Ahoy there me mateys! I absolutely loved the quirky and hard to categorize sourdough by this author. I thought I would try his other novel. While this had a lot of good in it, ultimately it be just an okay read for me. I think the problem for me was that once the bookstore mystery was “solved” and the action moved to NYC, I was less interested.

The first half of the book really did float me boat. I loved Clay and how he got involved in the bookstore. The bookstore itself was awesome. I wish I could visit. I also loved that notes had to be taken about which books were borrowed from the bookstore and why. If the entire book had been like this section then I would have adored it. And I really did enjoy all of the characters in and around the bookstore.

But there were problems. While I liked how Clay’s relationship with his best friend worked, the best friend’s obsession with boobs was kinda icky and immature at best. No matter that it made the character lots of money. I was also disappointed in how the main romantic relationship in the book turned out because I rather enjoyed the set up. I just didn’t really like or understand its evolution. However the main problem with the book was that the solution to the bookstore mystery was lackluster and the rest of the book bored me. I thought the secret society was lame even if the main concept behind it was ok. I didn’t like the ending at all and really didn’t like any of the Google elements.

I did also like the sections dealing with typography but then I am the dork who adored just my type: a book about fonts. The writing did lead to some beautiful quotes, especially in the beginning, but ultimately I am glad I started this author’s work with sourdough. Had I read this one first, I might not have picked up more of the author’s work. Arrrr!