Things I Like - Books

I just finished one of my Printer’s Row Lit Fair books – I love it when I find a new author that I like, completely by accident. I had never heard of Joanne Harris before, although I had seen and really liked the movie Chocolat based on her book of the same name.

The book I picked up at the Fair was Gentlemen and Players – a somewhat macabre mystery although not the typical ‘who dunnit’ in any way. The story takes place at St. Oswald’s, an old private grammar school for boys in the north of England. It is told by two narrators – the school’s Latin master who has been there for years and is on the verge of an unwelcome retirement and a character known only as the ‘Mole’. This Mole is clearly bent on taking the old school down and doesn’t seem to care who might get hurt (or dead) in the process. The story behind the Mole’s purpose is told throughout the novel – the last several chapters were one unexpected revelation after another and kept me thinking back to previous chapters with this new information.

The author’s website has a nice book page with a brief synopsis and background for the story. She also includes an interesting conversation with herself about the book and how it came to be.

And speaking of authors’ websites – have you noticed that some are nothing more than commercial outlets with very little author input while others are as much fun to explore as the books themselves? The Joanne Harris site is one of the latter – informative and entertaining. I am looking forward to reading more of her work.