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Jon Fasman has taken a big chance with The Geographer's Library, his debut novel, setting out a complicated scenario in which a collection of priceless objects is stolen from the titular library and, eventually, scattered and re-collected a thousand years later--with very bad results for the final collector. The geographer is a real person, Al-Idrisi, a Spanish-Muslim philosopher, cartographer, linguist, and scholar who served in the court of King Roger of Sicily in Palermo in the year 1154. For the most part, Fasman's risk pays off, although there is a lot of meandering before we finally get to the final revelation.
The "wraparound" story is about a young journalist, Paul Tomm, who sets out to write a simple obituary about a professor who died in his office at Paul's Alma Mater. The man is Jaan Puhapaev, an Estonian perhaps, who is a terrible teacher, fires his gun out his office window twice, is odd, unavailable, and reclusive and yet is allowed to stay on for unknown reasons. He also collects only $1.00 a year in salary and has no other visible means of support. The core narrative is a description of the provenance and travels of each of the 15 objects--some or all of which may hold the secret of eternal life--stolen from Al-Idrisi.
A professor friend of Paul's, a policemen and a curious editor all get an investigation rolling regarding what really happened to Jaan, who is he, and is he perhaps much, much older than they think? Paul meets and falls for a neighbor and putative friend of Jaan's, a music teacher named Hannah Rowe, which moves the information curve upward. This is the least believable part of the story: it's easier to accept the alchemical power of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes than Hannah. That said, Fasman does bring it all home at the end with an expository chapter and two letters. A bit of a cheat, but at least the reader is neatly taken off the literary hook he has dangled on for 380 pages. --Valerie Ryan
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR008863246
Book Description Trade Paperback. Condition: Very Good. BR5 - An advance uncorrected proof trade paperback in very good condition that has light discoloration and shelf wear. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Advance Reading Copy (ARC). Seller Inventory # EC21857BB
Book Description Trade Paperback. Condition: Near Fine. First Trade. Trade Paperback. 374 pages. *** PUBLISHING DETAILS: Penguin, Australia, 2005. First Trade. *** CONDITION: This book is in near fine condition. More specifically: Covers have no creasing or wear. Spine is uncreased. . Remainder mark on page edges. Pages are lightly tanned. This book is an unread copy. *** ABOUT THIS BOOK: A twelfth-century Sicilian cat burglar snatches a sack of artefacts from the king's geographer's library, and the tools and talismans of transmutation - and eternal life - are soon scattered all over the world. The bizarre and dangerous circumstances under which these alchemical objects change hands are testament to their extraordinary value, but it is not until nine hundred years later that a young reporter on a local paper, Paul Tomm, stumbles upon evidence that someone is collecting them again. Investigating the suspicious death of a local professor, Tomm finds the dead man's heavily fortified office stuffed with books on alchemy and clues that the man's life was as suspicious as his death . . . *** Quantity Available: 1. Category: Fiction; Historical; ISBN: 0241143047. ISBN/EAN: 9780241143049. Inventory No: 08010096. This item is in stock in our Australian warehouse. We are not dropshippers. Seller Inventory # 08010096
Book Description Condition: Sehr gut. 384 Seiten in gutem Zustand 12226 ISBN 9780241143049 Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 495 21,2 x 15,2 x 3,0 cm, Taschenbuch. Seller Inventory # 2196296