This series of novels by Ian Sansone tell of Israel Armstrong, an agonizingly self-questioning, almost-30-year-old London man who moves to a remote village in Northern Ireland. Israel lives in a not-yet-converted chicken coop on a farm (a home he doesn't really like) and drives the book mobile (a job he doesn't really like) and spends most of his time feeling out of place and introspective (ie, self-centered) and vaguely depressed, like everyone his age apparently feels these days. Comments:These books are billed as mysteries but shouldn't be read as such -- meaning, you'll be frustrated if you are looking for a great mystery. The solutions are simple, the process is non-existent (no one goes about solving it rationally; many important questions go unanswered), and the main character spends most of his time navel-gazing and haplessly getting into binds. The mystery, like the book mobile, is merely a vehicle for telling a story about Israel Armstrong. These books can be very funny. The author works in some hilarious dialog and reflections of a Jewish, vegetarian Londoner on the culture/dialect of Northern Ireland. However, I often found myself reading along, thinking "this is so funny" or "I will highly recommend this book" -- and then the author took it too far or carried on for too long until it was no longer funny, like a little kid that gets a laugh from her parents so she says her funny line again. And again. And again. All the same, I did get some good laughs from this book.Be forewarned that the author is also a literary critic. Sometimes this can be funny and insightful, but other times it borders on offensive and seems almost like taking advantage of the reader to air his opinions. I also was confused by the author's impressions of the religious culture in North Ireland. Sometimes, he has the local minister give the straight-up gospel (and I'm not sure why he includes long quotations from the sermons; are they meant to be satirical? or simply recording what one might hear?), other times the minister lapses into the very humanist "I-don't-really-believe-this-stuff-but-I-say-it-because-it's-nice-and-makes-everyone-feel-good." Ugh. Sorry, but that's a pet peeve of mine.Recommendation: I recommend these but not as mysteries. And don't read too many in a row.
The second of Ian Sansom's "Mobile Library" mysteries about the half-Jewish, half-Irish Israel Armstrong, the mobile librarian and fish completely out of water in the small Northern Irish town of Tumdrum. Like The Case of the Missing Books, this was a quick entertaining read, and I particularly enjoyed both Sansom's horrifying description of a bibliophile who feels that he may have erred in his lifelong devotion to books as quoted below."He had always believed that reading was good for you, that the more books you read somehow the better you were, the closer to some ideal of human perfection you came, yet if anything his own experience at the library suggested the exact opposite: that reading didn't make you a better person, that it just made you short-sighted, and even less likely than your fellow man or woman to be able to hold a conversation about anything that did not centre around you and your ailments and the state of the weather. "He shivered."Could all that really be true? Did it matter? That the striving after knowledge, the attempt to understand human minds and human nature, and stories, and narrative shapes and patterns, made you no better a person? That the whole thing was an illusion? That books were not a mirror of nature or a mark of civilisation, but a chimera? that the reading of books was in fact nothing more than a kind of mental knitting, or like the monotonous eating of biscuits, a pleasant way of passing time before you died? All those words about words, and texts about texts, and all nothing more than tiny splashes of ink ..."Nothing to read: nothing to be read."
What do You think about Mr. Dixon Disappears (2007)?
I gave this author another chance by reading this his second book in this series. I wish I had not. The plot was poor and lost any credibility when the main character of this series was arrested for the robbery and kidnap of a family store owner. There was no real evidence or reason for the police to do so, other than to show the unrealistic prejudice between the police and a recently arrived inept English/ Jewish librarian. All the characters were made to look stupid and the book was full of one dimensional stereotypes. There was not much of a mystery either, as the librarian, with aid, solved the case in a few pages at the end of the book. The police investigation was not credible, even used as a humorous device by the author; or just leaving the bumbling 'hero' to solve the mystery of this missing person, leading to the weak conclusion in the last few pages of the book.I had reservation regarding the first book, unfortunately the negatives extended badly into this book. As a second book in a series I would have expected some character development. There was none. I will not be reading any more in this series or by this author. Rather then find any humour In the story, all I found was annoyance and an insult to my intelligence.
—Anthony Fisher
A couple of years ago I read the first book in the Mobile Library Mystery series, and I thought I remembered it as a light, typical popcorn mystery. Either I remembered it wrong or this second outing is a serious letdown. First of all, to call this a mystery is a stretch. I knew immediately what had happened, and there are very few "crime solving" scenes in this book, probably because the outcome was so obvious. I'm not sure what this book is aiming for - a character study, a collection of odd people and scenes, how many times one character can interrupt another (which is 95% of the dialogue here, interrupted and incomplete sentences)? There are odd scenes scattered throughout that have nothing to do with the plot: a dog whelping puppies, a Jew's interpretation of Baptist Easter service, etc. Also, none of the action involves being an actual mobile library.
—April
Well, it's really more of the same from Ian Sansom with this second book in the Mobile Library series. And for that, I love him! This book goes a bit deeper than the last, brings a few more of Israel's (and the rest of Tumdrum's) complications, flaws, and redeeming qualities to light. And despite the fact that Israel is still decidedly not Irish yet, you see the flavor of Tumdrum seeping into him a bit more each day, as though by osmosis. But Samson holds true to what worked so well in the first book: a mystery, a bumbling librarian, and some likable, eccentric villagers who seem to love and hate Israel at the same time. Pitch perfect!
—Rachel
