I have read a book on John Gilky before, but I very much enjoyed this one more. Right off the bat, this book had my attention. The author of "The Man Who Loved Books Too Much," Allison Hoover Bartlett, brought you along her journey. She didn't just tell you what she did, she wrote as if you went along with her. She also introduced Ken Sanders, a rare book dealer bent on stopping him.
The fascinating thing was for Gilky, books was a symbol of status, and the rarer the better. Even a page from a rare book, to him, was hitting the lottery. He wasn't ruining a book, he was a saving a piece of it. In and out of jail during this book, the tales Gilky weaved to make himself innocent were unbelievable. And what was more, he truly believed them. He was very illogical and even I could not understand how he came to some of his conclusions.
I have read reviews where people didn't like it, but Bartlett's writing style was not their type (that's my conclusion anyway). Bartlett writes like you're a friend along for the journey, revealing what she knew at the time instead of writing an essay on it after everything was over. I enjoyed her talking about what she ate, or even the part where she removed her bra outside a prison. I think I enjoyed it so much because she investigated the way you or I-not a seasoned veteran-would.
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