'Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters: Inside His Films, Notebooks, and Collections' by Guillermo del Toro was written as a companion piece to a museum exhibit by three museums. I think even without the exhibit, it's a completely fascinating read.

Guillermo del Toro is known best as a film director, but he is also an avid collector of all kinds of things. His home, Bleak House, is stuffed with items, but his house is also meticulously curated like a museum. He uses the rooms and objects as inspirations for his film ideas. They include life-size statues of famous horror creators and actors, like characters from Tod Browning's Freaks, and H.P. Lovecraft. The Frankenstein monster holds a special place for him and it is a feature in his house.

The book includes a series of essays and interviews separated into two parts. Part one is about collecting monsters and talks about Guillermo del Toro's collecting passion and an interview. The second part is called Inspiration and Obsession and talks about the things that influence the director, like Victoriana, magic, freaks and monsters, and death and the afterlife.

Throughout the book are pictures of the items in the director's house. There are also pictures of his notebooks.

I almost got to see this exhibit last year at LACMA, but the museum was closed on the only day I could make the trip. I really wish I'd been able to view this in person. Guillermo del Toro is a film buff, a culture collector, and appreciates both high and low forms of art with no distinction between the two. He is also creative and passionate about his art, as you can tell from this book.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Insight Editions and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

Beautiful and detailed and disturbing, this book is a gem for del Toro fans, but likely has a limited appeal.