Review: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

{on Goodreads}

John Gilkey is a criminal, but not the kind that you would normally find behind bars in the San Quentin prison. He's a rare book thief, one whose managed to steal a number of books, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, from dealers all over the country. Bartlett, a journalist, hears of his crimes and finds herself immersed in the world of rare book collections as she follows his story, in which priceless copies can be found in the most unexpected places and collectors will pay high dollar for the titles they covet most. While the rare books themselves are alluring, Bartlett discovers that the motivation behind collecting differs from person to person, and while some thiefs may steal to eventually profit, Gilkey steals for the love of books. As Bartlett follows Gilkey in and out of jail and accompanies him as he retraces his steps and relishes his past crimes, she finds that navigating between the rare book dealers themselves and their greatest enemy gives her an awkward, yet fascinating, perspective of the crimes.

While I expected to love reading about rare book theft (as I already love books about art theft), this was not the book I was hoping for, as Gilkey was not the type of thief that should be receiving literary attention (or any attention for that matter). It's clear from the interview excerpts included in the book that Gilkey needs some type of psychological evaluation, but in his many cycles of incarceration and parole, none have been conducted. I initially picked up this book because rare books are fascinating to me, though from the first chapter I read it more from the perspective of a psychology student than from the perspective of a bibliophile. Though I was more disturbed by Gilkey's behavior than interested in his story, I did enjoy the anecdotes about other examples of rare book discoveries or theft. I also learned a lot about the details of the rare book trade itself, which is what kept me reading until the end and will lead me to look for other books on this subject.

Bottom Line Rating: 2/5

Title: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession

Author: Allison Hoover Bartlett

Publisher: Riverhead Books, 2009

Price: $12.38 (on Amazon, I paid around $8 on sale at a bookstore)

ISBN: 1594488916

Format: Paperback

Source: Local Bookstore

Book #22 of 2014

Books I've Read in 2014 {February}

Another update on the books I've read so far this year. As a reminder, I'm breaking it down by month, and below you'll find the rating system that I'm using. Hopefully you can find one or two to add to your own to-read list! If you've read one of the books below, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

Here's a little guideline for how I decide (out of 5) the number of stars to give a book:

5 stars: Amazing. Perfect. Enthralling. Highly recommend it!

4 stars: It isn't a masterpiece, but I sure liked it!

3 stars: I wouldn't re-read it, but I still liked it.

2 stars: Not at the top of my list. Maybe skip this one.(...Or don't! You never know what you may like).

1 star: It probably took considerable effort for me not to throw this at a wall. Who knows, maybe I did throw it at the wall. 

My Thoughts & On Goodreads
3 Stars
*P.S. Saw the movie and loved it. Better than the book, but my viewing experience was definitely made better by having read the book!

Read My Review
4 Stars

Read My Review
5 Stars

{On Goodreads}
5 Stars

{on Goodreads}
3 Stars

{On Goodreads}
3 Stars
*Note: This was the audio version of the book.

Challenge Your Kids to Read This Summer!

SUMMER IS HERE!!!

...and to celebrate, I've got some great ideas for keeping kids busy with reading this summer!

According to the June/July issue of Scholastic Parent & Child magazine (yes, I read parenting magazines, don't judge me!), children only need to read four books to keep their literacy skills consistent during the summer months. To some kids, four books may seem like a lot, but the right book can keep a child reading at a never-before-seen pace!

I love that the families I work for allow me to bring in and brainstorm projects with their kids. It's fun practice for me and entertaining for the kids, and I love having the freedom to plan projects that are fun and educational! To get kids to read this summer, I've dreamed up (and researched) some great "challenges" that I'll be trying out with my young readers this summer. It helps to have the kids participate in the planning because it will get them motivated to start reading!

Host A Prize-Worthy Read-A-Thon

Look to your local public library for organized, community-wide challenges, or create your own! (Pssst...if you live in Marblehead, Abbott Library is hosting a great summer-long challenge, and registration begins on June 30th!)

For every 10 books (or more/less) your child reads or listens to (keep a running list on the fridge/bedroom door), celebrate with a trip to the bookstore or an ice cream date. Our local library will be giving out prizes throughout the summer and then celebrating with an ice cream party in August.

This is a great way to get very young readers (preschool/kindergarten) to participate in the challenge with older siblings/neighbors/friends, and it might even help to give double-points for when an older sibling reads to a younger one!

Make It Visual

Delayed gratification is tough for people of all ages, but especially for kids. For some kids, a visual motivator may work better than a hand-written list of books. To get your child excited for the reading challenge, have them create a "Reading Jar" with you. Take a large mason jar, decorate it (with stickers, glitter, whatever you like) and keep a bag of colorful pom-poms nearby. Everytime your child reads or listens to a book, he or she can put a pom-pom in the jar. When the jar is full, pick a way to celebrate! This gives your child a visual motivator to refer to throughout the summer. (Your child may be familiar with this idea, it's often used in classrooms to reinforce positive behaviors!)

Host a Story-Writing Party

Know a group of creative kids? Send out an invite a few weeks ahead of time to give the young authors a chance to draft their 1-2 page stories before the party. Then, set up in a tent in the backyard (or fort in the living room) and read the stories by flashlight. Give out awards for "biggest scare," "silliest story," "best character name," and other awards highlighting the unique aspects of each story. Celebrate the young authors with a make-your-own-pizza dinner to wrap up the party and discuss their favorite story moments!

Host a Book Swap For You & One For the Kids, Too!

Young readers learn by example, and are more likely to love reading if you do too. Encourage reading among their friends (and yours!) by hosting a book-swap. Each guest brings a book from their own shelf and gets to trade it for a new read. This will get the young readers to not only read, but also discuss books with their friends, which is great practice for school book discussions and assignments!

If you liked that, read this!

If you liked:

Read this:

If you were a fan of The Secret Life of Bees, pick up Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt the next time you're in need of a good read. To me, these books represent the best of summer reading. Hoffman perfectly captures the southern spirit that drew so many readers into The Secret Life of Bees with the characters, setting, and tone of this book. It carries the same themes of resilience, family, and the need to belong. This was one of those reads where the characters stayed with me for a week afterwards. And if you haven't read either? I'd recommend both! Perfect for a ladies' bookclub or to pass around to all your friends this summer.

Review: The Goldfinch

{on Goodreads}

The Goldfinch follows the extraordinarily tragic story of Theo Decker, who, at the age of 13, is living an ordinary life in New York City with his mother until fate places the two of them in the way of a bomb at the world famous Met. Theo is lucky to survive and in the aftermath of the bomb takes a priceless painting by an old Dutch master with him as he stumbles out of the museum. His mother perishes and he is taken in by a friend's high-society family, but just as life begins to sort itself out again, his deadbeat Dad arrives in New York to take Theo home to Las Vegas. In Vegas, Theo makes friends with a young Russian named Boris; the two of them get lost in a haze of drugs and alcohol, helping Theo to escape the feeling that his life is heading in the wrong direction. Years later back in New York, Theo lives within the dark, dusty world of antiques, and though from an outsider's perspective he is successful and living a life worthy of envy, that morning at the museum stays with him in more ways than one. The painting, so small and unassuming, has such a strong hold over him that he's forced to follow it into the world of underground art, where his former risk-taking is laughable in the face of new dangers.

I had been anticipating reading this book for such a long time that I actually felt some trepidation upon starting it. What I can say for sure is this: The Goldfinch pulled me in as only great books do. I read it nonstop for about 5 days, right through to the end (it's a whopping 771 pages). Tartt is a master of creating characters, each had their own perfectly crafted voice, background, and personality; as I was reading it occurred to me that she must have spent an inordinate amount of time observing other people in order to be able to portray such realness in her characters. My one big criticism of the story is that at times, it felt as though Tartt may have gone off on metaphorical, long-winded tangents just for the sake of beautiful writing, not because the details were necessary to the story. In that way, the story could feel a little manic and didn't appeal to me. Though I had originally picked up this story because I thought it belonged to the art fiction sub-genre, little of the story actually focused on the artwork itself, as it was more of a thread that carried through the character's lives, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for the art aspects of it. Definitely a good read to tackle this summer, and maybe even a great discussion piece for an ambitious book club!

Bottom Line Rating: 5/5

Title: The Goldfinch

Author: Donna Tartt

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2013

Price: $16.94 (on Amazon)

ISBN: 0316055433

Format: Hardcover

Source: Amazon

Book #22 of 2014

Update: Books I've Read in 2014 {January}

This year I pledged 60 books for the 2014 Goodreads Challenge. Every year, readers pledge a number of books and the community progress is tracked throughout the year. I love this feature on Goodreads because it keeps me reading at a (somewhat) steady pace throughout the year.

Last year I didn't meet my goal of 65 books, but seeing as it's just a reading challenge I wasn't too upset about it. It's good to have some failures, right? Plus, if I was actually that neurotic, I'd be a little concerned for my own well-being. I'm a college student, after all, I have plenty of other things to fret about. (For example, the future...)

As of today I'm at 23 books, putting me about 2 books behind where I should be. I want to reflect, in a month-by-month breakdown, on the books that I've read so far this year. In the future, I'll do a roundup of the books at the end of each month.

Here's a little guideline for how I decide (out of 5) the number of stars to give a book:

5 stars: Amazing. Perfect. Enthralling. Highly recommend it!

4 stars: It isn't a masterpiece, but I sure liked it!

3 stars: I wouldn't re-read it, but still liked it.

2 stars: Not at the top of my list. Maybe skip this one.(...Or don't! You never know what you may like).

1 star: It probably took considerable effort for me not to throw this at a wall. Who knows, maybe I did throw it at the wall. 

Let's start with January, shall we?

My absolute favorites for this month were Queen's Gambit and The Mysterious Howling!

Read My Review
5 Stars

Read My Review
5 Stars

Read My Review
5 Stars

Read My Review
5 Stars

Read My Review
3 Stars

Read My Review
4 Stars

{on Goodreads}
4 Stars

*Note: This was a re-read, and I actually ended up knocking it from 5 stars down to 4 the second time around. Regardless, it's still a good read.

Read My Review
5 Stars

Have you read any of these books? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Giving Up on a Book

The end of the semester had me reading much less than usual and spending zero time thinking about the blog. Thankfully, summer is here and I can focus on reading what I love rather than what's required (ahem, physics textbooks). 

When I was younger, I always felt like I had to finish each and every book that I started. Sometimes it worked out and I'd find myself hooked unexpectedly and end up loving the book. Other times, well, I'd be trudging through it. Dragging through a book gives me perspective on why some people don't like to read. It's painful to admit, but sometimes reading can be....boring.

Take this book for example:

{on Goodreads}

I purchased this book on my Kindle, in an effort to read more non-fiction books this year. I have a newfound interest in the time of Henry VIII, not just because he fascinates and disgusts me all at once, but also because I read this book earlier this year and still haven't stopped thinking about it. I thought this would be a great way to look at this time from a purely historical perspective. 

At first, I loved how much I was learning from this book, but then my interest began to wane. I logged onto Goodreads one day and found that I had put it on my "currently reading" shelf fifty days ago. Fifty days? Not to be obnoxious, but it never takes me that long to read a book. Considering that I haven't even picked it up since before final exams started, I'm going to declare this one a dud. 

As soon as I mentally checked it off as gave-up-on, I felt a little twinge of guilt. But then I stopped to think about it. Yes, I did start it with the intention of reviewing the book for the blog. Can I give it a fair review when I'm stopped at 51%? Not really. Should I be wasting my time on a book that I don't love, when I could be giving my readers a review of a book that is amazing and worth picking up? (Rhetorical question.) 

Anyways, I've renounced my guilt. I picked up a book that interested me and I don't regret it one bit. Giving up on a book isn't an insult to an author, or to the subject of that book (because really Anne Boleyn is fascinating), it's just that reading is one of those things for which you need to find the right fit.

Children's Review: A Fine, Fine School

{on Goodreads}

Mr. Keene is an excellent principle and loves seeing all of the students learning every day. One day he calls the school together for an assembly and announces a big decision: that school is going to be held on Saturdays, too! Pretty soon, Mr. Keene has the students coming to school every day of the year! The students and teachers begrudgingly show up each day, but it's not until Tillie shows Mr. Keene all of the learning that she's missing outside of school that he realizes there are other important things to learn in life.

When I'm home for the summers, I pick up a stack of library books each week to bring to my babysitting jobs. This was in my pile this past week and it is just perfect for the start of summer. The lesson here is that children learn so much outside of school, that not everything is about lessons in the classroom. To our main character Tillie, teaching her brother to skip and learning to climb a tree are just as important as knowing her numbers and letters, and she's right. We often get caught up in the idea that children miss out on learning during the summer, but it's important to remember that there are other kinds of learning that are just as exciting and essential in life. As someone who loves school, this is a good personal reminder that the holidays are a perfect time to explore other interests and chase different dreams.

Recommended for ages 4-8 years (Preschool-3rd grade)

Bottom Line Rating: 5/5

{P.S. Sharon Creech is the author of numerous books for children of all ages. I encourage you to check out her other works!}

Title: A Fine, Fine School

Author: Sharon Creech

Illustrator: Harry Bliss

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2003

Price: $12 (on Amazon)

ISBN: 0060007281

Source: Public Library

Format: Hardcover

Currently Coveting {June}

I have more than a few books already on my summer reading list, but really, it's so hard to resist peeking at Amazon online and popping into the bookstore (it's just down the street!) to see what other books I can admire and add to my wish list. Summer is a great time for new releases (it's akin to that time of the year when all of the Oscar-worthy movies come out) because people actually have a little extra time to devote to reading. If you're looking for some books to add to your want list for the summer months, I'm already coveting these books for June.

One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern

First off: cover love. (Can you tell pretty covers are a weakness for me?)
I stumbled upon this book in an ad on Goodreads. It looks like a great beach read to me. This book belongs to a sub-genre called "women's fiction," the name of which irked me at first, though I guess it makes sense. There's a common theme within women's fiction of self-discovery, and as I get older (and think constantly about the next five years), I find myself drawn to it.

Euphoria by Lily King

This story features a trio anthropologists studying a "bloodthirsty" tribe in New Guinea in the 1930's. It's inspired by the life of Margaret Mead and reminds me of this book which I read a few years ago and absolutely loved. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for this novel at the library...though, wouldn't it be so pretty on my shelf? Kind of in love with the script and the colors.

Dark Aemilia by Sally O'Reilly

We all know that I love historical fiction books. I'd say a majority of the books that I read and then rave about are of this genre, and I'm especially drawn to ones that feature strong female characters. Aemilia is said to be the real name of Shakespeare's dark lady, his one true love and muse-- and also England's first published female poet. Definitely worth diving into for any fan of the bard. Not to be all about the book covers today, but this one is Poe-esque and has me intrigued.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

This book is being hailed as a masterful work of WWII historical fiction, but the reason it's received so much press is not because it's a good piece of writing, but because it was written by an American. This sub-genre has been dominated by British authors since...forever...but Doerr has apparently upped the game with this work. War, love, loss-- all of the classic elements are here. I can't wait to pick this one up. (P.S. If you like this type of story, read this book, it was amazing! And made it onto my top ten of 2013 list.)