The Book of Speculation

Librarians, mermaids, traveling circuses and a touch of the supernatural make this an enjoyable read. I admit, I found the main character, Simon Watson, to be a pretty lame example of a reference librarian, his supposed profession. He kept asking his circulation colleague to do his research for him, when every reference librarian I know would have been elbowing people out of the way to get started on the research themselves. However, Simon Watson is an exasperating character in other ways too, so maybe this was just another one of his flaws.

The main idea of the book is that Simon becomes aware, through an old book sent to him out of the blue by an antiquarian book dealer, that his family's troubles go back much further than his and his parents' generations, and that they are part of an alarming pattern. The process of uncovering the pattern and discovering the source of his family's troubles make this a suspenseful mystery. A substantial part of the book also takes place in an 18th century American traveling circus. The story telling in these chapters is excellent–they were my favorite part of the book.

I read this in long stretches on the couch over my Christmas vacation, and I heartily recommend.