Adult Fiction

Complicated-re a librarian and her cataloging mysteries!

I am half way done--about a pocket watch belonging to Marie Antoinette-gets stolen from a museum in Jerusalem-interesting method of solving mystery-researching through library card catalogues for information on its history. Good read--a bit complex like the workings of the insides of a clock!

Yawn.

This came very highly reviewed from a book blog I read, and I thought it was pretty good, not great. The jacket promised a 'totally unexpected twist' on page 360, which I thought was very lame indeed (as was much of the ending), but the remainder of the book was fun to read and pretty quick to read at that.

This was a fun book, though suitable mostly for pedants, I think. The ending did peter out, but the main character's arc was pretty satisfying as he went from a (literally) limp noodle to standing up for himself at the end.

If you love librarian-lingo, pick it up.

Your Local library may have this book shelved as a Mystery. Well it's not really a mystery at least not a traditional mystery yes something has been stolen and the main character is looking for it but that is really a side plot to the greater mystery of human relationships. Alexander short has to uncover the secret to gettign along with people. His wife his coworkers his mysterious benefactor. Everyone really. Normally I would avoid a book like this but it was so well written that I did realize what it was at first.

There is a line in the book about making the dull sublime. Kurrweil has done just that he took a normally dull subject and made it a Sublime read.

Lots of jargonistic, dorky librarian humor.

If I told you how little time I've spent thinking about the ins-and-outs of librarianship since I left the profession seven years ago, you'd probably be amazed. Large research libraries are like their own little worlds, all-absorbing when you are inside of them and yet easily forgotten the moment you leave the gates. Well, this book brought it all back to me. Although some references seemed a little dated, even for 2001 when this book was published, it was obvious that Kurzweil has spent a lot of time in the back rooms of libraries. He knows all the inside jokes.

I also loved the bibliomystery part of this book. It's hard for an author to concoct a puzzle that's neither too easily guessed nor too confusing to follow. Kurzweil has done an admirable job with this as well.

What I didn't like about this book is the depiction of the narrator's personal relationships. I was especially dissatisfied with Alexander's relationship with his wife. It's entirely believable that he as a character doesn't understand women and how they tick, but I didn't get the feeling that Kurzweil understands them, either. Nic doesn't seem like any woman I've ever met in my life, and I wonder if he made her French in an attempt to mask the woodenness of her character. Alexander's relationships with his male coworkers and his partner in sleuthing were slightly better but still seemed quite shallow and revealed very little about human nature. It seems that Kurzweil understands books a lot better than he does people. This isn't so unusual in a librarian, but it's a regrettable defect in a novelist, and it's what makes this book good instead of great.

The author of A Case of Curiosities presents a follow up novel which can be read independently. One of the openings in the case of curiosities is empty. A mysterious gentleman seduces a librarian into helping him with the search for the lost object. Witty, erudite, sexy and sinister. Very good read.

Ik vond dit een goed boek. Een man die in een bibliotheek werkt, wordt door een klant gevraagd om privé voor hem wat opzoekingswerk te doen. Nadat hij hoort waarover het gaat, is hij gefascineerd en begint aan zijn speurtocht. Dit brengt spanningen teweeg in zijn huwelijk, dat toch al in moeilijkheden verkeerde. Hij laat zich echter meer en meer meeslepen door zijn onderzoek, tot hij ontdekt dat zijn 'vriend' misbruik van hem maakt. Samen met zijn vrouw en enkele vrienden besluit hij het hem betaald te zetten.

Dit boek is vooral psychologisch interessant.

Clever, but a little dry. Recommended by NPR, so I tried it.