The Geographer's Library ebook

by Jon Fasman

The Geographer's Library book.

The Geographer's Library book. 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.

As he investigates, he discovers that there is more to the professor that meets the eye. It seems he was keeping artifacts that were stolen almost a thousand years ago from a geographer's library. Someone is now collecting them and this might be related to the professor's death

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The Geographer's Library is an extraordinary debut, smart, stylishly written, and full of suspense. It tempts with the glitter of antiquities and hooks with a chilling plot. In this brilliant debut, competing visions of an obscure professor's life take a young reporter from a sleepy New England town to the heart of an international smuggling ring that may hold the secret to eternal life. In the Spring of 1154, King Roger II of Sicily, sent his esteemed geographer (and Alchemist) on a trip to map more of the world. The King then proceeded to take over the Geographer's Castle, but.

Читать бесплатно книгу The geographer's library (Fasman . и другие произведения в разделе Каталог. The geographer's library, Jon Fasman. London : Penguin Books, 2006. 549, p. : il. map. - (Penguin fiction). Доступны электронные, печатные и аудиокниги, музыкальные произведения, фильмы. На сайте вы можете найти издание, заказать доставку или забронировать. Возможна доставка в удобную библиотеку.

About The Geographer’s Library. When reporter Paul Tomm is assigned to investigate the mysterious death of a reclusive academic, he finds himself pursuing leads that date back to the twelfth century and the theft of alchemical instruments from the geographer of the Sicilian court. Interspersed with the present action are the stories of the men and women who came to possess those charmed-and sometimes cursed-artifacts, which have powers that go well beyond the transmutation of lead into gold.

And really, The Geographer's Library isn't a horrible book

And really, The Geographer's Library isn't a horrible book. It's just not a great book, either, especially given Fasman's credentials. In mixing all the elements together for his tale of alchemy and murder, Fasman got all his facts right, but he neglected the key ingredient to make his story truly sing: passion. Something which is not missing from Robertson Davies' similar and deliciously ribald The Rebel Angels, in which a defrocked monk gives the following advice to a head-strong university student

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But there’s much, much more to the story, as we learn in juxtaposed parallel chapters that tell the story of an Arabic commissioned by a 12th-century Sicilian monarch to map the entire then-known world, and of numerous invaluable objets d’art formerly possessed by the geographer (al-Idris), since sought by an expanding criminal cadre.

Nine hundred years after a twelfth-century Sicilian cat burglar steals artifacts that possess the secret to eternal life and scatters them throughout the world, a young Connecticut reporter finds evidence that someone is collecting the artifacts again, a story that is complicated by the murder investigation of a local professor. A first novel. 100,000 first printing.

Blackseeker

This story traces a cache of valuable artifacts on their journeys through time periods. Following the ancient character stories meshed with the modern characters was tedious. Some of the story lines were identifiable, but often did not join other stories and characters. The book could have benefited from a character glossary. The fact that the artifacts were neither reunited nor fully appreciated by their final or temporary owners did not add resolution to the story.

BroWelm

Ultimately, this novel disappoints, something that is all the more frustrating because the story is so good and the writing very readable. In fact, were it not for two faults, I would give this 5 stars.

1. The ending is flat, almost cliche, and seems only one step above a "happily ever after" ending. And that is deeply disappointing because both of the interwoven stories in the novel - the protagonist in the modern day slowly, almost accidentally, uncovering the other story of the alchemy items and their histories. Both of these stories work well together and almost pull you through the book.

2. The story of the alchemy items is really, really fascinating, but just a bit too disjointed. It's almost as if the author had some great ideas, but couldn't come up with a novel on its own of the alchemy lore, and so built another story around them. As a result, why the two threads do work well together in the structure of the book, there is more of a "hanging together" of all the parts in the modern half of the novel; the more historical parts are simply vignettes. And as a result, the main protagonist doesn't really uncover the details as more stumbles across the big ideas, and we're left to wonder where he learned all the details from.

The last fault of the book, though, really doesn't become apparent until you are more than 3/4 of the way through the book and you know far, far more about the background of the story than the main character.

In one of the last chapters of the book, it "seems" that one of the characters reveals all of the various histories, facts, etc. of the alchemical equipment, but that is never actually stated outright, only that the two people talked for several hours.

And this is just one of the three components that make for a flat, rather disappointing ending to the book.

That said, if you enjoy a good mystery, with some historical vignettes and slowly building suspense, the only thing you should know: stop reading after page 359 (hardback edition). You'll probably enjoy your own imagined ending.

Akinonris

THE GEOGRAPHER'S LIBRARY by Jon Fasman (Penguin, $24.95) Paul Tomm, a reporter for a small weekly newspaper in New England is writing the obituary of a local professor. As he investigates, he discovers that there is more to the professor that meets the eye. It seems he was keeping artifacts that were stolen almost a thousand years ago from a geographer's library. Someone is now collecting them and this might be related to the professor's death. In alternative chapter form, the reader follows the trials and tribulations of Paul Tomm's investigation and the story of each of the artifacts stolen. Of course, there is an element of danger which reaches a climax at the conclusion of the book.

Jon Fasman is an impressive writer with a vital imagination. There is a feeling of authenticity in the many descriptions of the artifacts, as well as, the locale of the many stories within the story. Paul Tomm's investigation does provide some suspense and is easy to follow until about two thirds through when things become increasingly complex and quite muddled. A more direct story line in future books would bode well for Mr. Fasman. This one is a mild recommendation.

Mot

I don't generally choose books they choose me, or rather the story does in a jump out and grab you way. "The Geographer's Library" was a gift so this story was chosen for me and I'm thrilled that I received it.

This book is written in such a way as to keep you engaged and waiting impatiently to see what's on the next page. I found I became involved with the characters emotionally so I shared their journey on a personal level. I love books that give you a history lesson interwoven with the storyline and there were many!

Gann

As others have mentioned, there are two stories here: the present-day mystery and the ancient story related to alchemy.

The mystery surrounding the death of Jaan is competently told, but it didn't engage me probably because of the hapless nature of the main character, Paul, and because this plot is relatively simple and uninteresting. The intersection of this story with the ancient story could have made it a much more interesting mystery, except that the ancient story was the biggest disappointment in the book.

It was disappointing because the author failed to develop the sense of wonder and excitement around the ancient objects that might have made the story compelling and interesting. In fact, the objects which play such a large role in the text play virtually no role at all in the plot, which I found very puzzling and frustrating. I waited in vain for the book to tie these objects to the plot, to make them relevant and interesting.

Here's another way of expressing why I was disappointed. I felt like there might have been a centuries-long, fascinating story that tied all of the objects together---but that I was sitting on the very periphery of that story with only a few not very interesting glimpses of that story as they reflected on the rather mundane present-day mystery plot.

I don't recommend this book.

Jonariara

This is an enjoyable story but suffers a bit from the malady that plagues many writers: an torrid love of their own words. It could have used benefited from skillful editing.