'Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About'

I received a copy of "Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About" (by Mil Millington) for Christmas, and I've just finished reading it. Anyone who is familiar with Mil's website of the same name will recognize the book's main characters, Pel and Ursula, as fictionalized versions of the fictionalized versions of Mil and his girlfriend that are presented on the site. (Feel free to take a moment and read that over once or twice. I won't mind. Really.) The cast is rounded out with the couple's two sons, and Pel's friends, co-workers and supervisors from the university library where he works. Thankfully, thee story at hand doesn't focus solely on Pel's arguments with Ursula. Funny as Mil's rants about his girlfriend are, they couldn't possibly hold together for the duration of a novel. Rather, the book follows Pel's ascent of the management ladder at the library. At he climbs each rung, he discovers additional comically horrifying secrets about the goings on around his office. These include (but are not limited to) ties to Chinese organized crime, an employee who has disappeared, and the truth about what lies under the foundation of the library expansion. While this goes on at work, Pel struggles to understand the mindset of his girlfriend, whose approach to problem solving frequently involves deciding that it's all Pel's fault. The pace acclerates as the book proceeds, flying apart into a chaotic jumble at the climax, where it's tied up with a perhaps slightly too-heartwarming bow.

Definitely worth a read. I give it 8 out of 10 stars.