Friday, February 20, 2009

Review: The Case of the Missing Books


The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom
2.5 stars

Reasons for reading: spotted it at Barnes and Noble a while ago and thought it sounded perfect for me, with the whole librarian theme and all; Detective genre for the Genre Challenge

Synopsis: "Israel Armstrong is a passionate soul, lured to Ireland by the promise of an exciting new career. Alas, the job that awaits him is not quite what he had in mind. Still, Israel is not one to dwell on disappointment, as he prepares to drive a mobile library around a small, damp Irish town. After all, the scenery is lovely, the people are charming—but where are the books? The rolling library's 15,000 volumes have mysteriously gone missing, and it's up to Israel to discover who would steal them . . . and why. And perhaps, after that, he will tackle other bizarre and perplexing local mysteries—like, where does one go to find a proper cappuccino and a decent newspaper?"

My thoughts: This one just didn't do it for me and I'm sad about that because I wanted to love it. Like a lot of books I've read lately, the very ending redeemed it for me a fair bit, which bumped it up half a star. I think it could be a good book for lots of cozy mystery fans - there's no murder and it does have funny parts.

I think my problem was my librarian-ness. Israel, while amusing, is a loser. I wanted the librarian to be awesome. Apparently in England you can become a librarian after 6 months at a 5th-rate college, which is what Israel's qualifications are. Yet all that got him was a job in a discount bookshop. And then, the job of "librarian" in Tumdrum, Middle of Nowhere, Ireland. Except, they've closed the library down and Israel's actually going to be driving the bookmobile. If he can find the books, which are now solely his problem even though he's just arrived.

Maybe the humour was too broad for me - Israel's loserness, the complete stupidity of the town council's library representative - the fat, Asian, bureaucratic Linda (although there are a few great moments of PC-to-the-max pencil-pusher ridiculousness with her). And the fact that the whole town of Tumdrum is just mean to Israel - they refuse to help him even though they've asked him to come to their godforsaken town and he's basically penniless and doesn't understand the local culture or even the dialect, they act like it's his fault the library is closed and the books are missing, the only accommodation offered to him is a chicken coop owned by a surly farm family, and townspeople beat him up and threaten him. Perhaps this type of humour would've worked better as a TV show. It reminded me a bit of the Vicar of Dibley, though without as much charm.


I will say Sansom hit the nail on the head with his description of what a busy library usually looks like, when Israel discovers the building is closed up:
"No one was approaching with armfuls of books...there were no sour and pear-shaped OAPs; no straggle-haired young mums at their wits' end with smeary, miserable children dragging along for story time; no one clutching important-looking unimportant documents to be photocopied in triplicate...no wrinkled, stubbly, fragrant winos; no schoolkids half-heartedly working on projects about ancient civilizations or the Second World War or the processes of human digestion. No madmen. No one. None of them. The building was empty. The car park was deserted.
The library was shut."

It's funny that I chose this for my detective novel, because Israel doesn't actually solve the case of the missing books himself - all of his theories about who stole the books are completely wrong.

The verdict: Not my cup of tea, but it could be a good read for someone who likes cozy mysteries full of small-town eccentrics. It also might help if you don't base most of your identity on being a librarian, like I do. :-)

41 comments:

raidergirl3 said...

No, I agree with you completely. It just seemed odd that the town insisted he solve the mystery and then no one would give him any help.
I wanted to like it more, but it was too boring, and he was a loser so you couldn't even cheer for him.

tinylittlelibrarian said...

Thanks, pal! :) Once again we are of the same reading mind. :) I'm glad it wasn't just me.

Anonymous said...

It agree, it is an amusing phrase [url=http://cgi3.ebay.fr/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=acheter_levitra_ici_1euro&achat-levitra]acheter levitra[/url] Correctly! Goes!

Anonymous said...

Mais les variantes sont possibles encore ? cialis prix achat de cialis [url=http://runfr.com]acheter cialis[/url]

Anonymous said...

Je m'abstiendrai des commentaires. acheter cialis acheter cialis en ligne [url=http://runfr.com/acheter-cialis]acheter cialis[/url]

Anonymous said...

Comme il est curieux. :) http://lettresdudroit.com viagra en ligne [url=http://lettresdudroit.com]achat viagra generique[/url]

Anonymous said...

Je pense qu'est absent. http://www.ci2s.org acheter cialis generique [url=http://www.ci2s.org]acheter viagra cialis[/url]

Anonymous said...

In questo nulla in vi e credo che questa sia una buona idea. Pienamente d'accordo con lei. yplxaxehuv nckjklsfwk [url=http://www.lacasadicavour.com/cialis/]comprare cialis online [/url] luyhmevbsr pszevprwwk cialis aksypoalei xjxuiyrdyr

Anonymous said...

lfcdmiorrx tmnbylmocz [url=http://www.italtubi.com/levitra/]levitra [/url] rgallfslmd qyhmuopdpl compra levitra onlin wchaixrixl oyvqsmtheb

Anonymous said...

crnofwflcm mchhprdrov [url=http://www.lacasadicavour.com/cialis-generico-online/]cialis [/url] urnxizdtqu uirldsztmr cialis sbgwwqnkxm jqjjicnais

Anonymous said...

Je peux vous conseiller sur cette question. http://runfr.com/acheter-cialis achat viagra generique cialis prix

Anonymous said...

Quels mots... super, l'idГ©e brillante http://runfr.com/acheter-cialis viagra sur le net acheter levitra

Anonymous said...

Es conforme, es la informaciГіn entretenida http://nuevascarreras.com/tag/comprar-cialis/ cialis vs viagra Mi dispiace, ma, a mio parere, si fanno errori. Cerchiamo di discutere di questo. Scrivere a me in PM. cialis 20 mg efectos

Anonymous said...

remarquablement, c'est la phrase prГ©cieuse http://runfr.com acheter cialis cialis 10mg

Anonymous said...

C'est la rГ©ponse prГ©cieuse cialis generique http://runfr.com/acheter-cialis acheter cialis viagra pour femme

Anonymous said...

[url=http://italtubi.com/levitra-generico/ ]levitra acquistare [/url] gmSi sono errati. Dobbiamo discutere. vendita levitra

Anonymous said...

Excusez que je vous interromps, il y a une proposition d'aller selon une autre voie. cialis cialis

Anonymous said...

Bravo, quels mots..., l'idГ©e remarquable http://runfr.com acheter cialis acheter cialis en ligne

Anonymous said...

Bravo, quelle phrase..., l'idГ©e brillante precose

Anonymous said...

es Gibt noch etwas Mängel viagra kaufen viagra [url=http//t7-isis.org]viagra kaufen[/url]

Anonymous said...

Wacker, der bemerkenswerte Gedanke viagra viagra online kaufen [url=http//t7-isis.org]viagra rezeptfrei kaufen[/url]

Anonymous said...

Nach meiner Meinung sind Sie nicht recht. Geben Sie wir werden es besprechen. Schreiben Sie mir in PM. viagra rezeptfrei kaufen viagra rezeptfrei [url=http//t7-isis.org]viagra[/url]

Anonymous said...

Ce - est absurde. http://runfr.com cialis 20mg posologie acheter viagra generique

Anonymous said...

la Phrase est Г©loignГ©e http://runfr.com achat cialis belgique viagra naturel

Anonymous said...

sans variantes.... premature

Anonymous said...

ich beglückwünsche, welche nötige Wörter..., der prächtige Gedanke viagra rezeptfrei viagra rezeptfrei kaufen [url=http//t7-isis.org]viagra bestellen[/url]

Anonymous said...

Un divertente momento [url=http://lacasadicavour.com/ ]cialis generico acquisto [/url]Non in questa essenza. cialis prezzo migliore яюE

Anonymous said...

Los mensajes personales a todos hoy salen? http://nuevascarreras.com/category/cialis-generico/ cialis generico colombia Hai ragione. cialis 20 precio

Anonymous said...

Mismo discutГ­an ya recientemente [url=http://csalamanca.com/category/viagra/ ]viagra generico [/url] zusxbbrcky txsooaksuk viagra sin receta buenos aires

Anonymous said...

Excusez, topic a embrouillГ©. Est Г©loignГ© cialis http://runfr.com/acheter-cialis acheter viagra en ligne viagra sur le net

Anonymous said...

Excusez, non Г  ce paragraphe..... [url=http://runfr.com]cialis[/url] http://runfr.com/cialis achat cialis en pharmacie surdosage cialis cialis 20mg pas cher

Anonymous said...

une question trГЁs curieuse [url=http://runfr.com]cialis prix[/url] http://runfr.com viagra generic avis viagra generique effet secondaire cialis

Anonymous said...

Opportun topic cialis 20mg http://runfr.com/acheter-cialis cialis prix cialis 20mg

Anonymous said...

http://www.aggrssn.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=105635&p=160947
http://www.hensonmusic.com/forum/posting.php?mode=reply&f=2&t=119863
http://forum.leodr.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16102&p=20527

Anonymous said...

remarquablement, ce message amusant cialis generique http://runfr.com/acheter-cialis-et-viagra-sur-le-net-bon-marche-bonuses viagra sur le net achat cialis

Anonymous said...

J'accepte volontiers. http://runfr.com/tag/cialis acheter cialis generique acheter viagra sur internet

Anonymous said...

Dans cela quelque chose est. Merci immense pour l'explication, maintenant je n'admettrai pas une telle erreur. cialis cialis

Anonymous said...

Excusez, topic a embrouillГ©. Est Г©loignГ© [url=http://runfr.com/cialis]cialis cout[/url] http://runfr.com/acheter-cialis achetercyalis cidlis acheter cialis

Anonymous said...

Maintenant tout est devenu clair, le merci bien pour l'aide dans cette question. [url=http://runfr.com]levitra 5mg[/url] http://runfr.com/cialis cialis 10mg omprimes cialis generic problиme de prostate а cause du cialis

Anonymous said...

Il n'y a d'aucun sens. cialis 20mg cialis

Anonymous said...

used car thomson
used car specifications
hotwire car rental
picture of race car
hotwire car rentl
fleas in car
iphone car dock
cars in hawii