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Book review of Hound by Vincent McCaffrey
As those of you who read my book reviews may recall, there are few things I find more irresistible than a book about books, so it's no surprise that I finally got around to reading _Hound_ by Vincent McCaffrey (Small Beer Press, 2009), a book mystery set in Boston. It's not as noirish as the Cliff Janeway series by John Dunning or as darkly fantastic as the various books by Arturo Perez Reverte, but instead is more like a bibliophile mystery for us average bibliophiles who lack either a background in law enforcement or a Satanic sidekick. In other words, it's more about the reasons real people love books.
For those who don't recognize McCaffrey's name, he owned Avenue Victor Hugo Books, and _Hound_ is filled with references to Boston bookstores of the past and present which the native Boston bibliophile will probably enjoy. Most of these bookstores were gone long before I arrived in Boston, but I'm betting LJ users Gyzki and Nineweaving could wax poetic on the literary recent past represented by the protagonist's memories.
Even without recognizing all the literary landmarks of the Boston which is nostalgically recalled in _Hound_, I found it a satisfying read, especially suited for the cold and rainy day on which I read it, and I look forward to the soon-to-be out followup novel.
Here is a book trailer for the book which the sighties might enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FLXygesvwY&feature=related
And just because as far as I'm concerned you can never have too much Small Beer Press love, I also encourage folks to check out
_A Life on Paper_ by Georges-Olivier, trans. by Edward Gauvin Châteaureynaud (Small Beer Press, 2010)
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2010/05/25/a-life-on-paper-stories/
which was just nominated as a finalist for the 2011 Best Translated Book Awards
http://www.omnivoracious.com/2011/03/best-translated-book-awards-announce-finalists.html
It's a dark and surreal collection of stories and you can read the title story at the SBP Web site; I bought my ebook version at Fictionwise because I can easily convert the Multiformat into txt, but you can also purchase it in paper or ebook formats from
Weightless Books
http://weightlessbooks.com/format/book/a-life-on-paper-stories/
For those who don't recognize McCaffrey's name, he owned Avenue Victor Hugo Books, and _Hound_ is filled with references to Boston bookstores of the past and present which the native Boston bibliophile will probably enjoy. Most of these bookstores were gone long before I arrived in Boston, but I'm betting LJ users Gyzki and Nineweaving could wax poetic on the literary recent past represented by the protagonist's memories.
Even without recognizing all the literary landmarks of the Boston which is nostalgically recalled in _Hound_, I found it a satisfying read, especially suited for the cold and rainy day on which I read it, and I look forward to the soon-to-be out followup novel.
Here is a book trailer for the book which the sighties might enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FLXygesvwY&feature=related
And just because as far as I'm concerned you can never have too much Small Beer Press love, I also encourage folks to check out
_A Life on Paper_ by Georges-Olivier, trans. by Edward Gauvin Châteaureynaud (Small Beer Press, 2010)
http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2010/05/25/a-life-on-paper-stories/
which was just nominated as a finalist for the 2011 Best Translated Book Awards
http://www.omnivoracious.com/2011/03/best-translated-book-awards-announce-finalists.html
It's a dark and surreal collection of stories and you can read the title story at the SBP Web site; I bought my ebook version at Fictionwise because I can easily convert the Multiformat into txt, but you can also purchase it in paper or ebook formats from
Weightless Books
http://weightlessbooks.com/format/book/a-life-on-paper-stories/