100 Books #6 - The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

[book_junkie007]

Iiiiit's back! I know I've spent way too much time away from this challenge, but RL has slowed down...I think.

Anyway, today's post is The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett, by special request for inkvoices because she asked me about it and I hadn't finished reading it yet.

Also, I don't have a book trailer for this one. :(



The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is about a man who has taken to stealing books for the simple fact that he wants to own them. And I'm not talking about an everyday book in a bookstore, either. I'm talking about first editions of books worth $2500, and $9500 collections of Winnie the Poohs. These are the books that are so rare, you either have to be really dedicated to your collection or have a ton of disposable cash, because some of the books the author talks about sold for $200 000 to $244 000 in auctions.

The author is a journalist who interviews a professional book thief, who has stolen thousands of dollars worth of rare books; a man who was the head of the security council for a rare booksellers organization; and other people in the world of rare books. She has conversations with both of the men about their lives in relation to collecting books, more so with the criminal than the man who caught him, and starts to form a rapport with the criminal to the point that you start to question some of her ethical decisions.

I liked the beginning of the book well enough, and found the world of books that the author describes as one to be envious of, almost, but still loving the elements of it. About two-thirds of the way through the author starts making ethical decisions in relation to her relationship with the criminal which made it uncomfortable to read the rest of the book.

Comments

[cookiegirl]

This sounds really interesting, I'm definitely putting it on my to-read list!

And yay, you are now the same amount through 100things as I am lol! I should really get onto no.7!

[book-junkie007.livejournal.com]

*laughs* We should. :)

[inkvoices]

That...is not what I thought it would be about when I heard the title. (I guess I was thinking something along the lines of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.) It does sound interesting, but far from light-hearted and maybe, yeah, I can imagine the uncomfortable. Is it non-fiction?

[book-junkie007.livejournal.com]

I have not heard about either of those titles.

It is non-fiction, which is part of the reason why parts of it made me feel uncomfortable. It almost feels like the author is enabling the criminal in his crimes/helping soothe his mind about things he has done at certain points.

[inkvoices]

The Guernsey and Literary Potatoe Peel Pie Society is a about a female journalist/writer in post-WW2 England who starts writing letters to a bunch of people on the isle of Guernsey, in the English channel. They chat to her about their lives during the war and after, about books, and how they accidentally formed a book club to hide something they did under the German's noses... The whole book is written in letters, the characters have great voices, and whilst there's some sad it's definitely a feel good story, one of my favourites :)

Yeah, I think that sounds like something you'd have to be in a mood for and morally awkward :/

[book-junkie007.livejournal.com]

Ooo, that sounds really good! I'll have to check it out some time.

The book was good until about two-thirds of the way through. Before that point, it was an objective look at why some people collect rare books, some people sell rare books, and why some people steal rare books, although the author frequently places her opinions and memories about books into the narrative. She also doesn't consult a psychologist about the criminal and why he may be stealing books; she just creates her own hypotheses and reasons as to why he steals books without consulting a professional on the matter.