The Geographer's Library (2005)

by Jon Fasman

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
2,052	62	7,986	(3.08)	86
Expecting to cover zoning meetings and school plays, Paul Tomm signs on as a cub reporter with a small-town paper near his Connecticut alma mater. When Jaan Puhapaev, a professor doing his research on the ancient art of alchemy, dies under suspicious circumstances, Paul is called back to the campus to write an obituary. But Puhapaev had no family or friends, and the only person who seems to have known anything about him is the beautiful next-door neighbor, Hannah Rowe. When the coroner working on Puhapaev's autopsy is killed, Tomm teams up with two detectives and Hannah, with whom he has fallen in love, to discover what happened to both men. But the more he gets acquainted with the professor's story, the stranger it gets. What did Puhapaev know about the fourteen charmed, cursed talismans that could turn not only base metal into gold but also old age into youth?… (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

elliethecat, hisgirlfriday, JoeB1934, Magpiebooks, KaliZabo, hoodlumpriest666, JeremyReppy, JFBCore, Wolfwoods, kwhbooks

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Member recommendations

10
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (cransell)
00
The Eight by Katherine Neville (cransell)

▾Lists

None

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 86 mentions

▾Member reviews

English (58) Spanish (1) Portuguese (Brazil) (1) Dutch (1) All languages (61)

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 58 (next | show all)

liked it but not as much as I had expected. Enjoyed the objects and the story in the past, but the present was less convincing (

)

cspiwak | Mar 6, 2024 |

(2005)An OK mystery in the daVinci Code genre. Main story was OK but the constant back & forth to describe objects of alchemy that were stolen was a little tedious by the end of the book.

derailer | Jan 25, 2024 |

A fun read - conspiratorial alchemy murder mystery. It's only real flaw was the ambiguity in the end - a tale fluttering off to nowhere. Nevertheless, well written and enjoyable. (

)

dhaxton | Jan 24, 2023 |

Closer to a 3.5 but I'm rounding down because I wasn't really wowed. Aims for some Venn diagram wedge between cozy mystery, noir, and The Da Vinci Code and doesn't really hit any of them. Fasman should've just stuck to the "small town reporter investigates bizarre murder" angle and left out the rest of this. (

)

skolastic | Feb 2, 2021 |

In the Spring of 1154, King Roger II of Sicily, sent his esteemed geographer (and Alchemist) on a trip to map more of the world. The King then proceeded to take over the Geographer's Castle, but before the King could actually arrive a very stupid/arrogant young thief pillaged the Geographer's Library of sixteen very valuable pieces.

The young thief returned home, only to be shunned for his stupidity & the extreme danger he brought onto the family (very highly respected thieves).. He disappeared, trading all but 1 piece of stolen property for safe passage to freedom.... Little did he know his days were numbered.

Through the centuries the 16 pieces scattered and all those who had possession of them eventually mysteriously died....

Current day: a tenured Professor who is not whom he seemed has mysteriously died, the Coroner who was working on the autopsy has been rundown by a car (hit-and-run)..

So begins the investigation of the Professor's secrets by a young alumni & reporter, whose investigation put him & others into mortal danger as well.

Sound GREAT, right? No, boring, boring as hell & the investigative reporter (narrator) is a dud. The book is slow and the characters are dull.

The most interesting thing about the book was the description & history of each of the 16 pieces at the end of each chapter. (

)

Auntie-Nanuuq | Dec 18, 2018 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 58 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (8 possible)

▾Series and work relationships

▾Awards and Honors

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Original title

The geographer's library

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Lincoln, Connecticut, USA

Wickenden College

Sicily, Italy

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

I find myself always torn between two beliefs: the belief that life should be better than it is and the belief that when it appears better it really is worse.

Graham Greene, Journey Without Maps

Dedication

For Alissa.

First words

For a journalist at a weekly paper, especially one as small as the Carrier, The Day the Paper Comes Out is a day of rest.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Furst, Alan

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

Expecting to cover zoning meetings and school plays, Paul Tomm signs on as a cub reporter with a small-town paper near his Connecticut alma mater. When Jaan Puhapaev, a professor doing his research on the ancient art of alchemy, dies under suspicious circumstances, Paul is called back to the campus to write an obituary. But Puhapaev had no family or friends, and the only person who seems to have known anything about him is the beautiful next-door neighbor, Hannah Rowe. When the coroner working on Puhapaev's autopsy is killed, Tomm teams up with two detectives and Hannah, with whom he has fallen in love, to discover what happened to both men. But the more he gets acquainted with the professor's story, the stranger it gets. What did Puhapaev know about the fourteen charmed, cursed talismans that could turn not only base metal into gold but also old age into youth?

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary