The Bad Book Affair

I thought this was a clever, intriguing book that I enjoyed very much. Of course I didn't think so at first. In the beginning I thought the main character Israel Armstrong was nothing but a man who needed to get a life. But as I continued reading I changed my mind, for how else is a Jewish, English vegetarian supposed to feel after breaking up with his girlfriend in the northern-most of Northern Ireland? Now I have to buy the rest of the books in the series.

The protagonist, Israel Armstrong, is a very likeable character, harmless, except maybe to himself. There is plenty of local humour some of which may be a bit too close to the truth for comfort. Behind all the witty jabs there is a kernel of gravity. Sadly, I believe I have only one left unread in this series. In that one I hope Israel realizes that his landlady, George, is his perfect life partner. Sansom doesn't have a big following because it seems he writes for Northern Ireland readers. There are so many "local" connections, jokes, words, even mispronunciations, none of which are explained for anyone not in the know. Just knowing what they are talking about is a plus, and even this ex-pat didn't understand all the references. The show more story is a sort of satire, with an underlying serious message that is hard to pin down. I liked this one even more than the first one in the series. show less

If "The Bad Book Affair," published in 2009, turns out to be the last of Ian Sansom's Mobile Library mysteries, it makes a terrific conclusion to a terrific series. As Sansom began a new series with the publication of "The Norfolk Mystery" in 2013, this probably is the series finale.

Calling the four novels in the Mobile Library series mysteries seems a bit of an overstatement, for nobody is murdered in any of the books. Crimes, when there are any, prove minor. Still, Israel Armstrong, a book-loving young Jewish man from London stuck against his will in a job as a mobile librarian in Northern Ireland, gets a chance to play detective in each novel. In one, the library's books are missing. In another, the bookmobile itself is missing. In show more the other two, individuals go missing.

In "The Bad Book Affair," it is a 14-year-old girl named Lyndsey Morris who disappears. Because this happens soon after Israel allows her to check out one of the Unshelved books, both the girl's father and Israel's boss blame him for the disappearance. The Unshelved are books, mostly respected works of literary fiction, considered too mature for young readers. Thus, they are kept under the counter until a patron asks to see them. Lyndsey borrows a novel by Philip Roth. Israel, who likes placing good books in the hands of young readers, sees nothing wrong with what he's done, but others do. He even gets pulled in for questioning by the police. Then he does some investigating on his own.

Sansom's books are more comic novels than mysteries. The conversations -- and the stories consist mostly of conversations -- are priceless. Yet these novels, at their core, are really about literature and about the reading life. Most mystery fans won't like them, but most bibliophiles will. show less

This is the fourth in the Moblie Library Mystery series and while this isn't my favorite I still found it entertaining. This series features a very quirky main character, an English Jewish vegetarian mobile librarian in Northern Ireland who keeps finding himself involved in rather unusual circumstances. In this case, he lends a book from the mobile library (a Philip Roth) to a 14 year old girl who disappears a short time later. The plot is rather thin but it provides the reader with some laughs and gives Sansom the opportunity to feature a serious topic, the efforts to restrict the availability of certain books to the "impressionable".

Escape this summer's next big thriller - slip away from all the scintillating suspense and plucky police procedurals and settle down with Ian Sansom's cantankerous cozy, The Bad Book Affair. Why? Because nobody's life could be as bad as Israel Armstrong's, even a librarian's.

Israel is a pathetic, morose, kvetching, displaced mobile librarian in the midst of a mid-life crisis on the north coast of Ireland when he gets in to a bit of a bother with the local police. It seems he was the last one to have seen the local politician's 14-year-old daughter who has now gone missing.

And Israel didn't only see her but, unluckily, checked her out a book from the "unshelved," a category of books deemed morally inappropriate for Tumdrum's youth. This show more is not looking good for his six month review neither is the fact that he's missed a week's work because he was drunk, depressed, and wallowing in self pity. Ted, Israel's co-worker, and the other characters of this backwater town eventually save him despite himself. The mystery isn't complicated. Israel isn't a courageous hero. There are no incredibly evil villains and the climax is anti-climatic. Whew... what a relief!

If you are a pushover for any book about books, libraries, or librarians you will laugh out loud, shake your head, and smile more than once - easily enough compensation for the missing mystery. show less

The mobile library series is hard to describe but oh so easy to read. A series of absurd mysteries with a highly unlikely protagonist -- a vegetarian Jewish mobile librarian living in a chicken coop in northernmost Northern Ireland. If that sentence puts a smile on yer face, get this book immediately.

The books revolve around one central mystery but the real pleasure of them areis the series of everyday life vignettes that make up the vast majority of the content. London psuedo intellectual meets crazy rural townies. I know it sounds cliche but Sansom's gift for dialogue really brings these workaday interactions to life.

I recommend you start at the beginning of the series, though each book gives you enough in chapter one to get the gist show more if you only choose to read one. show less

Ian Sansom's fourth installment in his Mobile Library Mystery series is The Bad Book Affair (Harper, 2010). I rather wish Sansom would just drop the mystery business, since as in prior installments the mystery in question wasn't much of one at all. And this time around I thought Sansom tried to throw in a few too many minor plotlines, not all of which came together in a satisfying way at the end.

That said, the best part about these books has always been the strange culture of Tumdrum, the Northern Ireland town where our pathetic hero (the English-Jewish-vegetarian mobile librarian Israel Armstrong) plies his trade, eats bad scones, and tries to keep out of trouble with the law. Armstrong's more depressed than ever in this book (recently show more dumped, almost 30, migraines to boot), and his colleague Ted's just as unsympathetic as usual. But the daughter of a local politician's gone missing, and naturally Israel finds himself unwittingly involved in the investigation.

Ted and his Tumdrum companions (including here the elderly and deranged bibliophile Pearce Pyper, the only slightly-less-deranged Bible-quoting Mr. Devine, and Israel's landlady George) are what make these books bearable, and Sansom's characterizations of them continue to improve. Unfortunately the quality of the mysteries seem to stay about the same.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2010/02/book-review-bad-book-affair.html show less