A review by sanmeow
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett

informative medium-paced

2.5

the true story of john gilkey, a criminal who stole rare books, not for profit but for his own enjoyment and a desire to be admired. ken sanders is the detective who eventually caught him. 
john gilkey is absolutely insufferable. his attitude annoyed me constantly. i truly understand the desire to own rare and unique books, but his motivation for it was just so irritating. that's not really a critique because it's good to showcase him for the annoying person he was.
i liked the descriptions of rare books in here, because of course i did. they're amazing. i thought the case itself was super interesting and so was the way ken sanders brought gilkey to justice.
what i didn't like is the author's writing style. i can very much tell she's a journalist. that just wasn't the style i was hoping for when reading this. i also hated the moments of the book where the author weirdly inserted herself into the story. completely unnecessary.
overall, it's interesting as a true crime case. not as much quality to it as a piece of literature.