I like animal stories: I count Animal Farm and Wind in the Willows as my favorite books read. I do not find the time to read novels and the only ones I get to read are the ones everyone's talking about like Dan Drown's Angels and Demons.I found a book the other day which was utterly enjoyable, a debut novel by Sam Savage. Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife is the story of a rat with a highly evolved intelligence and sense  of being. Writeen from the perspective of a rat, the book recounts the life and adventures of a rat which has made a home for itself in a used book shop located in Scollay Square, Boston. Being the smallest of a brood or is it littter of 13, the hero, Firmin does not get enough to eat and therefore develops a taste for books. Soon he has mastered the fine art of reading the books and acquires a fund of knowledge which would certainly impress an over educated graduate student.

All day he sits up in his perch called balloon watching the owner, Norman, go about his daily routine. The City Hall has decided to develop the Square and Firmin is set to loose his habitation and the books on which he gorges. Apart from the books the he reads, there is also the theatre, Rialto where he scrounges pop corn from mthe floor and watches, after mid night the "lovlies" dance.

After some time he moves in with a hobo who has a heart of gold and the two get along well until an accident claims the life of the budding novelit, Maggon.

The book is a touching strory and I enjoyed it immensely.