The Camel Bookmobile

Certain books are allowed to be less than perfect. For example, any book about librarians or book collecting or even writing is such a welcome publishing event that I give it some slack; just the mere fact that someone decided to choose these as subjects is enough to allow the author some latitude. The Camel Bookmobile, consequently, I have let the belt out a couple of notches. The writing is acceptable. The characters shimmy up against stereotype here and there. The author lets the genuine details appear now and then and the book shines. I worried through the first few chapters, concerned the author was trying to make a point, change the world, but she got bigger as the novel moved along and showed both the dark and the light. The chief librarian seemed thin throughout; surely time in England would have developed his character a bit more? I ended up deciding to like the book, despite its small flaws. It is, after all, the story of the power of words on lives.