. The look, the smell, the feel of them. I collect those I read and those that have been part of my life since childhood. But for me, the value of my books is in the words, and in the memories I have of my feelings as I read them. I can’t imagine owning a book that I wouldn’t dare read for fear of decreasing its value. So it’s fascinating for me to get a chance to learn about those who do just that.
“If you have a bookcase,” added Gilkey, “the more you put on them, the more it builds up, the more it’s worth, the better it looks…With books, it looks beautiful, you can read it if you want, and it’s part of the ambiance of a house, isn’t it?”
(Is it a bad sign if I completely agree with the thoughts of a book thief?) But it’s more than the looks of a book collection, Bartlett finds. With Gilkey, it’s a childhood steeped in collecting (and a total lack of morals when it comes to stealing), and a desire to create an image of himself as successful and well-read…create an image, not actually do the work to get become those things.
“That people would admire Gilkey because of his book collection seemed to be at the crux of his desire. It wasn’t merely a love of books that compelled him, but also what owning them would say about him.”
“Gilkey had a wish that he could not afford to grant himself, thus those who kept him from doing so, dealers, were to blame. What must it be like, I wondered, to view the world in such a way, to feel entitled to all one desired and to be able to justify to oneself any means of obtaining it?”
This book was interesting not only because of the insight I gained into the thoughts of a criminal, but because of the look into the legitimate book world that Bartlett gives. There are many who share Gilkey’s passion, but not his lack of conscience.
“Having spent a few days among collectors and dealers at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, I sensed that many of them were also building identities through their collections, acquiring books as talismans of taste, knowledge, and affluence.”
There is humor in this as well. “For many book collectors, comic books are the gateway drug to the hard stuff. The need to find issue #5 of the Hulk morphs into a lust for hardbound copies of The Call of the Wild.”
One of the best aspects of the book was when Bartlett visits and interviews the small book dealers who, very unfortunately, were victims of Gilkey. Their passion for books and the time, care and hours they put into their businesses comes blazing off the page. These, for me, are the heroes of the book. The author paints such a vivid picture of these people and of their shops that I felt like I could actually hear the bell chiming above the door as I entered.
I love books. The look, the smell, the feel of them. I collect those I read and those that have been part of my life since childhood. But for me, the value of my books is in the words, and in the memories I have of my feelings as I read them. I can’t imagine owning a book that I wouldn’t dare read for fear of decreasing its value. So it’s fascinating for me to get a chance to learn about those who do just that.
sarahcoller's review against another edition
1.0
This book is a great example of why "don't judge a book by it's cover" goes both ways. At first glance, everything about it appealed to me: the collection of antique books, the mystery man, the subtitle: "true story!" "detective!" "literary obsession!" The title was ridiculous, but I was willing to overlook that. Suffice it to say, I was disappointed.
In short, this book was rarely engaging.
In long, it could have been so much more. For starters, I found myself annoyed with the author at every turn. Part of this is personal---while she may like to read, she doesn't LOVE books. She doesn't understand the mind of a collector. She doesn't get why someone would forego decent groceries in order to keep themselves stocked in books. I suppose I shouldn't fault her for that...but I do. The other thing that bugged me the most was the constant switching between Gilkey's and Sanders's story lines, peppered with random pop-ups of random stories that didn't follow Gilkey or Sanders. It seems the author couldn't decide what kind of a book she wanted to write, but she knew she wanted it to be about book thieves. Oh, and book collecting. Oh yeah, and other bookish stuff to help fill space. This idea could possibly work somewhere in some book---but in this one, it's very choppy and convoluted.
I started this new paragraph to get away from picking on the author...but there's actually more. She's a mix of pushy, naive and flighty, in a senior-class-president sort of way. She comes across as super narrow-minded on page 112 when she says, "It occurred to me how unusual it is to see a person of color at a rare book fair or store. This has been an old-white-man's game for a long time, but it appeared, at that moment, that perhaps things were changing." First off, she makes it clear in other places that hanging out at rare book fairs and stores has never been her thing before researching this book so she's making dumb assumptions with no proof. Secondly, does she think 21st century San Francisco has been the book-buying hub of the universe for the last 500 years? Does she not realize that there are, and have been, rare books being bought, the world over, by people from all cultures---most of them NOT rich white guys from Cali? Ugh.
Moving on to the story...there were some interesting parts, for sure. I especially liked learning about the different amazing books that are out there and how much they're worth. It was crushing to hear how much theft goes on and goes unreported. I also found myself asking if I could ever bring myself to steal a book I desperately wanted. I decided that I wouldn't---but the desire would be there. Deeply.
I could relate to those who would pay a seemingly outrageous price for a coveted book---but I couldn't relate to Gilkey. His motives for stealing the books were never clearly laid out by the author, though I got the feeling that she was attempting to make them known. She threw in a mention once or twice that he enjoyed reading...but, you know...
I got the impression that Gilkey wasn't necessarily enamored of books in particular---he'd just found an obsession and latched on. I found it frustrating that the author didn't dig more deeply into the mental issues that were so obviously there. She barely touched the idea of his mental state, deciding he must be fine since a judge had ruled that way "that one time"... A study of the disorders that would cause a person to act in ALL the weird ways Gilkey did would have been really beneficial to this story and would have helped flesh out the character a bit.
The book ends without one knowing it. A little Gilkey ramble and then she's done. I can't describe how utterly irritated I am with this woman's writing. The only consolation is that the book is short. I wanted to abandon it so many times, but had already invested several nights to slogging through it by the time I was really ready to chuck it across the attic.
In short, this book was rarely engaging.
In long, it could have been so much more. For starters, I found myself annoyed with the author at every turn. Part of this is personal---while she may like to read, she doesn't LOVE books. She doesn't understand the mind of a collector. She doesn't get why someone would forego decent groceries in order to keep themselves stocked in books. I suppose I shouldn't fault her for that...but I do. The other thing that bugged me the most was the constant switching between Gilkey's and Sanders's story lines, peppered with random pop-ups of random stories that didn't follow Gilkey or Sanders. It seems the author couldn't decide what kind of a book she wanted to write, but she knew she wanted it to be about book thieves. Oh, and book collecting. Oh yeah, and other bookish stuff to help fill space. This idea could possibly work somewhere in some book---but in this one, it's very choppy and convoluted.
I started this new paragraph to get away from picking on the author...but there's actually more. She's a mix of pushy, naive and flighty, in a senior-class-president sort of way. She comes across as super narrow-minded on page 112 when she says, "It occurred to me how unusual it is to see a person of color at a rare book fair or store. This has been an old-white-man's game for a long time, but it appeared, at that moment, that perhaps things were changing." First off, she makes it clear in other places that hanging out at rare book fairs and stores has never been her thing before researching this book so she's making dumb assumptions with no proof. Secondly, does she think 21st century San Francisco has been the book-buying hub of the universe for the last 500 years? Does she not realize that there are, and have been, rare books being bought, the world over, by people from all cultures---most of them NOT rich white guys from Cali? Ugh.
Moving on to the story...there were some interesting parts, for sure. I especially liked learning about the different amazing books that are out there and how much they're worth. It was crushing to hear how much theft goes on and goes unreported. I also found myself asking if I could ever bring myself to steal a book I desperately wanted. I decided that I wouldn't---but the desire would be there. Deeply.
I could relate to those who would pay a seemingly outrageous price for a coveted book---but I couldn't relate to Gilkey. His motives for stealing the books were never clearly laid out by the author, though I got the feeling that she was attempting to make them known. She threw in a mention once or twice that he enjoyed reading...but, you know...
I got the impression that Gilkey wasn't necessarily enamored of books in particular---he'd just found an obsession and latched on. I found it frustrating that the author didn't dig more deeply into the mental issues that were so obviously there. She barely touched the idea of his mental state, deciding he must be fine since a judge had ruled that way "that one time"... A study of the disorders that would cause a person to act in ALL the weird ways Gilkey did would have been really beneficial to this story and would have helped flesh out the character a bit.
The book ends without one knowing it. A little Gilkey ramble and then she's done. I can't describe how utterly irritated I am with this woman's writing. The only consolation is that the book is short. I wanted to abandon it so many times, but had already invested several nights to slogging through it by the time I was really ready to chuck it across the attic.
kurtwombat's review against another edition
4.0
The subtitle of this book is a little misleading. The "Detective" ostensibly refers to an actual Police Detective involved in only a very small portion of the book and/or a zealous book seller who mainly just publicized the thief of the title. The true detective of the piece is the author who puzzles together a nice character study of THE MAN WHO LOVED BOOKS TOO MUCH. The book thief runs the gamut from mysterious man of intrigue to pitiable fool then back somewhere in the middle where his is really just a self deluded jerk. How and why he so easily runs-amuck in the tender world of book collectors and book sellers unfolds gradually revealing as much about the victims as it does the thief. Before reading, I was expecting more of a cat and mouse game across international borders. It is instead a very domestic affair with Book Sellers members of an insular family embarrassed about any wrongdoing among their brethren. They suffer from an old school honor system--seemingly drawn from the antique books they handle--that makes it difficult for them to see the world in terms of strict capitalism. The author touches on a rich history of people loving books too much but show how only recently the sky-rocketing values and slick modern fraud/purchasing possibilites are dragging this world into a new glaring light. Very interesting stuff and worth the journey.
lakecake's review against another edition
3.0
This is an interesting true-crime book that follows a thief of rare books in the late 90s/early 2000s. The world of rare book collectors and dealers is really fascinating--I mean, come on, if you're reading this you probably love books and would love to own some rare first edition or autographed copy or original manuscript--and the idea of someone who would steal those books with something close to impunity is intriguing. The issue comes in because the thief, John Gilkey, is actually just kind of a noodge. He isn't doing it to be make money or to outsmart people and prove what an amazing strategist he is; he just feels like he deserves nice things because he wants them, and other people have cheated him his whole life so it's ok to take what he wants. It's such a let down--not to say that if he were trying to make a ton of money or just be an evil mastermind that it would be ok! Just that at least it would be more interesting.
crafalsk264's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.25
“Possession is 9/10s of the law.” This true crime story tells us of John Gilkey, who made a lifetime of stealing rare books. Gilkey felt that there is no ownership of things—just possession. Gilkey believes that because he doesn’t have the funds to purchase a book then he is justified in acquiring the item by any means. He develops a complicated method of impersonating a legitimate book dealer and has someone else pick up the book. When the dealer learns that the check bounced or the credit card is reported stolen. Ken Sanders, a collector and rare book dealer begins to recognize a pattern and sets up just as elaborate system to nationally report thefts and eventually the system works and Gilkey is identified, arrested, tried and sentenced to a prison term.
We meet the author as she arranges a series of prison interviews. Her examination is a wonderful look into the world of rare book dealers and their customers. The story of Gilkey was interesting but not as a character. The journalist/author does a good job of managing the interviews but she inserts herself in too much of the book. I found the book as a slightly better than average example of the true crime genre but not as good as the best of narrative nonfiction. Recommend to readers of books-about-books, true crime, biography, history, mystery and memoir.