Leaving for a short trip to Florida, I went to the library in search of a book to bring along. Something about the spine of In the Rooms caught my attention--a miniaturized version of the cover art, a glass of booze with a pencil as a stirrer--so I took it off the shelf. When I read in the flap copy that it was the story of a literary agent in New York, I thought "this is my kind of book!" and checked it out and took it home to learn more. I enjoyed the first few pages enough to make a commitment to make it my vacation book (yes, I have an eReader - in fact my family has both a Kindle and Nook--and yet...). It did not disappoint, and made for compelling and engaging reading, and kept me busily and happily occupied until the end of the short trip. (I had brought a second book just in case, which I began on the plane ride home.)
Walking to work with a hangover one morning, British transplant Patrick Miller sees a man walking through Washington Square Park who resembles a famous beloved author. He follows the man to see if it is in fact who he thinks it is (it is), and follows him straight into an AA meeting. Patrick's allegedly phony alcoholism, his hunt to put himself on the literary agent map by scoring this new author, and the characters he meets at AA make for an engaging and well-told story. I was disappointed in the final ten pages or so and how he wrapped the story up, but Shone is a good storyteller and I enjoyed the book.
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