I’m a big fan of movies like “Snatch” that bring together several parallel storylines for a satisfying conclusion. Paul Auster’s novel “The Book of Illusions” is a masterful literary example.

I almost want to say nothing for the fact that I can’t begin to express how much I enjoyed this book. You can find just about anyone to give a good review of anything, as evidenced by the strange publications cited as calling “Alvin & The Chipmunks” one of the best movies of the year. In book terms, they go for some variation of “page-turner” like “Just try and put it down!”

But in this case, it wasn’t that I couldn’t put it down, but was so engrossed in the story I’d reel off 40 pages, 60 pages, feeling like I had been reading for five minutes. It’s like sleeping in the car on a long trip, once you get started you can’t believe how quickly it went by. And what goes by is a great weaving of people’s lives that end up reflecting and following one another in such a way that you want to draw conclusions about their relationship. It’s the first book this year that I’m dead sure I will go back and read again, carefully noting parts that seemed insignificant in the beginning that will have a different look knowing the outcome.

In the movies, the storylines always come together in a very tangible way. The groups come together, or one party’s scheme ends up affecting someone they have never met but whom we have been following on screen. Auster gives another level, adding the literary sense of the reader connecting themes and motifs that don’t necessarily play out in the direct action.

One of the reviews on the back cover calls the book “gripping and immensely satisfying.” I concur.

So that’s 16. I think 20 is in reach.