I originally picked this up because it is a book about books, written by a man who owns 40,000 books in his private collection, and that really intrigued me.
After reading, I think this book would be good for a specific audience, and I'm sure that doesn't include me. For example, if you own thousands or tens of thousands of books, you will probably like this book and really connect with the author. If you are familiar with authors and literature from all times and from all countries, especially France, you will probably like this book (and understand all the references). If you are highly obsessive about the collection and organization of your books, you will probably like this book.
Honestly, this book was just way too much for me. I love books, but his obsession with them and how he explains anything related to books was just making my eyes roll.
Even though this book was only 123 pages, I found it very hard to get through. This book is basically made of tangents. There were pages and pages of Bonnet describing specific books in his book collection and how they're organized and where he collected them from and how that led him to discover other books. He included passages and quotations from dozens of books and talked about characters as if they're real and authors as if they're imaginary. I'm normally very interested in reading about any topics regarding books, but Bonnet's biography of his library is just too pedantic for my taste.
One nice thing about this book, though, is that there are a handful of very quotable and relatable phrases. Also, there are many recommendations for other books about books, which I found pleasing, although I most likely won't read any of them.
Overall, I would skip this book unless you fit into one of the categories I listed above and also really feel inclined to read it. It was a somewhat interesting read but very slow and one I could have done without.
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