Robert M. (shotokanchef) reviewed on 3/13/2009 + 813 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

While this sequel to "Parnassus on Wheels" is framed around a minor mystery, it is also a platform for the author to expound further upon his philosophy of life and learning: a love of books, their purpose and utility. In it, Roger Mifflin, the hero of Parnassus, is now married and is the proprietor of a used bookshop in Brooklyn called Parnassus At Home. Of course, he also advises bibliophiles that the bookstore in haunted: by the ghosts of great literature, that is. Not a deep mystery, it is built around social and political concerns of the time (start of the 20th century) and, of course, there is a protagonist (besides Mifflin) who miscues the situation, falls in love with a beautiful girl (who just happens to be working in the bookshop and is obscenely wealthy), goofs up (of course), but succeeds in the end (in spite of himself) by solving the mystery, bringing the malefactor to justice, winning the girl (nd her fortune), and fostering the growth of the Parnassus enterprise. A delightful read! Oh, by the way, one might also build a considerable bibliography for further reading from the myriad references to classic literature that is interspersed with the essays on cognition.

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