A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon

Another good book by Haddon.

In his previous novel "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" Haddon wrote brilliantly as a boy with a form of autism - Asperger's syndrom to be specific. In this book, he tackles mental illness and family dysfunction with the same skill.

I simply cannot say it better than the quote on the back of the book which says in part;
"As parents and children fall apart and come together, Haddon paints a disturbing yet amusing portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely."

Loaded with that dry British humor, and great human insight, this book works on more than one level.

Edited for correction of error - see comments for details.

The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson

A great book.

This book received a lot of attention even prior to it's release. Davidson received the largest advance ever in the U.S. for a debut novel by a Canadian author. Davidson was paid $1.25 million by Doubleday publishing for this book. They certainly got their money's worth, and so did I for my purchase.

Part love story, part historical fiction, part fantasy, and filled with stories within the story, this book was an absolute pleasure to read. Don't let the "love story" thing put you off if you are not a fan of romance novels, it is not that kind of love story!

A man who is beautiful on the outside, and has relied on his good looks, has an accident which leaves him badly burned and horribly disfigured. As he lies in his hospital bed, planning for the day he can commit suicide, he receives a strange visit from a woman who claims to have been his lover hundreds of years ago. This woman who carves gargoyles, tells their tales while nursing him physically and emotionally back to health. Soon she tells him, that she has only twenty-seven sculptures left to complete before her time on earth is done.

A worthy read!