Title: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
Author: Allison Hoover Bartlett
Genre/Pages: Nonfiction/288
Publication: Riverhead Books; September 17, 2009
Rating: 4 BOOKMARKS
A riveting account of one man’s obsession with rare books, another man’s unrelenting efforts to catch him, and the woman who documented it all.
Persistent lying and stealing. Check. Superficial charm. Check. Lack of remorse or inability to care about hurting others. Check. Narcissism and sense of extreme entitlement. Check and CHECK.
John Charles Gilkey could be the poster child for Antisocial Personality Disorder and he’s fixated on rare books. In him, Allison Hoover Bartlett finds an inconsistent and unreliable source who acts as her guide on a literary odyssey through the world of rare books and his obsession with possessing them through acts of fraud and theft.
Spending whole years researching Gilkey and Ken Sanders, the book dealer who made it his personal mission to catch him, Bartlett finds herself, at times, walking the fine line between right and wrong to get her story. This conflict actually made the work all the more authentic and exciting. Gilkey confides in her about crimes past and Bartlett wrangles with her conscience–should she report him and risk scaring him off, ending their professional relationship (and her research)?
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much details the world of rare books, making it seem enticing and almost seductive. Each collector’s hunt for the book, the crowning jewel of his or her collection, keeps the dealers in business. What used to be a rich, white man’s game is now seeing an influx of younger, more diverse collectors.
With colorful characters, steady pacing, tales of deception and illicit behavior, and dogged efforts to catch a criminal, The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is an exciting, educational, and thoroughly entertaining read. If you’re looking for a great nonfiction book for a challenge or just want a change of pace, I would recommend this book without hesitation. Many thanks to Lydia at Riverhead for this review copy!
Do you collect rare or first edition books? How about signed editions? I have a few signed books–Jodi Picoult came to my local library a few years ago and signed two books for me and I went to Megan McCafferty’s book signing a few years ago at B&N. I don’t have any rare or first edition books–the only old books I have are ones from my childhood that I keep for nostalgic reasons.
List of book recommendations without links to blogs:
Book, Line, and Sinker 
New Kids on the ‘Blog’: Promoting New Book Blogs
When I first started my life blog back in 2007, I was posting for almost an entire month before someone left a comment. My daily stats were in the low single digits and I was discouraged.
I learned, trial by fire, how integral connecting with readers through my writing, tagging posts, and commenting meaningfully on other blogs was to helping grow my blog. I eventually developed friendships and my stats and comments grew. Blogging became more fun because of my friends, their feedback, and a sense of community.
When I decided to launch Book, Line, and Sinker in early 2009, I contacted a wonderful book blogger who I’d gotten to know through my life blog. I asked her for some advice and she went above and beyond, writing an entire post promoting my new venture.
With her introduction, my neophyte book blog’s stats spiked and I found myself warmly welcomed into the book blogging community. That introduction made all the difference between my book blog languishing for months without an audience and my book blog finding a niche in such a great community. While I do think that it’s marginally easier to break into book blogging than life blogging*, starting a new blog can be daunting no matter what your niche.
Recently, this same blogger tweeted about a new book blog and asked that we pay a visit to welcome the new blogger. All of these things, and BBAW, got me thinking about building community and engaging new (or under exposed) book bloggers who might not have the encouragement (through comments, chats, tweets, and emails) that others in the community enjoy.
I’m not sure how (or if) promoting new book bloggers is a viable idea. While developing Book, Line, and Sinker’s new layout and design, I’m toying with a widget for New Book Blog Promotion. Here are other things I’m considering:
As the book blogging community continues to grow, I’d love to give back by offering new bloggers encouragement and exposure. If you’d like to be a part of this, please let me know. Have any ideas or suggestions? Drop me a comment or email!
*In my experience, book bloggers are, by nature, avid readers and are more willing to read posts and comment on them.
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Tagged BBAW, book blogs, book line and sinker, books, building community, getting readers on my book blog, helping new book blogs, how can i get more comments on my book blog, how can i make my blog more popular, new bloggers, promoting new book blogs, reading