ON BOOKS ~ Shelf Monkey...

MizB asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• Share the title of the book the teaser comes from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

From pg. 106 of SHELF MONKEY by Corey Redekop (fiction)...

"Now, again with the benefit of hindsight, if you could have stopped Jackie Collins before she had a chance to destroy a whole generation of bored housewives, well, wouldn't you have at least tried to convince her of the merits of a life devoted to something more appropriate to her talents? Like a travel agent?"

Burning books is blasphemy. That's what Thomas Friesen thought too. Until he met the Shelf Monkeys. I was intrigued by the cover of this book and a few teaser sentences from Wanda that I came across at A Season To Read. I then won a free copy from her so when a book arrives at your door how do you say no? I'm certainly not going to use it for kindling.

This is a fun romp through a snapshot of Thomas' life. Because he is afflicted with the love of literature, he was tormented as a child and as an adult has some major self-esteem issues. When we come across his story he is trying to put his life back together with the help of depression meds after a failed career in law. He finds gainful employment at a big market book store and becomes friends with some of his fellow bibliophile co-workers who rejuvenate his life.

What seems like a perfect place to work quickly becomes hell on Earth when Thomas realizes that no one comes to the store to discover literature or seek recommendations from anyone other than International celebrity Munroe Purvis - whose talk show book club following is the cause of the dumbing down of society.

Author Corey Redekop cleverly weaves the reality of Oprah and author Eric McCormack into his novel which keeps it from turning into a "based on a true story" effort. The book is engaging with tons of humor and even more references to literature - good, bad and indifferent.

The book reads as if you are peeking into the case file compiled by the FBI and RCMP who are conducting a manhunt for Thomas. The reasons for this are revealed as you go along so if you don't like getting piecemeal information in the epistolary manner this might not be for you. But the constant tug on the heartstrings of all bookworms makes it difficult to put down and conflicting as the plot develops.

I liked the Shelf Monkey's final "statement" to Purvis - very clever - albeit sadistic. I'm not sure what I felt about the ending. Someone can mount a defense for it - just like the Shelf Monkeys.