One for the Books: Appreciating art, real and imagined

When I was little, my mother had a big, thick book filled with gorgeous full-color plates of some of the world’s most famous paintings. Mom made me wash my hands before I handled it, and I would spend hours lost in the pictures, as if it were my own private museum. Oh, and field trips to museums would have my imagination soaring with knights in armor, Egyptian mummies, lifelike statues, and ancient Greek pottery. So, I have always been interested in art, and the books mentioned here delve into the topic from several perspectives, both fictional and factual. Let’s start with the nonfiction.

“The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession” by Michael Finkel serves as a biography, of sorts, of a man who has an all-consuming love for works of art.