The Trouble With Tom

Book #6 was The Trouble with Tom, by Paul Collins. I think technically, this might have been the first book I read this year, but after they starting piling up on my desk, it all started to blur together. Regardless, I've been on a Collins kick lately (Not Even Wrong is actually next on my list when I finally finish Blue Latitudes...) and I was motivated enough to buy this in hardcover, so it seems likely I bought this right after it came out and read it very shortly thereafter.

(oops - bad on me - I bought it at his signing, that's why it's in hardcover...)

Regardless - worth every penny. I might even buy it again in paperback, because it was that good. I've said it about his books earlier tonight, so I'll say it again - his seamless weaving of memoir and history is impeccable. I love that style, in general, and think he pulls it off with particular aplomb.

The book is about the last bit of Thomas Paine's life and the strange afterlife of his bones. Paine was such a controversial and despised figure by the time he died, that his bones had a hard time finding a "home." Paine supporters followed his pieces in his afterlife, making sure that there was some sort of a stewardship over the years and passing them along (unintentionally) from one interesting character to another over the years. Collins tells the story better then I can rephrase it, but it's fascinating. Watching them traverse time, political disposition, and countries is particularly fascinating - especially since, as Mr. Collins points out - each owner has their own intriguing story to tell in the process. They never seem to end up with some uninteresting nobody who just keeps them in a well dusted glass jar...

I'm really looking forward to completing my Collins canon with Not Even Wrong and steeling myself for the fiction books he's been republishing as part of the Collins library project.

That's how much I like his work - despite my staunch anti-fiction stance (I've always identified with that line from the soon-to-be father-in-law in Sideways about (paraphrasing) there being "so much to learn in this world - why would I waste time on made-up stories?") - I'm going to delve into fiction. If anyone can make it good, I have a feeling it will be Collins.

Enough obsequiousness. After a couple hours of blogging, I finally feel caught up. Next stop - Blue Latitudes!