The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

This is a true account about a book thief who stole rare books and instead of feeling remorse or guilty, he continues thinking that he deserves to have free rare books, and in fact, thinks that his request for everyone to donate a book to him is reasonable.

I found it fascinating, because although I’ve always loved and collected books, I never had any interest in first editions, hardbacks, or rare books.

Mostly I think it’s because I don’t think I have the ability to take care of them the way they need to be, and I would certainly feel heartbroken if I had a priceless book in my care that ended up damaged because of the way I kept or handled it.

I did consider myself a book collector though, but now I wonder if I was right. You see, back in Malaysia, our libraries suck, and the only way I could get books was by acquiring them somehow, from bookstores, or used book stores, or people giving away their old books, etc. And I collected as many books as I could because I read a lot!

Now that I’m in Calgary, and have access to millions of books from the public library, I’m perfectly happy to borrow and not acquire at all. I realize that it’s not the books, but the contents, that’s important to me. So I’m not a book collector after all! There goes my life’s identity!

Fortunately, I’m still a reader, and this part of my identity will never change.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much will get you thinking about your own relationship with books. I recommend it to everyone who’s ever had books play an important role in their lives.

 

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Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

As per Jodi Picoult’s style, this is a controversial novel about a picture perfect couple, to the outside world. Behind closed doors, Alex Rivers, a famous actor, abuses his wife Cassie Barrett, a renowned anthropologist.

I won’t go too much into detail here, except to say that Picoult handled this subject very well, but it’s hard for me to enjoy it because of the subject matter.

I get it, I do. It’s hard to leave someone you love. It’s harder to leave when you have no outside support, and most abused women don’t because their husbands try to alienate them from their friends and support systems. I’ve been there too, in a “less abusive” relationship. Physical abuse is easy to quantify, but how do you know when you’re in an emotionally abusive relationship?

To me, I guess it’s about happiness. Are you happy with him or crying all the time? It’s never been about how much you love each other. We all know that sometimes even though you love someone, it doesn’t mean that you should be together.

I decided that love isn’t what makes the world go round, happiness is. Love doesn’t always bring happiness, but happiness always brings love.

I was in a very unhealthy relationship and I was hurt and crying all the time. I couldn’t leave because I had no friends and no support system, I felt dependant on him, but the thing is, I *always* knew I had to leave. He’s really not a bad guy, he’s too simple to know that he hurt me, to be perfectly honest, and again, it’s emotional abuse, he never laid a hand on me. He loved me and I loved him, but I always knew we weren’t good for each other. I left when I could.

So I do get it. Kind of. I just wish more people would realize that love doesn’t make the world go round. Love doesn’t mean you should be together. Stop looking for love and start looking for happiness. Happiness will bring you love, not the other way round.

I found my happiness and my love. I hope others do too.

 

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The Good Guy by Dean Koontz

Well, Dean Koontz is a name that I’ve heard many times and very long ago but surprisingly, I’ve never read any of his books until now.

This book is about a man, Timothy Carrier, who is mistaken as a hit man and given ten thousand dollars and a woman’s picture to kill her. When the real killer arrives, Tim gives him the ten thousand as a no-kill fee and keeps the woman’s picture, saying that he changed his mind and didn’t want her killed.

Of course, the mistake is eventually, and too soon, discovered. Tim and the target woman, Linda, is forced to run and evade the killer.

The book is very fast-paced, and not at all what I expected. I’ve read quite a few similar thriller stories like this, but somehow the way Koontz presents the story is very different. It’s a completely fresh perspective to me, and I like how the suspense holds all the way to the end.

My only regret is not reading Koontz’s books earlier, but I’m glad that I have another “new” author to add to my ever-growing To Be Read pile.

 

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