frumiousb

Academic mysteries, academic gothic, librarian thrillers. At first, I was kind of excited about the genre. But now I will confess, dear reader, that I am getting a little bit sick of it.

The Book of Air and Shadows is entertaining enough, perhaps occasionally in need of an editor. I was somehow reminded of Memoirs Of A Master Forger, although the Heaney/Joyce is the superior book. At least in my opinion.

Bookstores, hidden letters, men who have problems with their relationships, lost treasures. Violence, meditations on relationships, and ciphers. Great airplane reading. I found the pacing occasionally odd-- stretches where I was very close to bored and other moments where there was so much jammed into the text that I got cross. That's mostly personal preference, of course. I didn't like the hidden letter thread, and that's too bad because it is quite important to the book.

Mostly damning for me is that the book didn't stick with me when I was done with it. I didn't find myself thinking about it. I'm not inclined to open it again, and will probably give it away to a friend in search of a decent airplane or beach book.