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Jun 22, 2008

A title I couldn't resist

OK I admit it I'm a sucker for a good cover and a spectacular title and this book has both. It's not an arc I'm having a bit of a dry-spell arc-wise. I was shelving on Friday and this book just hooked me and get this it's not a mystery! Well it's more the story of a search. It's called "The 351 books of Irma Arcuri" by David Bajo. Irma Arcuri has vanished, not just left the country, she bascially stopped the world and got off, she absented herself from her life. Philip Masryk a maths genius has been in love with Irma since University. Their friendship spanned Philip's two marriages but Irma leaves Philip her collection of books all 351 of them and Philip whose first language is numbers starts with 3,4 and 7 as she knew he would.

Irma a writer, restorer and binder of books has bound the collection herself and that's not all. She's added little pieces of herself into the books - altered texts added stories that perplex and unsettle Philip. Philip travels from Philadelphia to Spain seeking clues to Irma, along the way he finds that her influence has pervaded his family and friends even his step-children. Is Irma trying to warn him away, or to open him to a better life. Will Philip find Irma?

NB There is an awful lot of sex in this book - just so you know. It didn't detract from the story but for a maths geek this guy is really nookie friendly!

I'm also reading the second of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books 'Monstrous Regiment of Women' it threw me a bit on the first couple of chapters (marriage? when we left Mary at the end of the first book she was having trouble tolerating any man but we are five years further on so I'll forgive Laurie King that) Plus I'm experimenting with a TV tie in. Torchwood - I love the series but books of TV series aren't usually very good. However I downloaded a couple of TWood audiobooks last year and they were pretty good so we'll see.

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