What do you think?
Rate this book
Benny Cooperman #11
Memory Book
Recovering in a Toronto hospital from a serious blow to the head, private investigator Benny Cooperman struggles with memory loss and a condition that has rendered him able to write but unable to read. It's a circumstance that compromises his ability to remember his attacker and the case he was on the brink of solving. But he was the lucky one - when he was found, there was a woman next to him, dead.
Benny is incapable of not detecting. It's in his genes. With the help of his girlfriend Anna Abraham and a notebook, he searches for new ways to find the truth.
Librarian's note: characters, settings, etc. have been completed for the series of 12 novels and 2 novellas: #1. The Suicide Murders (1980), #2. The Ransom Game (1981), #3. Murder On Location (1982), #4. Murder Sees The Light (1984), #5. A City Called July (1986), #6. A Victim Must Be Found (1988), #7. Dead And Buried (1990), #7A. The Whole Megillah (1991) (a novella), #8. There Was An Old Woman (1993), #9. Getting Away With Murder (1995), #10. The Cooperman Variations (2001), #10A. My Brother's Keeper (2001) with co-author Eric Wright (a novella), #11. Memory Book (2005), and #12, East Of Suez (2008). A thirteenth, Over the River, was scheduled for 2018 but never came out.
Benny is incapable of not detecting. It's in his genes. With the help of his girlfriend Anna Abraham and a notebook, he searches for new ways to find the truth.
Librarian's note: characters, settings, etc. have been completed for the series of 12 novels and 2 novellas: #1. The Suicide Murders (1980), #2. The Ransom Game (1981), #3. Murder On Location (1982), #4. Murder Sees The Light (1984), #5. A City Called July (1986), #6. A Victim Must Be Found (1988), #7. Dead And Buried (1990), #7A. The Whole Megillah (1991) (a novella), #8. There Was An Old Woman (1993), #9. Getting Away With Murder (1995), #10. The Cooperman Variations (2001), #10A. My Brother's Keeper (2001) with co-author Eric Wright (a novella), #11. Memory Book (2005), and #12, East Of Suez (2008). A thirteenth, Over the River, was scheduled for 2018 but never came out.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
4 people are currently reading
182 people want to read
About the author
Howard Engel
32 books29 followersHoward Engel was a pioneering, award-winning Canadian mystery and non-fiction author. He is famous for his Benny Cooperman private-eye series, set in the Niagara Region of Ontario.
He and Eric Wright are two of the authors responsible for founding Crime Writers Of Canada. He had twins Charlotte and William with authoress, Marian Engel. He has a son, Jacob, with his late wife, authoress Janet Hamilton: with whom he co-wrote "Murder In Space".
A stroke in 2001 famously caused "alexia sine agraphia". It was a disease that hampered Howard's ability to comprehend written words, even though he could continue to write! He retired in Toronto, where he continued to inspire and mentor future authors and writers of all kinds. Maureen Jennings, creator of the Murdoch novels and still-running television series, is among them.
Unfortunately, he died of pneumonia that arose after a stroke. True animal-lovers: Howard's beloved living cat, Kali, is included by their family in his obituary.
He and Eric Wright are two of the authors responsible for founding Crime Writers Of Canada. He had twins Charlotte and William with authoress, Marian Engel. He has a son, Jacob, with his late wife, authoress Janet Hamilton: with whom he co-wrote "Murder In Space".
A stroke in 2001 famously caused "alexia sine agraphia". It was a disease that hampered Howard's ability to comprehend written words, even though he could continue to write! He retired in Toronto, where he continued to inspire and mentor future authors and writers of all kinds. Maureen Jennings, creator of the Murdoch novels and still-running television series, is among them.
Unfortunately, he died of pneumonia that arose after a stroke. True animal-lovers: Howard's beloved living cat, Kali, is included by their family in his obituary.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
October 17, 2025
4 Stars. A remarkable piece of fiction. And a remarkable piece of writing. We find Benny Cooperman, a private detective from Grantham, in reality St. Catharines, Ontario not far from Niagara Falls, in a Toronto hospital suffering from alexia. That's an inability to read as a result of damage to a part of the brain. Someone clubbed him on the left side of his head and did the same to U. of T. professor Flora McAlpine but with even more dire consequences for her. Her body was found next to his. Benny can't remember names; he can't read, and he can't recall the circumstances which led him to Rose of Sharon Rehabilitation Hospital on University Avenue. Was he on a case and if so, who was his client? Why was he hired? As the book begins, he has just regained consciousness after being in a coma for more than a month. Why remarkable? A few years earlier, author Howard Engel suffered a stroke which resulted in similar symptoms. Benny's struggle was the author's too. With the help of a memory book, a notebook for Benny to record his every thought and step but almost impossible for him to read at first, he finally gets there. A touch tedious but I enjoyed it. (Fe2024/Oc2025)
September 4, 2017
I enjoyed this author's handling of Conan Doyle/Dr. Bell in a recent reading and decided to try this Cooperman book since it was written after the author had experienced a stroke that left him without the ability to read. He applies this condition he knew so well to his PI Cooperman in this book as the result of a hit on the head.
There were parts of this book that were beautifully worded as the condition was poignantly portrayed. The mystery component of the plot was not fully satisfying, but the personality of Cooperman was intriguing enough for me to go back and try one of the earlier Cooperman books. Next trip to library.
There were parts of this book that were beautifully worded as the condition was poignantly portrayed. The mystery component of the plot was not fully satisfying, but the personality of Cooperman was intriguing enough for me to go back and try one of the earlier Cooperman books. Next trip to library.
October 2, 2010
Prior to reading this book, I had never heard of Howard Engel. Therefore, I knew nothing about him as an author prior to this book or his condition during the writing of this one. The afterword explains it all but I won't give that away here. I went into the story blind, no preconceptions, and I'm glad I did.
This is more like an old-fashioned, Sherlock Holmes-type mystery, rather than the typical intricate, fast-paced mystery of today. Benny Cooperman, the detective and narrator, has a brain injury and does most of his detecting from the brain injury ward in the hospital. While some might consider this story slow due in part to the lack of movement, I found it entertaining and enjoyed every word.
This is more like an old-fashioned, Sherlock Holmes-type mystery, rather than the typical intricate, fast-paced mystery of today. Benny Cooperman, the detective and narrator, has a brain injury and does most of his detecting from the brain injury ward in the hospital. While some might consider this story slow due in part to the lack of movement, I found it entertaining and enjoyed every word.
July 17, 2010
Two weeks ago, I read a fascinating article in The New Yorker by Oliver Sacks, the author of "Awakenings," "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat," and "Musicophilia." The article was about the seemingly simple act of reading, which Sacks demonstrated is anything but simple. He included case histories of several persons who through accident or stroke lost their ability to read (alexia).
One of those persons was Howard Engel, a Canadian writer of detective novels, who in 2002 suffered a minor stroke and found he suddenly could not read. He looked at the front page of his favorite (English language) newspaper, and what he saw looked like "Serbo-Croatian." Although reading was tremendously difficult for Engel, he could write (alexia sine agraphia), although re-reading and editing his own writing became nearly impossible.
Not being able to read would seem to mark the end of any writer's career. But Engel spent many months in a rehabilitation hospital where he developed techniques to overcome or work around his disability. English continued to be a foreign language, but slowly he regained the ability to figure out street names or headlines in a newspaper. Using unusual methods to edit and rewrite his manuscript, he published in 2006 a new entry in his Benny Cooperman private detective series called "Memory Book," using his recent experiences. The story is about Cooperman's getting hit on the head and left to die, resulting in alexia and memory loss, and his months-long effort to overcome them and solve a murder mystery tied in with his assault.
The mystery itself is fairly routine -- something vaguely about illegal drug manufacture at a university in Toronto, but the descriptions of Cooperman's ordeal of his not being able to read are moving and his long battle to develop ways to aid his memory (including a "memory book") and work around his reading disability are inspiring. The plot takes place almost entirely in a rehabilitation hospital in Toronto, and Engel's detailed account of hospital life rings true, an echo of Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain."
Oliver Sacks wrote an afterword to the novel, which I noticed was the beginning point of his much longer essay in The New Yorker. Why he waited four or five years to write the magazine article from the afterword I don't know.
Engel wrote a nonfiction book about his alexia, "The Man Who Forgot How to Read: A Memoir." I hope to find it and (with much more ease than Engel, I hope) read it.
I highly recommend "Memory Book" for voracious readers. Probably, after finishing this book, you won't pick up another book and read it without appreciating how lucky you are to have this magical ability to quickly turn tens of thousands of letters and numbers into meaning and enjoyment.
One of those persons was Howard Engel, a Canadian writer of detective novels, who in 2002 suffered a minor stroke and found he suddenly could not read. He looked at the front page of his favorite (English language) newspaper, and what he saw looked like "Serbo-Croatian." Although reading was tremendously difficult for Engel, he could write (alexia sine agraphia), although re-reading and editing his own writing became nearly impossible.
Not being able to read would seem to mark the end of any writer's career. But Engel spent many months in a rehabilitation hospital where he developed techniques to overcome or work around his disability. English continued to be a foreign language, but slowly he regained the ability to figure out street names or headlines in a newspaper. Using unusual methods to edit and rewrite his manuscript, he published in 2006 a new entry in his Benny Cooperman private detective series called "Memory Book," using his recent experiences. The story is about Cooperman's getting hit on the head and left to die, resulting in alexia and memory loss, and his months-long effort to overcome them and solve a murder mystery tied in with his assault.
The mystery itself is fairly routine -- something vaguely about illegal drug manufacture at a university in Toronto, but the descriptions of Cooperman's ordeal of his not being able to read are moving and his long battle to develop ways to aid his memory (including a "memory book") and work around his reading disability are inspiring. The plot takes place almost entirely in a rehabilitation hospital in Toronto, and Engel's detailed account of hospital life rings true, an echo of Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain."
Oliver Sacks wrote an afterword to the novel, which I noticed was the beginning point of his much longer essay in The New Yorker. Why he waited four or five years to write the magazine article from the afterword I don't know.
Engel wrote a nonfiction book about his alexia, "The Man Who Forgot How to Read: A Memoir." I hope to find it and (with much more ease than Engel, I hope) read it.
I highly recommend "Memory Book" for voracious readers. Probably, after finishing this book, you won't pick up another book and read it without appreciating how lucky you are to have this magical ability to quickly turn tens of thousands of letters and numbers into meaning and enjoyment.
April 14, 2011
Very disappointing book. Howard Engel, who writes the Benny Cooperman series, suffered a stroke which left him with the inability to read. He has recovered sufficiently to decipher words and read extremely slowly and laboriously. Once he recovered sufficiently, he wanted to return to writing his dective series and decided to have Cooperman suffer a blow to the head which left him with the same "defect."
Engel's memory book was given to him in the hospital as a means to help him remember things, since his memory was affected as well as his reading ability. By writing down things he wanted to remember, Engel had less difficultyn remembering them. (I have discovered this same thing helps me. If I write it down, I don't have to carry around the note to remind me. Just writing it down lodges it in my memory.)
So Engel decided to have Cooperman's recovery aided by a Memory Book. The only problem is that the book plays virtually no part in the novel. I expected to see more about the role it played in the recovery.
The solution to the crime was also discovered in an unusually short amount of time, as well, considering that the person most involved in solving it was suffering from a major injury which left him with pretty important disabilities.
So, while I understand that the effort put into this book was tremendous (Engel couldn't read what he had written or the comments from his editor, so had to work around that with the help of many others), I felt the book was rushed and didn't significantly address the issues Cooperman was facing.
But then, I haven't read any of the others of this series, so maybe this is Engel's writing style.
Engel's memory book was given to him in the hospital as a means to help him remember things, since his memory was affected as well as his reading ability. By writing down things he wanted to remember, Engel had less difficultyn remembering them. (I have discovered this same thing helps me. If I write it down, I don't have to carry around the note to remind me. Just writing it down lodges it in my memory.)
So Engel decided to have Cooperman's recovery aided by a Memory Book. The only problem is that the book plays virtually no part in the novel. I expected to see more about the role it played in the recovery.
The solution to the crime was also discovered in an unusually short amount of time, as well, considering that the person most involved in solving it was suffering from a major injury which left him with pretty important disabilities.
So, while I understand that the effort put into this book was tremendous (Engel couldn't read what he had written or the comments from his editor, so had to work around that with the help of many others), I felt the book was rushed and didn't significantly address the issues Cooperman was facing.
But then, I haven't read any of the others of this series, so maybe this is Engel's writing style.
September 12, 2016
I read some of the early Benny Cooperman mysteries back a few years and I enjoyed Benny and the stories. For the most part they were set in the town of Grantham, Ontario, just down the road from Niagara Falls. Benny is a private investigator; his cases are interesting and he is an interesting character. In 2000, the author, Howard Engel , suffered a mild stroke, which left without the ability to read, without major effort and therapy, even though he could still write. The condition is known as alexia sine agraphia. In 2005, he wrote this book. It starts with Benny waking up in a hospital in Toronto, after having been discovered in a dumpster. Benny was struck in the head and because of this, he finds that he has the same condition. He has great difficulty reading, remembering names and what happened yesterday. He can write and remembers things that happened earlier in his life. While in the hospital, Benny enlists the aid of his girl-friend, Anna, to continue investigating; what case Benny was actually involved with, and to find and interview many of the people involved. At the same time, Benny works to develop techniques to improve his mental state and to find techniques to assist him; the Memory Book being one of them. As well, he continues his investigation from his hospital bed. It's a fascinating concept and interesting story, peopled with great characters. The mystery is almost secondary to Benny's experiences in the hospital. All in all, an excellent, well-written, entertaining story.
May 17, 2013
A few years ago, Canadian mystery writer Howard Engel suffered a small stroke that he wasn't aware of until he picked up his morning newspaper and realized that he could no longer understand the words in front of him. He had a rare condition called alexia sine agraphia, meaning he couldn't read but he could still write (although he couldn't read what he had written).
He ended up consulting with everyone's go-to doctor for strange brain accidents, Oliver Sacks, and wrote a book about the experience. This isn't that book, though.
Instead, Engel here takes his longtime detective character, Benny Cooperman, and has him go through the same experience after getting a blow on the skull and being thrown in a dumpster. So, at one and the same time, Cooperman is trying to solve the mystery of why he was attacked and solve the mystery of why he not only cannot read, but can't remember anyone's name, confuses oranges and apples (literally) and other challenges in the rehab hospital in Toronto.
The mystery isn't the most complex one I've ever seen, but the description of what it is like to slowly try to regain a vital intellectual function, all the while succumbing to the desire to sleep several hours a day, is worth the read by itself. A true stumbled across in the library little gem.
April 11, 2011
The author having a condition that allows him to write but not read (I can't imagine not being able to read!), and he gave his main character the same condition. I found that information interesting, the story itself ended on a severe anti-climax. I love mystery books but really the answers to the puzzle are so vague that it's a wonder he "solved" anything.
It was an easy read but did not take me anywhere near the edge of my seat.
Sorry that's about the best I can say. I probably won't read any more of this author's work.
It was an easy read but did not take me anywhere near the edge of my seat.
Sorry that's about the best I can say. I probably won't read any more of this author's work.
June 14, 2017
This is one of the best books in the whole Benny Cooperman series. The sense of someone searching for the truth, sorting through clues, is extraordinarily highlighted by the head injury suffered by Benny and his doubting of his own memory. The realism of the setting in the rehab centre reads so true as it is based on the author's own experience following his stroke. A++ . I would not recommend this as your first entry point into Benny Cooperman's world, though.
September 27, 2009
This novel is a case of art imitating life somewhat. When novelist Howard Engel had a stroke that left him with a condition called alexia sine agraphia (he could write, but he could not read written words), he decided to share the pain with his fictional detective, Benny Cooperman. Cooperman develops this condition as the result of being beaten over the head and left for dead in a dumpster. Once he realizes what has happened to him, he figures he was on the trail of something and came close to solving a case. But what was the case? This book traces his journey as he recovers his memory and solves the case.
I listened to this book as part of CBC's Between the Covers podcast, and I have to say that it worked well as an audio book. The story is very dialogue-heavy, so it feels almost like a radio play. However, it suffered from a dearth of actors: there was one person for male voices and one for female. This meant that the actors involved tried to do accents and change their voices to sound like different characters. Sometimes this worked, as with Cooperman's older brother, who sounded suitably gruff and patrician. Other times this was painful to hear, as with Nurse Rhymes-With, as Benny calls her. She has an accent of some kind, and I was convinced it was Indian until she said her name: MacKay. Sure she could be an Indian woman who married a Scottish guy, but I think that it may actually have been a horrendous Scottish accent. The male voice person also did an Indian accent, although the character in question was supposed to be Indian. Still, the obvious attempt at accents was very distracting and distanced me from the story.
The story itself was okay, although I think if I'd tried to read this in print I would have put it down unfinished. It moves rather slowly at first, probably because Cooperman is stuck in the rehab centre, and of course because of his lost memory people have to repeat things several times, and that gets tiresome. And by the end it was almost like he'd never had alexia sine agraphia. Sure he would have adapted eventually to the condition, but the turnaround seemed a bit quick. As for the person whodunnit, I'm not entirely clear as to when Cooperman began to suspect that person. Perhaps it is due to my being easily distracted while listening to an audiobook (I basically have to be doing nothing else if I hope to retain anything from the story), but it was somewhat confusing as to how he reached that conclusion. All in all, rather unremarkable.
I listened to this book as part of CBC's Between the Covers podcast, and I have to say that it worked well as an audio book. The story is very dialogue-heavy, so it feels almost like a radio play. However, it suffered from a dearth of actors: there was one person for male voices and one for female. This meant that the actors involved tried to do accents and change their voices to sound like different characters. Sometimes this worked, as with Cooperman's older brother, who sounded suitably gruff and patrician. Other times this was painful to hear, as with Nurse Rhymes-With, as Benny calls her. She has an accent of some kind, and I was convinced it was Indian until she said her name: MacKay. Sure she could be an Indian woman who married a Scottish guy, but I think that it may actually have been a horrendous Scottish accent. The male voice person also did an Indian accent, although the character in question was supposed to be Indian. Still, the obvious attempt at accents was very distracting and distanced me from the story.
The story itself was okay, although I think if I'd tried to read this in print I would have put it down unfinished. It moves rather slowly at first, probably because Cooperman is stuck in the rehab centre, and of course because of his lost memory people have to repeat things several times, and that gets tiresome. And by the end it was almost like he'd never had alexia sine agraphia. Sure he would have adapted eventually to the condition, but the turnaround seemed a bit quick. As for the person whodunnit, I'm not entirely clear as to when Cooperman began to suspect that person. Perhaps it is due to my being easily distracted while listening to an audiobook (I basically have to be doing nothing else if I hope to retain anything from the story), but it was somewhat confusing as to how he reached that conclusion. All in all, rather unremarkable.
November 15, 2010
Benny Goodman, private investigator, feels the train leaving the tracks. He sees objects flying everywhere, then a suitcase coming toward him. The next thing he sees are white walls of his hospital room. But he didn't get hit on the head in a train wreck; he got hit on the head in an alley in Toronto and left for dead alongside another poor soul who wasn't as lucky. But all he remembers is the train wreck that never happened. And the blow to the head in the alley he can't remember has left him with a rare condition, alexia sine agraphia, where he can write but cannot read—written words are just a jumble of marks without meaning. He must have been working a case, but what case? Who was his client? What was he doing in the alley? Who tried to kill him and did they still want him dead? If he can't remember, how can he find out?
Howard Engel's latest entry in the Benny Goodman series is unique in crime fiction as Engel wrote this work after a stroke that left him in the same condition as his character—no small achievement for a writer who could no longer read the pages he had just written. So Memory Book becomes somewhat of a reversed “locked room” mystery where, instead of the murder occurring in a locked room, the detective is locked in a hospital without normal access to the crime scene and witnesses. Benny must use what few clues he has about what has happened to infer the answers to the mystery
Memory Book is an enjoyable cozy detective story. Benny exhibits a good sense of humor about his condition, and his observations about hospital life and patients can make you chuckle out loud. Even though the scene where Benny unveils the murderer taunt's your willingness to suspend disbelief, you can forgive him because he's just so darn likeable. I'm looking forward to meeting the former Benny Goodman in his earlier cases, before he got the dent in his brain.
Howard Engel's latest entry in the Benny Goodman series is unique in crime fiction as Engel wrote this work after a stroke that left him in the same condition as his character—no small achievement for a writer who could no longer read the pages he had just written. So Memory Book becomes somewhat of a reversed “locked room” mystery where, instead of the murder occurring in a locked room, the detective is locked in a hospital without normal access to the crime scene and witnesses. Benny must use what few clues he has about what has happened to infer the answers to the mystery
Memory Book is an enjoyable cozy detective story. Benny exhibits a good sense of humor about his condition, and his observations about hospital life and patients can make you chuckle out loud. Even though the scene where Benny unveils the murderer taunt's your willingness to suspend disbelief, you can forgive him because he's just so darn likeable. I'm looking forward to meeting the former Benny Goodman in his earlier cases, before he got the dent in his brain.
January 22, 2024
Fascinating insight into a real condition.
August 21, 2014
PI Benny Cooperman's been hit on the head and can't remember what happened yesterday. The opening passages of the work place Benny in the hospital, going over again for the nth time who-what-where. To complicate the matter, Benny can write but not read. What happened and why? How can Benny live a normal life, much less investigate? What is normal, anyway?
The Memory Book is an extraordinary excursion into a world that most of us can't conceive of - a world where every experience is new and unfamiliar. Cooperman is certainly an unusual protag, and is built on the personal experience of the author, Harold Engel who does have alexia sing agraphia.
This edition has an afterword by Oliver Sacks - perfect. And here's what Kirkus has to say - I love it "The past twenty years have seen plenty of detectives with disabilities. Engel, one of the few writers to share the same challenges as his sleuth, has produced one of the most unusual an affecting mysteries ever."
This is the 11th Benny Cooperman mystery and it is amazing. I've got to catch up and from now on, follow.
--Ashland Mystery
The Memory Book is an extraordinary excursion into a world that most of us can't conceive of - a world where every experience is new and unfamiliar. Cooperman is certainly an unusual protag, and is built on the personal experience of the author, Harold Engel who does have alexia sing agraphia.
This edition has an afterword by Oliver Sacks - perfect. And here's what Kirkus has to say - I love it "The past twenty years have seen plenty of detectives with disabilities. Engel, one of the few writers to share the same challenges as his sleuth, has produced one of the most unusual an affecting mysteries ever."
This is the 11th Benny Cooperman mystery and it is amazing. I've got to catch up and from now on, follow.
--Ashland Mystery
October 4, 2016
This is a most unusual mystery. Howard Engel had a small stroke which left him with an inability to read and some colour and shape recognition problems. He couldn't read but he could write and this combination is a huge problem for someone who is a voracious reader and writes for a living. Mr. Engel transferred the problems to Benny Cooperman and had him solve a mystery while he was in hospital undergoing therapy. The result is an entertaining mystery with a fascinating medical situation as part of it. There are a number of entertaining scenes: 6 yr old Dympna hoping her father will turn up for her birthday, the UN diplomat, the two Belgians and all discussing great meals around the world as they eat their hospital dinner, nurse Carol McKay, rhymes with day, whom Benny finally just calls Rhymes With, and the scenes with Benny's parents, which are very moving.
The afterword by Dr. Oliver Sachs validates, if that was necessary, what Engel has had happen to Benny. (Why did I not remember reading this before?)
The afterword by Dr. Oliver Sachs validates, if that was necessary, what Engel has had happen to Benny. (Why did I not remember reading this before?)
August 17, 2016
The author Howard Engel (a Canadian) developed a condition called alexia (word blindness) after suffering from a small stroke. Engel could see letters perfectly well, but could not interpret them. It seems somewhat bizarre and counterintuitive that one is able to write but not read what has been written according to Oliver Sacks, MD. This book is about a private investigator, Benny Cooperman, who has suffered a blow to the head and is subsequently diagnosed with the above condition. He manages to figure out, while he is in a rehab hospital in Toronto, who was responsible and why. Quite a well written book and certainly an accomplishment by the author. The Toronto landmarks that are mentioned in the book, adds an additional interesting element.
December 9, 2010
While not the best mystery i've ever read what's amazing is the story behind it namely the author went through the same problem the protagonist did - as documented in a memoir he wrote and (and this is how i came to find out about this) gets a chapter in Oliver Sacks new book...
Howard Engel one day woke up and he could no longer read. He could write but he could not read what he just wrote. This is a big problem when you're a writer.
but gradually he learned to work around this and wrote this novel despite being unable to read what he wrote (he had to have people read him sections aloud so he could edit it)
Howard Engel one day woke up and he could no longer read. He could write but he could not read what he just wrote. This is a big problem when you're a writer.
but gradually he learned to work around this and wrote this novel despite being unable to read what he wrote (he had to have people read him sections aloud so he could edit it)
May 26, 2011
I was only willing to read this book because it was part of a library book club, and I appreciated the real story behind the author's inability to read. I wasn't enjoying it at all, but was willing to persevere for the sake of having an opinion at the book club meeting. I decided to abandon the book when the narrator said the following about a pleasant OT in the hospital who was from Hamilton (my hometown): "That was the best thing I've ever heard about that place." The commment was cliche, boring, and unenlightened.
June 6, 2016
Howard Engel delivers the goods once more with Memory Book, one of the latest adventures of his detective, Benny Goodman, this time in the form of a semi-autobiographical story drawing on Engel's own personal experience with and research into a rare mental condition in which the person has lost the ability to read but yet all other language functions, including writing, are still in working order. This is an excellent read, as we follow Cooperman's efforts to solve a mystery, in which he himself is one of the victims, to its conclusion despite not being able to read any written clues.
July 27, 2011
Fun at first, but kind of boring and even annoying after a while. The characters' behaviour didn't make a lot of sense. And the most interesting part was his inability to read, but then they just dropped that, without even describing the process of his learning how to read again. I don't want to give away the villain, but I found the stereotype offensive.
March 22, 2025
As a mystery, it was not great, but as a perspective of someone who had an injury to his brain it was very interesting. It was kind of uneven, because it was from the voice of someone who was recovering his language and memory. If you are interested in the life of someone trying to repair his mind and life or what it is like in a rehab hospital, this would be the book to read.
January 8, 2008
The author, after a stroke, found himself able to write but unable to read. His detective, after a blow on the head, finds himself in a similar predicament. What's amazing is that this author wrote this book. What's less engaging and interesting is a detective solving a case from a hospital bed.
March 9, 2015
I listened to this on CBC Radio's Between the Covers podcast. I enjoyed the dark humor and clever writing quite a bit. I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another novel in this series.
May 17, 2016
An interesting approach. The main character and author both suffer from alexia - they can write but cannot read what they write. It is a stretch that Benny solves a murder mystery while lying on his hospital bed. I enjoy detective novels but this didn't keep me enthralled.
August 21, 2019
It was an interesting read. I was impressed with how Bennie was able to adapt to the head injury and still solve his case.
I liked the premise that we can adapt to injuries and still follow our calling. I liked this detective.
I liked the premise that we can adapt to injuries and still follow our calling. I liked this detective.
August 15, 2009
Not a particularly noteable tale, but I sure do appreciate cbc's Between The Covers!
Read
July 13, 2010This is a wonderful tale of a man who lost his ability to read but was able to recover his memory enought to solve the mystery of his brain injury.....
July 31, 2010
Benny Cooperman #11
September 28, 2010
Light and entertaining. I am also going to read another by the same author about his sudden condition that doesn't allow him to read, but he can write!
March 11, 2012
novel written by author after suffering alexia; afterword by Oliver Sacks
August 10, 2013
Very interesting. Detective has a blow to the head that causes symptoms similar to what the author had with a stroke. Author with Oliver Sacks of Man Who Forgot How to Read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews