The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

The true story of a thief, a detective, and a world of literary obsession. Sorry that it has been a while since the last post, I’ve been quite busy with graduating and being Megan. Those two combined are more time consuming than I had hoped. Any doodle. Lettuce tart.

People have been collecting-and stealing-books since before Gutenberg invented the printing press. Internationally, according to Interpol, rare book theft is more widespread than fine art theft. Although dealers will tell you "every rare book is a stolen book," the stories of these heists have remained quiet, shielded by an insular community of book dealers and book collectors that prefers to keep its losses secret.

In The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, Allison Hoover Bartlett takes us deep inside the world of rare books, and tells the cat-and-mouse story of two men caught in its allure. Here we meet John Gilkey, an unrepentant, obsessive book thief, and Ken Sanders, the equally obsessive self-styled "bibliodick," a book-dealer turned amateur detective. While their goals are at direct odds, both men share a deep passion for books and a fierce tenacity-Gilkey, to steal books; Sanders, to stop him.

This novel starts off with a compelling description of an old book and instantly the reader is pulled in. Why would they be reading if they didn’t have a love for books? That is why this story was destined to become popular, what bookworm wouldn’t love an adventure about a man who loved books too much? Frankly you can’t go wrong with this one.

Compared to the other types of books I usually read, this non-fiction was refreshing. I liked the narrative style, and some of the footnotes held some interesting information. The style of writing is simple and to the point, but also includes Barlett’s thoughts as she unoticingly weaves herself into her own story.

The motive for the story is simply to understand what makes a collector’s hunger for books grow, and how far will some people go to get their precious paperbacks? I would say from this point that if you want to find out, then get reading!!!

This one will be a 3.5 OUT OF 5, I enjoyed the easy read and gained some knowledge into the Rare Books wooooooooorld. Oooh laa laa. Check out Bartlett’s website: http://www.allisonhooverbartlett.com/

And have a good weekend!

MRR - out

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Sometimes doing novel studies in school is pretty beneficial. Now here I have a bold CANADIAN writer for my sad (and small) audience, and I have to say that I really enjoyed reading and studying this cryptic novel. Enjoy my fellow bookworms.

  The narrator of Atwood's riveting novel calls himself Snowman. When the story opens, he is sleeping in a tree, wearing an old bed sheet, mourning the loss of his beloved Oryx and his best friend Crake, and slowly starving to death. He searches for supplies in a wasteland where insects proliferate and pigoons and wolvogs ravage the pleeblands, where ordinary people once lived, and the Compounds that sheltered the extraordinary. As he tries to piece together what has taken place, the narrative shifts to decades earlier. How did everything fall apart so quickly? Why is he left with nothing but his haunting memories? Alone except for the green-eyed Children of Crake, who think of him as a kind of monster, he explores the answers to these questions in the double journey he takes - into his own past, and back to Crake's high-tech bubble-dome, where the Paradise Project unfolded and the world came to grief.

Now here is a writer that is not afraid to challenge the path that humanity may be heading in the future. This dystopian novel is set in an apocalyptic world, with a juicy plot told through a series of flashbacks. Using a great amount of satire Atwood takes what she sees as problems in our current society, and shows what the consequences will be in the future.

There are several themes that emerge in Oryx and Crake; for example the constant battle between the importance of arts and sciences. In Atwood’s world the humanities and the tantalizing power of believing in the unknown has disappeared. She reflects on sustainable resources, the growing gap between the rich and poor, as well as what living in a world ruled by corporations would be like.

All of the parallels between this fiction world and ours effectively proves Atwood’s point that there needs to be change. Even though the novel is an interpretative fiction,  the beautifully dark story holds you right from the beginning.

5 OUT OF 5 for this one. This is the first book in a trilogy. http://www.margaretatwood.ca/ I will get to reading the second one `Year Of The Flood`when I can.

Next is a story about a man who loved books too much!

MMR - out

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Well hello everybody, another long week in Megan Rempel’s busy life. I guess everybody has busy lives though. About to head to a softball tournament in Kelowna. GO CLASSICS! I’m proud to say I’m the loudest centerfield that a team probably has ever had. Anyway, go team, lets get on with this lovely review.

The hero-narrator of THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it. There are many voices in this novel: children's voices, adult voices, underground voices-but Holden's voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep.

This novel is written from a character’s mind that at times can be very difficult to understand, especially with Holden’s capability to always get lost in his thoughts. The style of writing lets you get lost in the never ending, subject changing abyss of Holden’s mind and emotions. I have read other reviews, and listened to comments on Catcher in the Rye and people say it’s a book that you either love or hate. I didn’t really love it or hate it honestly. Holden is unpredictable and doesn’t make too much sense most of the time, and there isn’t really a point to the story that I could find. That isn’t to say that there isn’t poetry throughout the story.

According to me, Holden is just a depressed guy that wanders around trying to weed through his sadness. He is also a very hypocritical character which I found entertaining seeing as he does the very same things that he hates about other characters in the novel.

To be honest, I don’t really know how to feel about this one, as well as I don’t understand how you could study this book in school. Then again, there is lots for a reader to interpret any which way you want. I think I’ll give Salinger a good 3 OUT OF 5 on this one. I enjoyed it but it’s not one of my favourites. Still, Catcher in the Rye is a classic, I think everybody should read it if they have a chance its not a heavy read.

ANYWAY, I’ll be off to play some softball now.

Toodles

MRR