Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rejection Slips R Us, 27 April 2007
Lying somewhere unbookmarked in the depths of the west country is to be found (if you are careful to ignore its own directions) the Last Resort Library - an institution of apparently unlimited financial resources dedicated solely to the preservation of manuscripts that no one has ever published. And not for want of trying on their authors' parts, for it is a strict condition of acquisition that each item be accompanied by at least one and preferably a handful of genuine rejection slips - from which, when the Chief Librarian is feeling jaded, his secretary reads him a selection of the latest and most humiliating examples by way of a tonic. The only subjects on which the LLR will not accept accessions, however numerous and noxious the rejections, are, of course, cookery and gardening, for reasons that are not explained but will be intuitively obvious to all self-respecting book-lovers. (It also has no works on cricket, but only because no one has yet written a book on cricket that no one else would publish.) Dr Finkel's cast of eccentric characters cope manfully and womanfully, as the case may be, with all the vicissitudes attendant upon an institution whose permanent aspiration is "the MAXIMUM of accessions with the MINIMUM of personal contact and absolutely NO personal visits". This is the funniest book I have read since "Reinforced Concrete Made Simple", which I once found in a second-hand bookshop in Norwich but never actually got round to reading as its content could not possibly have lived up to the promise of its title. The Last Resort Library, by contrast, delivers content in abundance. What a wonderful TV sitcom it would make! I'm mentally casting it already...
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A tale which should have no ending...., 17 Jun 2007
The Last Resort Library is a delight of a book; humorous and engaging from beginning to end. The eccentric characters emerge from the pages of clear, concise text and quirky illustrations, to beckon the reader into their curious insular world. As if approaching a secret government installation, prospective visitors are deterred and random callers unheard of at the LRL buildings. Those given clearance by the Principal Librarian to venture inside the perimeter fence, whether they be researchers or film crew, are suspiciously viewed by the staff as spies. If you have ever puzzled over the final resting place of the mass of rejected and unpublished writings, puzzle no more - they are here, at the Last Resort Library!
I loved this book, but the tale must not end here, for there ought to be sequel, after sequel, after sequel....
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A book for all bibliophiles, 25 April 2007
I found the book an excellent read and could not put it down for ten chapters. The illustrations are good, although initially a little 'blocky', but there is much to see in them and they merge with the text after a short while. The book would appeal to publishers, who might see much of themselves in the pages; librarians, who will sympathise with the main characters; authors, published and unpublished, for whom it will in a sense be a mirror; almost anyone connected with books and the general, avid reader who will be entertained, even if the background cynicism may be lost on a few. In fact the LRL concept should become a reality, as it will be in the minds of the readers after a few chapters.
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