Doors Open

I used to be a massive book snob. I was very capable of making my own book selections thankyouverymuch. I didn’t need input from other people because I was pretty sure that I was a better reader than them.

I was a total a**hole.

But within the past two years I’ve allowed other people to make reading suggestions that I’ve actually taken seriously. Sometimes these recommendations were followed up with that person actually lending me said book. And then I felt like I had to read it because they were being so nice about it and I dislike when people keep my books for a really long time. Other times I happened upon a recommendation on my next book outing and it seemed too much like fate to ignore.

Mostly I attribute this change in bookish attitude to my book club. The books that we’ve read have mostly been really great and most of them I never would have chosen on my own. Those girls showed me that I don’t know everything book related.

And mostly I’ve been very happy to be wrong.

Such was the case with Ian Rankin. I had heard of Ian Rankin before and when he made an appearance as a character in 44 Scotland Street I was even more curious. So when a colleague waxed poetical about her love of Ian Rankin and her very near miss of actually running into him when she was in Edinburgh, I was very intrigued. A few days later I found a stack of her Ian Rankin books on my desk.

I just finished my first one, Doors Open and it was great! I shouldn’t be surprised as it’s crime fiction and we all know about my love of crime fiction.

Mike Mackenzie is a very rich, very bored man so when his friend suggests that they “liberate” a few paintings from a warehouse by the water that actually houses a bunch of overflow works of art, he not only agrees, he goes about finessing the plot. The first quarter of the book leads up to the heist and you meet all kinds of characters from the art student who is aces at forging masterpieces, to the criminal mastermind that you really don’t want to cross and the banker who is having serious second thoughts.

The real fun doesn’t start until after the heist though, when human nature starts to make them all doubt each other. Suddenly friendships mean nothing, Scandinavian muscle shows up to collect on behalf of his boss and Inspector Ransome is on all their tails trying to piece together what actually happened.

As I was reading it I totally thought that it would make an excellent movie. I did a quick search this morning to see if that was likely and lo and behold I found this! So I’m going to have to keep my eyes out for that!

I have like 5 other Ian Rankin books still waiting for my attention. I don’t think I will dive right into the next one – I still like reading variety even if I’m not so picky about what I will and won’t read anymore. But when I finish The Midwife of Venice, I will definitely pick up another one and I’m likely to enjoy it too.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m glad I stopped being such a d*ck about reading.