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17th out of 131 books
—
232 voters
The Case of the Missing Books (Mobile Library Mystery #1)
by
Ian Sansom
Israel Armstrong is a passionate soul, lured to Ireland by the promise of an exciting new career. Alas, the job that awaits him is not quite what he had in mind. Still, Israel is not one to dwell on disappointment, as he prepares to drive a mobile library around a small, damp Irish town. After all, the scenery is lovely, the people are charming--but where are the books? Th...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
January 2nd 2007
by William Morrow Paperbacks
(first published 2005)
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Avete presente quei commenti in copertina scritti per chissà quanti millemila euro da giornali importanti, come il New York Times etc. etc.? Vorrei dire, quei commenti che ci prendono per il culo 'Scrittura magistrale, una storia da togliere il fiato' e lusinghe varie? Ecco, io mica ci credo mai a queste cazzatine che scrivono sullo stile, su quant'è bravo Tal dei Tali, su quanto la sua storia sia una spirale di emozioni, però, quando ho letto 'Antidoto alla malinconia' scritto dal The Guardian...more
It was obvious from when I ordered this book that it would not be your average mystery: young Jewish (half Irish) man arrives from joblessness in London to a small town in Ireland - Tumdrum - in the expectation of taking up a post as the new town librarian. After a hellish trip, which turns out to be fairly typical of his luck, he discovers that funding has been cut, the library will be sold and razed, and his new job is to be driving the mobile library replacing the brick and mortar stationary...more
Nov 20, 2007
Mary Tuley
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who's hipper than me, and that should be a large group
I know I should've loved this book, but I really didn't -- probably because it's rougher and grimmer than I could enjoy right now. However, I still think it deserves four or five stars, for all the open-minded readers who WILL enjoy it. Besides, the main premise -- that the new librarian has to go search for the library's books, all of which have been misplaced -- gets automatic points for originality and fun.
view all 4 comments
First, I have to thank Bonnie for her review of book 4 in this series: I'd never heard of Ian Sansom and the Mobile Library Mysteries before, but her great review made me want to read them.
I loved every minute of reading this book. I don't have one of those dainty, giggly-girl laughs, I have an embarrassingly loud, guffaw-type of laugh, and let me tell you, I've embarrassed myself in the lunchroom, the doctor's waiting room, and woken up my husband laughing out loud at this book. The dialog is...more
I loved every minute of reading this book. I don't have one of those dainty, giggly-girl laughs, I have an embarrassingly loud, guffaw-type of laugh, and let me tell you, I've embarrassed myself in the lunchroom, the doctor's waiting room, and woken up my husband laughing out loud at this book. The dialog is...more
Mar 15, 2008
Carolyn
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
all librarians
Recommended to Carolyn by:
Washington Post Book Review
This is a charmer. This is the story of a vegetarian librarian from London who finds himself in rural Ireland running a run down bookmobile with no books. Israel Atmstrong, the librarian, is a composite of Walter Mitty, Inspector Clouseau and a bit of Ignatius Reilly. The people in the village would also be right at home in Twin Peaks. How can anyone resist this? The joy in this read is the richness of the characters coupled with wonderful writing of Ian Sansom. I have read some criticism that i...more
It's scary and embarrassing that I knew almost every book reference in this one. I swear I haven't read that many books! This is funny at times... it reminded me of the humor of 'Three Men in a Boat' by Jerome K. Jerome, a favorite of mine, and actually mentioned in this book. The main character Israel reminded me a bit of Ignatius from 'A Confederacy of Dunces' but I've heard some people don't like that book... so disregard this if you don't. This poor guy, Israel, gets into so many conundrums....more
Inhalt:
Israel Armstrong ist aufgeregt – Schon bald wird er seinen Traum erfüllen und in die Heimat seines Vaters zurückkehren, um in der nordirischen Provinz Tumdrum die Stelle des Bibliotheksleiters zu übernehmen.
Doch als er in dem verschlafenen Ort ankommt, ist nichts so, wie es sein sollte. Zuerst muss er zu seinem Schrecken erfahren, dass die Bücherei geschlossen wurde und durch einen klapprigen Bücherbus ersetzt wurde, den Israel nun über die engen Straßen Nordirlands fahren soll. Und zusä...more
Israel Armstrong ist aufgeregt – Schon bald wird er seinen Traum erfüllen und in die Heimat seines Vaters zurückkehren, um in der nordirischen Provinz Tumdrum die Stelle des Bibliotheksleiters zu übernehmen.
Doch als er in dem verschlafenen Ort ankommt, ist nichts so, wie es sein sollte. Zuerst muss er zu seinem Schrecken erfahren, dass die Bücherei geschlossen wurde und durch einen klapprigen Bücherbus ersetzt wurde, den Israel nun über die engen Straßen Nordirlands fahren soll. Und zusä...more
The Case of the Missing Books is effectively a cozy set in Northern Ireland. It has a quirky, awkward, central character as the sleuth and a cast of other colourful characters, and it takes place in a small town where everybody knows everybody else. The central plot revolves around Armstrong trying to find his feet in a strange place, where the locals are at one level welcoming and, at another, standoffish, whilst he tries to locate the missing books. It’s one of those books that I’m kind of amb...more
The Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, and this book have something in common: me, wishing to avert my eyes and leave the room. With apologies to fans, I couldn’t warm to the main character, Israel, a shlemeil AND a shlimazel, and it took a long time to warm up to the North Ireland location and a few people, too. [All other books featuring Irish life that I’ve read, I’ve liked or loved. Oh well.] The best features are (a) an interesting situation: Israel arrives from London for a new job as libra...more
I did not like this book. It’s a fish-out-of-water tale where Israel Armstrong moves from London to northern Ireland to be a librarian. As are many small communities, Israel has a rough transition that is exacerbated by almost every member of the community. He’s so hapless that his continual misfortunes don’t garner an abundance of sympathy. I did not find a single character in this book likable.
He also must solve the mystery of the missing library books which goes just as badly as his transitio...more
He also must solve the mystery of the missing library books which goes just as badly as his transitio...more
I loved this book although I realize that it won't be everyone's cup of tea. Israel Armstrong is a librarian--well, he has his degree and has worked in several short-term situations--who is willing to relocate from London to Tumdrum, a small town in Northern Ireland, in order to finally have a job in a full-time position. Israel is around 30 and is a Jewish vegetarian who arrives in Tumdrum to find the library closed and all of the books missing. In fact, his new supervisor, Linda Wei (Northern...more
There are many books I don't mind giving away or swapping when I'm done reading them. "The Case of the Missing Books" is one I'd like to keep in my collection, however, and it surprised me when I finished it that I felt this way.
When I began the book, I was amused, interested, and didn't mind the storyline, yet I wasn't completely enthralled or won over. Some of the humor in the beginning felt a little too much - and kind of slapstick. At first I thought, "Oh no! Poor Israel!" and then I starte...more
When I began the book, I was amused, interested, and didn't mind the storyline, yet I wasn't completely enthralled or won over. Some of the humor in the beginning felt a little too much - and kind of slapstick. At first I thought, "Oh no! Poor Israel!" and then I starte...more
The Case of the Missing Books is the first in Ian Sansom’s new cozy mystery series bout put-upon would-be librarian Israel London. It’s a wry and witty book with a very distinct fish-out-of-water theme that makes for some hilarious if very loosely plotted reading.
Israel London, a Jewish vegetarian who has never quite lived up to lofty academic and career goals he has set himself, accepts, at the behest of his girlfriend, who it seems would rather like him out of the picture, a position at a smal...more
Israel London, a Jewish vegetarian who has never quite lived up to lofty academic and career goals he has set himself, accepts, at the behest of his girlfriend, who it seems would rather like him out of the picture, a position at a smal...more
Kind of goofy, but I liked it. I liked the setting (Ireland) and the subject (libraries). I didn't especially like Israel Armstrong, the main character, but I'm not sure I was supposed to like him all that much. I really don't think life had to be that hard for him. Plenty of quirky townspeople. Plenty of possibility for more mobile library adventures.
Loved the following passage:
Israel had grown up in and around libraries. Libraries were where he belonged. Libraries to Israel had always been a...more
Loved the following passage:
Israel had grown up in and around libraries. Libraries were where he belonged. Libraries to Israel had always been a...more
When I finished reading this book the three words that first came to my mind were; clever, funny, and human. I give it 3.5 stars.
The Case of the Missing Books is the first in a series about Israel Armstrong, a librarian who takes a new job only to discover it is not at all what he expected. His library is closed and all the books are missing. To top things off he is in a "quirky" small town in Ireland far from anyone he knows and surrounded by a very, um, unique set of towns people. The people i...more
The Case of the Missing Books is the first in a series about Israel Armstrong, a librarian who takes a new job only to discover it is not at all what he expected. His library is closed and all the books are missing. To top things off he is in a "quirky" small town in Ireland far from anyone he knows and surrounded by a very, um, unique set of towns people. The people i...more
A Jewish-Irish librarian (Israel Armstrong) arrives in TumDrum, Co. Antrim only to find that 15,000 books from the library have gone missing and he has to find them. Not having any money, he is housed in a semi-vacant chicken coop (semi-vacant implying the presence of one or two rogue chickens) on a local farm with a mad Granda, a crazed woman called George who runs the place and an easy-going philosophy-student grandson who has to lend Israel clothes on account of Israel's being all covered in...more
Questo libro mi era stato segnalato da qualcuno come bellissimo; il qualcuno è fortunato che io non mi ricordi chi sia, perché altrimenti non lo farei più amico. La storia di per sé non è un gran che, con il protagonista londinese Israel Armstrong, bibliotecario mezzo ebreo e mezzo irlandese, che va in Ulster per un lavoro e scopre che le cose non sono esattamente come pensava lui, visto che non solo la biblioteca è circolante ma i libri sono scomparsi. Ma il peggio è che proprio non sono riusci...more
Ennesima variazione sul tema cittadino vs campagnoli in salsa british-libresca. Giovane bibliotecario londinese di belle speranze arriva in sperduto paesino irlandese con l'ambizione di usarlo come trampolino di lancio per una brillante carriera internazionale e finendo invece invischiato in una rete di imprevisti ed equivoci simili a sabbie mobili dalle quali il nostro rischia di non riemergere mai più.
Maandiamo con ordine: innanzitutto per fare il bibliotecario serve che nella biblioteca ci s...more
Maandiamo con ordine: innanzitutto per fare il bibliotecario serve che nella biblioteca ci s...more
The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom is the first installment of Israel Armstrong, librarian/inept detective. Israel is a Jewish librarian from London who accepts a position as librarian in a small town in Ireland at the urging of his girlfriend. It is significant that Israel is Jewish because it is a very big deal to the residents of this small town.
Once in Ireland, Israel suffers a series of mishaps that leave him physically and emotionally bruised, penniless, and the unhappy librarian...more
Once in Ireland, Israel suffers a series of mishaps that leave him physically and emotionally bruised, penniless, and the unhappy librarian...more
I adore Ian Sansom. He is a true Irish Mick at heart. I especially find the depreciating humor used in describing Israel Armstrong, a English transplant that had to immigrate to Ireland to find a librarian position (even though he had honors at Oxford (tech. not university), a post that in fact is in an unconventional entertainment and media bookmobile that hasn't been in operation for decades. The bookmobile won't turn over and is encased in chicken poop from being stored in a derelict barn for...more
Why, oh, why don't I find incompetent librarians, obtuse supervisors, and uncooperative customers funny? Israel (the character, not the country) failed to win my sympathy (okay, maybe we're talking about the country as well). He's hostile (although it could have been blood sugar and bad travel karma - that would do it for me) and clumsy. The woman at the council is two-dimensional and her fatness and constant eating of junk food is insulting to those of us who love junk food, I guess.
Israel is...more
Israel is...more
Another book that appealed to my love of quirky characters, but also simply silly - and I love a dose of humor with my mysteries. You won't find any blood and gore in this story, though, unless you count all the beatings that poor, underachieving librarian Israel Armstrong takes at the hands of the folks in the tiny, seaside village where he has just taken up a post. Not for devotees of hardcore crime novels, this is more a story of a lovable victim of circumstances (and continuous misunderstand...more
You might assume from the title that a novel about some missing library books is not a strong premise for drawing readers. The first chapter, though, belies the fun that is about to start following it. Our unlikely hero is an overweight Jewish Englishman also an Irishman via his father, with a country for a first name. Israel Joseph Armstrong arrives at the doorstep of his new work place, a library in County Antrim coast of North Ireland, Tumdrum (rhyme it with humdrum), and discovers it closed....more
Israel Armstrong is an overweight vegetarian Englishman with a Jewish mother and an Irish father who takes the job of librarian in a Northern Ireland village. A few problems erupt immediately, however. The library is closed permanently, the Mobile Library he's supposed to use is an empty, rusty van, AND all the books are missing! And the craziness begins.
I do not enjoy slapstick comedy, and I'm sure I would not like a movie version of this book. But I think that the reason this works in book for...more
I do not enjoy slapstick comedy, and I'm sure I would not like a movie version of this book. But I think that the reason this works in book for...more
I wanted to like this book. I really, really, did want to like it. I haven't wanted so much and tried so hard to like a book. Ever. And it sort of fell flat.
But I don't think it's a good sign when you finish a book, a mystery book no less, and then the next day forget that you've finished it. I picked up the book tonight to finish and had a hard time finding my place. "Nope, read that part already...ok, yeah, read that page..." And whatdyaknow! I'd read the whole thing. And had forgotten who dun...more
But I don't think it's a good sign when you finish a book, a mystery book no less, and then the next day forget that you've finished it. I picked up the book tonight to finish and had a hard time finding my place. "Nope, read that part already...ok, yeah, read that page..." And whatdyaknow! I'd read the whole thing. And had forgotten who dun...more
I had a hard time getting into this. It's about a hapless Jewish librarian from London who goes to a village in Ireland only to find out that the library he was supposed to run is closed. He's in charge of the mobile library, but the books are all missing. Some of the conversations he has are just galling. To paraphrase one between him and his boss, a bureaucrat:
Librarian: But how can I be the librarian with no books?
Boss: Looks like you'll have to find them.
Librarian: Alone?! I don't know anyon...more
Librarian: But how can I be the librarian with no books?
Boss: Looks like you'll have to find them.
Librarian: Alone?! I don't know anyon...more
Another book that I forced myself to read 100 pages and then could not stomach it after that. I have a hard time putting up with blundering idiots in real life so it's little wonder why I can't tolerate them in my books. The main character of this novel is whiny and kind of mean and the author blames it on the fact that he is a book person and therefore sensitive and shy. In other words his love of books has led him to have no fortitude. That was the first big tip off that I was probably not goi...more
This is the first in Sansom's Mobile Library Mystery series but the second one I've read. Most mystery series are like Supremes' songs: if you like one, you'll like them all, but maybe a little less each time. Both the "detective" -- mobile librarian Israel Armstrong, a Jewish vegetarian Londoner plunked down in rural Northern Ireland -- and these "mysteries" are gentle enough to make Mma Ramotswe look like Dirty Harry. It's really just an excuse for Sansom to show his fondness for the area and...more
Ah, a book about books. Armed with notebook, Post-Its™, and pen, I settled in with The Case of the Missing Books, ready to fill my quote journal with nuggets of bookish wisdom. Imagine my surprise that as I closed the book on librarian Israel Armstrong’s first sleuthing experience, there was nary a phrase copied out and a full pad of Post-Its™ still at hand. Instead, I simply relished the experience of having traipsed through County Antrim alongside Israel (picture, if you will, John Cleese as B...more
There is a lot of whimsy here: our hero is a kind hearted, somewhat naive proto-librarian who leaves the comforts of London ... and dismal career prospects ... for the decidedly down-scale post as librarian in a small Irish town which has apparently just closed its library and lost all its books. Ian Sansom's appropriately titled The Case of the Missing Books is crammed full of delightful, warm-hearted humour with echos of the The Vicar of Dibley.
Israel Armstrong, a pudgy vegetarian Jewish libra...more
Israel Armstrong, a pudgy vegetarian Jewish libra...more
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