BOOK REVIEW: THE BOOKMAN'S TALE

The Bookman's Tale, A Novel of Obsession by Charlie Lovett. Viking, 2013

The author describes himself as being infected with incurable bibliomania which makes him a natural for the E-Sylum readership.

The novel is part mystery, part history and in all parts imbued with the lore and the love of books. It delves deeply into the ageless question of who wrote Shakespeare with a wonderful chronological examination of this enigma with flashbacks to the various players who strode the stage of literary scholarship ever since the Bard last laid down his quill. The tale is of a young antiquarian book dealer who is trying to authenticate the marginalia in a play that will prove Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. Bibliomania ensues.

This book is an entertainment. No footnotes. I read it for the joy of the journey itself but did learn a flurry of odd facts. Books are often described as "real page-turners" by their publishers but I found this book exactly the opposite. I repeatedly set it down so that I would not rush through the journey but rather savor its many bibliomaniacal pleasures slowly and with relish. I recommend this book to the assembled literati, a worthy candidate for the Christmas list of any confirmed book lover who would like to include on his annual wish list a book that his spouse might actually enjoy reading too as opposed to the usual exotic tomes we all covet. My wife finds it difficult to generate much enthusiasm for my annual request for yet another obscure catalog of medals struck in wide wale corduroy.

For more information, see: www.charlielovett.com

Wayne Homren, Editor

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