Easy read and a peek into the world of rare books.

The premise was interesting, but the writing just wasn't up to par. It was very obvious that this was originally intended to be an article that was then turned into a book, because there wasn't enough there to fill out a full book. She certainly didn't seem to have a plan for the book beyond talking to Gilkey and then writing...something? A lot of it read like she just recounted her notes word for word rather than trying to tie everything together into a cohesive narrative. It also ended very abruptly, like she realized the story was going nowhere and just stopped. I was also very surprised to learn that she was a journalist well into her career, because she did not seem to be very good at journalism based on her description of what she was doing for the two years she was supposedly working on this book. All in all, this was pretty disappointing.

This is something of a travel book for the type of person who finds themselves blissfully lost in used books stores, and drools a little when they search "bookshelf porn" online. The world of book collection is interwoven with the story of a book thief - an entertaining read, although it drags from time to time.

I made it through 5 chapters and stopped. Not bad, I was just bored.

There are good storytellers and then there are people who tell a good story. This is a book in which the author is telling a good story, but sometimes gets in her own way. I found that her narrative asides about her response and her experience to the story distracting from the tale. The questions she raised about her involvement in the story might have been better as a separate chapter.

An interesting idea without enough meat to be a book. The author's repetitive one-note analysis of the book thief in question quickly grows old, and her constant rationalization of not reporting ongoing theft left a bad taste in my mouth. Finally, the writing just isn't great.

3.5 stars. This was an interesting book but because it was published in 2009 and so much has changed in the book world it feels a bit (an appropriately) outdated.

Allison Bartlett’s The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is a pretty misleading book title. The book follows the story of John Gilkey, who steals books because he thinks it would make him seem more refined and cultured; and Ken Sanders, a rare bookseller who actually loves books and plays the detective in helping to catch GIlkey. Really, Gilkey is a just a common book thief who uses credit card fraud to trick trusting booksellers. It would be more apt to title the book, “The Man Who Hoard Stolen Books”…or something to that effect.

The author unnecessarily inserts herself into the book and seems to sympathize with Gilkey, who is outwardly friendly to her but internally deceptive. On the other hand, she loses the trust of Sanders, after she details how she accompanied Gilkey to another rare book store which he has stolen from in the past (now why would you antagonize a bookseller like that?).

Unfortunately, in the book world, book theft is not treated seriously by the authorities, so the members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (with Sanders at the helm of the investigation) have to take it upon themselves to obtain justice.

Incidentally, I actually picked up this book from Sanders’ bookstore in Salt Lake City, and I wish the book had focused more on Sanders who seems to be more interesting figure. I bumped up a star just because the book does delve into the world of rare books. However, this really should have remained as a journal article as there was a lot of fluff, and the piece should have maintained more objectivity, considering that the author is a journalist herself.

This was a completely accidental find -- I was searching NEIBORS for books by an author with the last name of Hoover, and this came up in the search. My NaNoWriMo novel is about a librarian, and the idea of book thieves totally caught my attention.

I'm not a huge reader of nonfiction, but this read more like a novel in some ways, and I was just fascinated. The thief in question is just so outrageous, he would say completely contradictory things and not seem to be aware that he made no sense to others, his worldview, and view of himself were just completely wacko.

I really enjoyed this, and it has given me some food for thought for my own writing.