On Saturday night Erica and I went and saw the opening night of the House Theatre's newest show, The Boy Detective Fails. The play was adapted by Joe Meno from his own novel of the same name, which won't be available until September. But they have advance copies for sale at the show. I enjoyed the show so much that I picked up a copy of the book and devoured it over the last few days.

Wow.

The story is fairly simple: Billy Argo is a former child detective in the mold of the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. Scarred by the suicide of his sister, he himself attempts suicide and then retreats into a mental institution for ten years before emerging, blinking, to try to make his way in the world. But it's a book full of sadness and wonder and magic and mystery.

I'm still just a bit... wow.

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Oh, and I'm now halfway through my little challenge, just a hair ahead of schedule. I'm a bit worried about the summer, since I'm trying to ride my bike to work more than take the train, which loses me about an hour of reading time a day. Do audiobooks count if they're unabridged? Hmmm ...