Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife by Sam Savage

Savage, Sam, Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife, Coffee House Press, $14.95.

Firmin is a story of a rat who lives in a bookstore, eats books (words) and understands the text of the stories he reads. When the bookstore is torn down to make way for urban renewal he goes in search of a new home.

Firmin is, at it's core, an outsider story about someone who never really fits into the world in which he finds himself.

I have a theory about helping people find books. I think all of us are ultimately searching for our story recreated and retold in many different ways, so my personal goal when I match people and books is to understand the story they identify with. The longer I know someone the better I get at finding just the right book.

A small novel, it is a bit different and will be something that a lot of people don't get. A few however, will really identify with with this story. It is also a book that a reader who want to challenge himself will really appreciate because it is so different.