Review: Leaving India by Minal Hajratwala

At first glance, Minal Hajratwala's Leaving India seems like your standard memoir about a family immigrating from India to the US.  It's anything but.  Hajratwala weaves a fascinating and true story of her family-extended and immediate-and how over a few centuries they slowly started leaving India for South Africa, Fiji, China, and many other places, and how her parents both ended up in the States.  More than just a family's history though, Leaving India plays out like a self-discovery book.  Through each of her family members' stories, Hajratwala is also looking for a piece of herself, and it makes for one awesome read.  There is so much I could write about this book, but to stop myself my writing a super long review (because I loved so much and there is just soooo much to discuss), I'll just focus on a few points that are still fresh in my head, since I it seems most of the pages I dog-eared have come undog-eared..

Hajratwala discusses arranged marriages quite a bit throughout the book.  After all, pretty much all of her relatives and ancestors had them.  What I loved (and can't find the book which sucks because it's a great quote..) was how she explains her peoples' feelings on arranged marriage.  Myself and most of my fellow westerners I'm sure don't really understand arranged marriages and feel pity for couples who we think are being "forced" together.  It's books like this that completely change my perspective and make me realize how ignorant I really am at times.  Hajratwala's take is so different.  She says it's just a give for most young Indians.  While American girls daydream about meetingthe man of their dreams and the courtship that will lead to marriage, Indian girls know their husband will be picked for them, and it isn't like the end of the world for them.

Of course, what was also interesting in Leaving India was how the most recent generations in Hajratwala's family have been slowly breaking away from tradition.  Her mother was able to go to college, her bother and some of her cousins not only did not have arranged marriages, but married into different cultures.  And then there's Hajratwala herself.  When reading the author's chapter on herself, it's easy to see that she stands apart from her family, an when she came out as a lesbian to her parents, she thought they might disown her.  It was heartbreaking to read, especially since, even though her parents have accepted her and still love her, most of her family still does not know about the "secret", which doesn't need to be hidden nowadays in a country like the US.  Her family is in some ways so focused on preserving their culture-which is wonderful, I wish my family still had some of our old traditions-but they are perhaps hurting each other by not becoming more open-minded. 

Of course, these are all just my own observations.  This book can be interpreted in so many ways and enjoyed by people of all cultures and with different interests.  You don't have to have Indian heritage to connect with Hajratwala's family.  If anything, this book will make you more understanding and accepting of a culture you may know very little about. 

A favorite excerpt:
Page 81: To the west, the cool Atlantic swells up toward London, New York, and South Africa's most picturesque city, Cape Town.  To the east, the Indian Ocean is several degrees warmer; it gives the coast of Africa from Durban to Mombasa a tropical climate profitable for sugar and tourism, almost homelike for the more than a million Indians who have lived there for generations.  This confluence of oceans is a rare coincidence of political and natural geography, where the act of naming does not create an arbitrary border, but gives voice to a natural one.

And yet it is the most fluuid, the most porous of borders.  East and west meet a great force, a terrible frothing and crashing of waves.  The whitecaps swirl, and as much as one tries to follow a dark wave, it curls under a paler one from the other side; as far as I can track a blue wave, it does not, of course, hold.  Like the several great civilizations that have clashed and coexisted in southern Africa over the last two centuries, the waters cannot be segregated.

And who can tell which wave is resisting, which collaborating?  The sea reveals no moral; what moves the whole is a greater tide.  Perhaps the currents of history are what they are, and we only choose-or think we choose-which side to view them from, and where to take a stand.



Title: Leaving India: My Family's Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents
Author: Minal Hajratwala
Date of Publication: 2009
Number of Pages: 352
Genre: Nonfiction
Source: Personal Copy

Review: Seizing the Enigma by David Kahn

From page 2: This was the battle of the Atlantic, the only battle in World War II that lasted from the first day of that war to the last.

David Kahn's Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes 1939-1943 is pretty much the go-to book about the enigma machine and the battle to break it's codes during the U-boat wars of WWII, more commonly known as the Battle of the Atlantic.  Kahn himself is, as it says right on the cover of my copy of the book, "undoubtedly the world's most respected historian of cryptography."  This book definitely showcases his knowledge, not only of the enigma coding device and how it worked, but of it's history, and the history of cryptography (aka secret codes) in general.  This book was filled to the brim with information about the enigma, the war, and how the Allied and the Axis powers fought in secret on their homefronts (and often at battle, too) to try and outsmart each other, improve the enigma, or break the ever-changing U-boat codes.

So pretty much, I'm a U-boat nerd.  I love submarines in general, but I LOVE U-boats.  They are sleek, their history is so interesting, and well, I read whatever I can on the subject.  Add in to that the enigma, and I will basically start drooling.  Yeah.  It's kind of bad.  And it all started in 6th grade in 2001 with a little (and AWESOME) movie called U-571.  My ALL-TIME.  FAVORITE.  MOVIE.  Say what you will about "historical innacuracies".  It's just a movie so they're allowed a bit of leeway.  The movie should get more credit because it does hit on some points that are not in a lot of war movies, things like codes and the enigma machine.  And, the movie introduced me to the enigma for the first time.  And I heart it.

Enough with the fangirl stuff though (sorry about my tendency to ramble on about non-book related stuff.  Though there is a U-571 BOOK that came out after the movie which I own and have read like many times.....).  This book has so much information about different things relating to the enigma and codebreaking that I think it would appeal to a very large audience.  Like technical details about how the machine (and the machines the Brits used to break the codes)?  There's a ton of that.  Want a general history of codebreaking in war time (even pre WWI)?  This is for you.  Want a general overview of the war and why codebreaking became so important?  Yeah, there's that too.  And also great info about certain raids, etc. that happened out in the oceans to try and capture enigma code books.  Oh, and real spies who gave secret information in exchange for money.  I really loved how Kahn interviewed SO many people before writing the book.

But don't think that the whole book is super technical.  It's also in a way an homage to all the people who contributed to the Allies' codebreaking successes in WWII.  From the civilian women and men who Kahn interviewed, to the true stories of men who risked death or accepted death because they knew the fate of the war depended on what they were doing, Kahn pays tribute throughout the book by telling their stories.  There's the couple who met in the English countryside and the codebreaking headquaters, fell in love, and married.  And the young man who drowned as he tried to retrieve enigma code books from a sinking U-boat.

All in all, I highly recommend Seizing the Enigma.  I'm super into everything it discusses, so I could barely put it down.  But don't be discouraged if, say, you aren't into the enigma's technicalities.  Kahn never stays solely on one subject for too long and intertwines things like how the enigma works with how the Brits were trying to solve the code that you'll quickly get back into the history.  I'm so glad I happened to see this while waiting in an extremely long line at my school's bookstore and decided to buy it on impulse.

Title: Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes
Author: David Kahn
Date of Publication: 1991
Number of Pages: 416
Genre: Non-Fiction, WWII. Submarines
Source: Personal Copy

Review: The Pope's Daughter by Caroline P. Murphy

In The Pope's Daugther: The Extraordinary Life of Felice della Rovere, Caroline P. Murphy brings to life a woman who lived during the Italian Renaissance.  Daughter of Pope Julius II, Felice lived most of her life in Rome and its surrounding areas.  She learned at an early age that it paid to be independent, and decided to live her life the way she saw fit.  Murphy uses documents from Felice's time period to put together a woman who fought hard and got independence in a time when women were little more than pawns for men to play with.  The Pope's Daughter chronicals her rise from adolescent to a powerful landowner, a woman who survived the sack of Rome and her stepson's jealousy.  Read it and get to know the amazing Felice della Rovere.

I have such a hard time reviewing nonfiction.  I really can't say anything about the plot.  After all, the plot in this case is the actual life of Felice della Rovere.  I can't exactly criticize characters.  They were real people.  However, I can rate the writing and the style, and the way the author presented her information.  So here goes.

The author states right in the beginning of the book that she had to make a lot of inferences about the life and person of Felice della Rovere.  Although this at first worried me-would the book really be an accurate representation of Felice and her world-those "inquietudes" as they say in French soon fell to the way side.  There is very little written about Felice, even by her contemporaries, so at first it seems impossible that Murphy could write a whole book on her life.  But Murphy was able to use letters mentioning her that were written by her friends, employees, and acquaintances, and the personal records of business and inventory that Felice herself kept, to paint at least a glimpse of the true Felice.  Could some of Murphy's inferences about Felice be wrong?  Yes.  But because Murphy backs everything up with these sources, it seems highly likely that the real Felice really was at least a bit like the Felice Murphy describes throughout the pages of this book.

As far as writing goes, sometimes when I read nonfiction, the writing is so dense and boring that even if I'm interested in what the book's about, I don't want to keep reading.  Murphy's writing was super easy to follow and she explains everything in easy to comprend terms.  There are a ton of Italian names and words in this book though (obviously, since Felice lived her whole life in Italy), so if you get annoyed easil by lots of foreign pronunciation and whatnot, you might at times get frustrated.  I, however, loved it.  I've never taken Italian, but I had a blast trying to say things out loud.  I especially love saying "Felice" (pronounced "fel-ee-chay").

I think Felice is a great role model to women everywhere.  If you love reading about strong women who take control of their own lives, read this book.  Felice was living in a time when women pretty much had no rights (though renaissance Rome was a lot better to women than a lot of places.  Felice was able to buy land and run it as long as she had the money to purchase it).  Her status as the pope's daughter gave her a taste of independence and power at a young age, and she worked hard as an adult to make sure she stayed independent.  She wanted an income besides that of her husband's to safeguard herself and her children against the death of her spouse. 

The Pope's Daughter portrays such a strong woman, so I've decided to post some of my favorite quotes about Felice and her personality:

Page 61: There were few who did not comment on her prudentia-wisdom or intelligence.  Such a reputation endured throughout her life.  The scholar Angelo Firenzuola, writing in defence of the female intellect, cites among the female luminaries of his time: 'the prudentissima Felice della Rovere...of whom with no small amount of praise do men speak, with a resounding voice.'

Page 71: There is something poignant about Carteromacho's account of Felice's fervent desire for books.  Over and beyond how books helped her appear to her best advantage in fashionable scholarly circles, they also served as her companions during those times when her father deliberately excluded her from courtly events.  Books were a means to shut out the trials of ongoing bargaining, and negotiations for a husband she did not want.  Reading was one of the great pleasures of Felice's life.

Page 72: Felice was determined to focus on aspects of her personal identity and social connections that reached beyond a role as wife to an Italian lord.

Page 129: Stazio's description of Felice's emotional state is quite surprising in its candour.  Thus far in her life, Felice had performed in public, no matter what she may have felt inside, as a woman who was both proud and resilient....For her to leave Rome in tears is an indication of the deep humiliation she felt from her father's refusal of her request.  Life was frequently unfair for women in the Renaissance, but its unfairness on this occasion seemed particularly harsh to Felice.  She had proved herself a more than competent estate manager, a shrewd businesswoman, an admired diplomat.  All were useful attributes for becoming governor of a city.

Page 172: Felice's inventory reveals her carefully crafted strategy for personal survival.  If life with the Orsini did not work out for her, she was still, independently, extremely wealthy.

Page 188: Felice della Rovere had learned the language and cadences of the courtier's voice.  Over the previous decades, she had had occasion to plead tearfully with her father and to take a somewhat obsequious position in order to ingratiate herself with Isabella d'Este.  She had continually charmed and impressed the humanists and clerics of the Vatican court.  Felice could be theatrical if need be: she had vowed to throw herself into the sea rather than be raped and she had wept at her husband's deathbed.  But her tone of authority of what endures.

Page 190: Felice, who fought hard for her own rights and possessions, seems particularly angered that another woman should be denied the right to bequeath her own property as she chose. (this is then followed by some examples of Felice receiving and writing letters to the women on her land to help them get what they rightfully deserved)

Page 297: Everything she had done, she had done for the ultimate benefit of others-her children.



Title: The Pope's Daughter: The Extraordinary Life of Felice della Rovere
Author: Caroline P. Murphy
Date of Publication: November 4th, 2006
Number of Pages: 315
Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography
Source: Personal Copy

Review: Molière by Christophe Mory

I had to read this biography of the life of the French playwrite Molière for my Molière class this past semester.  It was very interesting, but not really an actually biography.  As my teacher put it, it's "la biographie mythologique" of Molière.  As in, it highlights the main points in Molière's life, like his childhood and his time writing plays.  But Mory also makes a ton of presumptions about the life of Molière.  You can't read Molière as if it were a textbook, because it's not.  The author puts thoughts and words into Molière's mouth and presumes that all of his plays are inspsired by events in Molière's life.  I'm sure a lot of this is true, but because it's all presumption, you can't believe everything to read in it.

This book was an invaluable source for information on the time period.  If you are interested in Louis XIV, "le roi soleil", this book has a ton of information about his court and about what Molière did for him.  Mory assumes that Louis and Molière were pretty close because of Molière's position as "le tapissier du roi" and also because he had the official "troupe du roi", and I have to say I wouldn't be surprised if they were pretty close.  Louis XIV did after all give Molière's troupe a theatre that they could have for ever and always after the death of their main actor and playwrite. 

The relationships that Molière had with his friends, family, and lovers also play a big role in this biography.  A lot of this information is pretty reliable because of first hand accounts from other members of Molière's troupe, but I'm sure of lot of this was also speculation on Mory's part.  Mory was really good at capturing these people and their personalities, and I got really emotional towards the end when Madeleine (Molière's best friend and past lover, and also the co-founder of his troupe) died, and then again when Molière died exactly one year later. 

What really made this book, and what I think drew my teacher to it and makes it a great book for all Molière scholars to read, is the invaluable information on Molière's plays.  Mory discusses what was going on culturally and politically and in the court of Louis XIV when each play was written.  He writes in detail about how well the plays were each received and about the costumes and stage decorations used for each one.  If you are interested in 1700th century theatre or you are studying Molière, this book is perfect for you to read. 

I read this book in French and I'm not sure if there is an English translation out yet.  This seems to be the #1 book on the life of Molière even though a lot of it is speculation, so I wouldn't be surprised if a translation was available in the future.  (LOL can I please be hired to do the translation?!  I need a big girl job..)

Title: Molière
Author: Christophe Mory
Date of Publication: 2007
Number of Pages: 374
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography
Source: Personal Copy

Review: The Artificial River by Carol Sheriff

I don't review many non-fiction books, mainly because they are usually being read for school and I get really sick of whatever it is I usually have to read for school.  But I had to read The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862 for a class on New York State history, and I ended up loving it.  As a lot of you know, I live in Buffalo, NY, the last stop on the Erie Canal, so the canal has always been close to my heart (because my city is close to my heart, and it's great here, and you should come and visit it!).  Artificial River chronicals the building of the canal across the state and focuses on how it was both progress and a frustration for the people living along it.  Filled with an insane amount of info, from what cities like Buffalo and Rochester used to be (pretty much nothing but a few shacks) to primary sources depicting real life and real opinions at the time the canal was built and afterwards, this book is a treasure trove for anyone interested in NYS history or the Erie Canal.

I really liked reading about what people living along the canal route thought of it.  At first, many people were ecstatic.  The canal would bring mail a lot faster than roads, and farmers would be able to transport their goods to more markets.  Entrepreneurs were able to set up their own businesses along the canal, and the construction of the canal and subsequent boom in business employed tons of people.  The canal could also be frustrating though.  Farmers' land was sometimes ruined or taken from them.  The canal sometimes broke in places and flooded the land, and boats would be stuck waiting in long lines while repairs were made.  Also, because of Upstate New York's cold temperatures, the canal had to be shut down every winter when it froze over.  This frustrated settlers in remote areas because they had gotten used to fast news from loved ones in New England or Europe during the warm months and didn't like the long wait for letters all winter.

Child labor was also an issue on the canal.  Young boys and sometimes girls lead the horses who pulled the boats.  They were mistreated and often abused by boat captains, and they were surrounded by the canal workers, ruffians with bad manners who many living along the canal didn't like at all.  These are just a few of the conflicts of progress that the canal brought with it.  Much more in discussed in the book.

As mentioned above, one of my favorite things to read about in Artificial River was the building up of towns and cities along the canal routes.  Buffalo, Lockport, and Rochester are mentioned frequently, but so are many other canal towns stretching across the state.

I think anyone who likes canal or NYS history will enjoy this.  It's non-fiction, but it's not insanely heavy.  It's written in an easy to understand way, and I loved how Sheriff kept all the spelling mistakes in primary sources that are quoted.  It helps to show who these people along the canal were.  They weren't all great spellers, but they were intelligent people nonetheless, and they were people who wanted a better life for their families.  Many of them had lived through or had relatives who lived through the American Revolution, and they felt very strongly about their property rights.  When parts of their land were taken away for the canal, they expressed their unhappiness (I'm ignoring for the purpose of this review the fact that the land had once belonged to Native Americans, who were forced off of their homelands).

Artificial River ends with the railroads and how they eventually surpassed the canal.  As Sheriff put it, "If the Erie Canal compressed distance and time, the railroads annihilated them" (page 173).  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait to read about more NYS history in my class.

And oh yeah, how awesome is the name "Cadwallader"??!  Never heard that before reading this book!  (and yes, it's a first name)

Title: The Artificial River
Author: Carol Sheriff
Date of Publication: 1997
Number of Pages: 177
Genre: Non-Fiction, Erie Canal
Source: Personal Cop

Review: How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator

I don't usually read self-help or how-to books.  However, I made an exception for Corinne McKay's book How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator.  I follow McKay's blog, Thoughts on Translation, and found her first through her website, Translate Write, while researching freelance translation.  McKay is a member of the American Translators Association and frequently talks at their conferences.  McKay was a high school French teacher for 8 years before making the decision to work from home translating documents from French into English.  After a lot of hard work, she is now quite successful.  She wrote this book a few years ago to help aspiring freelance translators start their businesses.

This book was a god-send for me.  For years, I've wanted to work towards freelance translating.  I know I have the language and writing skills.  My major concern was just getting started.  How do I find my first clients?  How do I market myself?  How exactly does one do translation as a full-time job?  And especially, what about those pesky taxes?

This book answered all my questions and then some.  It was so informative, and you can tell that McKay has really "been there and done that".  McKay gives examples of translation-related resumes and cover letters, as well as invoices and terms of service letters/emails to clients.  She talks about office set-up (not something I really needed to know, but is great if you want ideas for working more efficiently and I may take into consideration someday if ever I have my own place with my own office).  I especially loved how she always listed resources, like links to associations translators can join, links to software programs that aren't necessary but are extremely helpful to translators, information about getting certified, both as a translator and interpreter, and a ton more.

If you have ever considered freelance translation as a career path, or are fluent in a second language and looking to increase your income or even start a fun money-making hobby, this book is definitely for you.  I cannot emphasize enough how helpful this book has been to me.  I'll definitely always keep it handy as I start to build my own career as a freelance translator.  To order your book, type in Corinne McKay's name or the book title at Amazon.com.  For more information about the author and her experience as a freelance translator, visit her website.  And don't forget to check out her blog, where she is always posting new and interesting information and tips for freelancers.

Title: How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator
Author: Corinne McKay
Date of Publication: 2006
Number of Pages: 137, including Glossary
Genre: Nonfiction, how-to
Source: Personal Copy

Review: Keep the Change by Steve Dublanica

When I got Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper's Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity in the mail, I was a bit clueless myself as to why I requested it from the publisher.  Then I remembered.  The night before requesting a review copy of this hilarious book, I had eaten out with Boyfriend.  And I was paying.  And, as usual, I was totally freaked out about what to tip.  I want to be that nice customer who leaves a decent tip, not the crabby one who barely tips at all.  But I am clueless when it comes to tipping, and Keep the Change by Steve Dublanica definitely helped.

Keep the Change is basically what it says in the title.  Dublanica, famous for his book Waiter Rant (which I've never read but want to get), goes on a sort of quest.  He divides the book into chapters based on the different tipping scenarios (such as Chapter 3: Doormen, Bellhops, Maids, and Concierges, or Chapter 7: Delivery Men and Movers) and then tells the readers about his discoveries.  He interviewed a ton of people, which I loved.

This book was hilarious.  But be forewarned.  This book deals with one of the highest tipped professions: Strippers.  And also prostitutes, and dominatrixes, and the book even opens with a strip club scene.  Dublanica explains what these women do (and what they consider good tips for their work) in a way that (to me anyway) was eye-opening.  He doesn't get all into detail (I'd say it's PG-13), and it's very interesting.  I just wish he had included information about their male counterparts.  What if I wanted to go to a male strip club?  Would I tip the same amount?

I liked how Dublanica did his research and tells the reader all about the history of tipping.  When I started reading the history chapter, I was worried it would be really boring.  After all, how exciting can the history of tips be?  But he presented it in a great way.  Seeing the words for tips in different languages was a real eye opener, and I agree that it makes sense for tipping to have started in bars.

What I loved even more than learning how to properly tip was getting to "meet" so many people in so many different professions.  These people have stories, some heartbreaking and some heartwarming.  We learn about how they ended up where they are now. 

Dublanica has a great sense of humor, and I think that (plus all the great interviews) is really what makes this book great.  He says some hilarious things.

Example: Dublanica worked as a waiter for years, and this line cracked me up:
Page 31: "Waiting tables can be a real mind game, and servers aren't above engaging in psychological warfare."  (talking about how badly waiters want tips)

Another great line I thought was funny (you may not share my sense of humor, but my family has a long-dead relative who was a bit crazy and nearly went blind while praying to the sun gods..)-Page 32: "And like ancient cave dwellers who didn't understand that the sun is a gigantic fusion reactor ninety-nine million miles away and instead, turned it into a deity worthy of human sacrifice, waiters have tried wrapping their heads around the mystery of tipping by cooking up some pretty interesting metaphysical systems."

This book was pretty helpful.  Not only do I now know what to tip at a restaurant, I am now prepared to tip in almost any other circumstance, even that poor bathroom attendant at the Erie County Fair who I've never tipped.  (Okay, Dublanica used to do the same thing, so I'm not that bad of a person!)

I recommend this book.  It's interesting and funny, and definitely worth the reading time.  It's the kind of book you could keep on a coffee or bedside table and just read a chapter here, a chapter there.  I'd love a sequel.

And now for some quotes:
**This was a review book and may have been edited or altered since I received my copy.  Some of my page numbers or quotes might be off because of this.
Page 116: Giving dating advice to us women- "Of course, some guys are just assholes about how women look, but girls, they're probably not worth getting to know."
(I should mention that Dublanica does swear once in a while..)
Page 33: "There were quite a few times I saw servers ready to ritually sacrifice a busboy so they could make th rent."

And ah yes-The BUFFALO, NY mention :)  Holla to my people!
Page 140: "Sandy, a pizza delivery girl near BUFFALO told me...."
-Really?!  Yay!  Near Buffalo means she could even work at one of the suburban pizza joints I frequent :)
-P.S. Buffalo really is awesome. <3

And a quote writers might understand:
Page 279: "Writing is like getting into a knife fight with yourself in a phone booth."

In the end, Dublanica makes some discoveries about tipping.  I won't give it away, but I must say it makes sense and the more I think about it, the more I agree with him.

Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper's Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity hits stores Tuesday November 2nd.



Title: Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper's Quest to Become the Guru of Gratuity
Author: Steve Dublanica
Date of Publication: November 2nd, 2010
Number of Pages: 320
Genre: Non-fiction
Source: review copy from publisher

Review: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

What compells a man to steal rare books worth thousands of dollars, even after he's served jail time for that specific crime?  It's that question that author Allison Hoover Bartlett asks herself repeatedly throughout this book.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much chronicles the years Bartlett spent researching rare book thefts and interviewing a man who stole many, many rare books from dealers across the country.  His name: John Gilkey.  Bartlett, a journalist whose writing has appeared in The Washington Post and The New York Times, first meets Gilkey when he is behind prison bars.  Over the next few years, they will continue to meet.  Gilkey will slowly tell Bartlett about his book thieving: how he chooses books, how he gets credit card information, how he goes about acquiring the books.  Bartlett grows to realize just how much Gilkey really loves rare books-but is it really because he loves to read them?  It seems as though Gilkey wants to collect because he wants to impress.

This book brings the reader along on a journey into Gilkey's world.  Bartlett is a great writer.  I thought she did a really fantastic job of painting us a portrait of John Gilkey, from his physical description, "At the time of our first meeting Gilkey was thirty-seven.  He is of average stature, about five-foot-nine.  His eyes are hazel-brown......The cadence of his quiet, calm voice reminded me of the children's television host Mr. Rogers" (pg. 44), to his personality, "Gilkey had hidden much of himself behind gilt.  Polite, curious, ambitious-or greedy, selfish, criminal" (pg. 252).  What I found the most interesting was what Bartlett often said of Gilkey's take on his crimes.  He never put the blame on himself (even though he stole the books).  Instead, he blamed the dealers of the rare books, saying they priced the books too high for him to afford, or how they often stole books.  Page 50 goes like this:

"Gilkey said that he didn't like to spend his 'own money' on books, and that it wasn't fair that he didn't have enough money to afford all the rare books he wanted.  For Gilkey, 'fairness' seemed to be a synonym for 'satisfaction'". 

Two thumbs up to Allison Hoover Bartlett!  This book was fabulous, and her honesty throughout (like when she realizes how much Gilkey's appearance had made her think of him as almost a friend, not a greedy book thief and self-centric person) added to her story.  I, like Bartlett, found myself almost pitying Gilkey at times.  Then I'd remember his greedy ways and think, "I have to pay for my books and the expensive dolls I collect, so you can get yourself a job and start saving too!"  This was a great, quick read and it comes highly recommended from me.

A favorite passage:
Pg. 253: "Hunting down treasures for a collection brings it own rewards, but, ultimately even more satisfying, building it is a way of creating a narrative."


Title: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
Author: Allison Hoover Bartlett
Date of Publication: 2009
Number of Pages: 259
Genre: Nonfiction
Source: library copy