Well, I’m back.

I haven’t been in the mood, nor had the time to read these past few months. I certainly wasn’t ready to dip into anything remotely silly until a few days ago. Couple that with the guilt not having read the published works I should have picked up ages ago…

I have a pile of Must Reads that has includes
1) Ryan Sohmer & Lar Desouza’s comic Looking for Group, a hilarious take on the World of Warcraft gaming world.
2) Capt. Jack’s Piratey opus (with strict instructions not to take chapter 18 too seriously by first mate Kate)
3) Heart of Darkness – one of those books I keep hearing about but wasn’t forced to study in school so I’m going in alone. Hopefully with more luck than I had with JJ’s Ulysses. (Oh Richard L! Never again. NEVER!!)

Anyway, top most on my list was Shelf Monkey, by Corey Redekop. A kindred spirit in that we both lovingly detest the work of Brian Horeck with a depth so deeply pure we hit the hellishly molten core of the earth long ago. And, lemme tell ya, it stung a bit.

Redekop is a Canadian bibliophile, and Shelf Monkey is his first book. And it’s a damn good one.

Shelf Monkey is great read. Funny and deeply light - it’s like Douglas Adams meets Rex Murphy, rents a hotel room for the weekend and indulges in wild, uninhibited cunning linguistics. After such a satisfying tale, do not be surprised by the urge to light up a cigarette even if you don’t actually smoke.

(There. You’ve been blurbed and blurbed hard, Corey. And I mean every word too.)

Seriously though, this is a booklover’s book. Redekop’s gone where several authors would absolutely shudder at the mere thought of treading. Redekop lambasts, with savage glee, the popular & banal drek that passes for mainstream literature these days. Here, indeed, his pen is mightier than any sword, even one wielded by the King of Gondor on crack.

Munroe Purvis is a talk show host and shameless publisher of bilious drivel. His power over the minds of his fans is an affront to those literate front line warriors in the trenches of the retail bookshelves. Their heart felt recommendations fall on deaf ears as the Purv’s consuming sheep care only to delve into books that carry a Munroe Purvis stamp of approval.

Something must be done.

Seen through the eyes of Thomas Friesen, a superb milquetoastian hero on the run from the law, the twisted tale of the Shelf Monkey’s revenge is a bookreader’s self-righteous romp through the aisles, peppered with delightful tips of the hat to great storytellers (and sly recommendations to various great works that I will add to my already toppling pile of Must Reads). Equally compelling is the Redecop’s Hannibal Lectorish verbal evisceration of those authors/paperbacks of less-than-stellar prose who somehow make it to the NYT best seller lists.

Corey, buddy. We who are about to die from laughter, salute you!

The only thing I would humbly ask is in the second edition you might conveniently list the Shelf Monkey’s Recommendations by title and author name in the back.

Please and thank you.