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12 December 2007

Ask Mecha GiftFilter Know of any readily-available novels where the hero is an accountant, or other ideas for an accountant-appropriate present? [More:]

We're doing secret santa gifts at my new job this Friday. I drew the (part-time) accountant. I know nothing about her, other than she's middle-aged with a boyish haircut. There's a Borders bookstore across the street from the office, so getting something from there would be ideal. An accounting book seems kinda boring, but I was thinking something like a mystery novel with an accounting angle might be cool. But is it possible?

I'm open to other possibilities, of course. Anything that I can get easily by Friday morning. Help.
I think John Grisham's The Firm is about accountants and the whole finance world.

My brother is an accountant.
posted by BoringPostcards 12 December | 11:12
Mr. Phillips...it's good.
posted by iconomy 12 December | 11:19
(I think The Firm is about lawyers but I could be wrong)
posted by iconomy 12 December | 11:19
It's possible that she'd like to forget she's an accountant. Go with something wildly innappropriate - make a splash at the new gig!!!


(I really like your idea, actually.)
posted by rainbaby 12 December | 11:30
Sweet. Thanks so far, bunnies!

ico, are the sex/pron bits of Mr. Phillips not too over-the-top?

rainbaby, like splashy what? A gift basket of marital aids?
posted by danostuporstar 12 December | 11:33
Hmm...I read it a few years ago, and nothing really jumped out at me. The word fuck is used a time or two, and he daydreams about sex a few times, but I don't remember it as being vulgar or offensive or anything. But yeah, that's something you have to think about when giving someone a book, right?
posted by iconomy 12 December | 11:42
If you can get to a bookstore or a library you could skim it - it's still sold at my local book stores.
posted by iconomy 12 December | 11:44
Hm... well, at the begining I believe the hero of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere was an accountant. or worked in accounts recievable. Something like that.
posted by kellydamnit 12 December | 11:45
Also, accountants in movies and more accountants in movies, if you decide against the book.

This is killing me...our accountant (who is very well read) is here right now, and I could ask him about accountants in books. But he is arguably the most boring person in the world, and I dread the thought of a 5 minute conversation with him. Decisions, decisions....
posted by iconomy 12 December | 11:48
Hee, thanks ico. No reason to do anything dreadful. You guys have given me plenty to work with.
posted by danostuporstar 12 December | 11:51
Try Risk by Dick Francis (the rest of you, don't groan, it's perfectly awesome pop pulp fiction at its most accessibly crunchily junk-lit-esque).

The protagonist in Risk is an accountant who is an amateur jump jockey in his spare time. DF writes short pulp mystery novels about (mainly) horse racing life, but they're great page-turners. Any risque topics are generally handled with a very "english gentleman" flair, and this one hails from the late Seventies, so I think you will definitely be safe on the content angle.
posted by lonefrontranger 12 December | 12:24
Damnit, kelly, you beat me to it! Yes, Neverwhere.
posted by Fuzzbean 12 December | 12:31
Not accounting exactly, but there are lots of good books with characters who work in finance. All my banker buddies and I loved American Psycho, the main character is an investment banker (and serial killer). The main character of The Bonfire of the Vanities is a bond trader. Other possibilities include non-fiction books that are written in an "entertaining" style--Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis (about the heady days of Salomon Brother's bond trading operation, in which mortgage-backed securities play a prominent role), When Genius Failed by Roger Lowenstein (about the LTCM meltdown), Predator's Ball by Connie Bruck, The Smartest Guys in the Room by Beth McLean(the Enron story, in which accounting shenanigans play a prominent role) and plenty more of this type.
posted by mullacc 12 December | 12:32
I'm sitting in front of a big stack of readers-advisory books. Here are a few mysteries where a major character (sometimes protagonist, sometimes antagonist) is an accountant:

Pulse, Edna Buchanan
Dead in the Cellar, Connie Fedderson
Casualty Loss, Jim Weikart
Blue Lonesome, Bill Pronzini
A Pound of Flesh, Trevor Barnes
Unwillingly to Vegas, Nancy Livingston
A Love to Die For, Christine T. Jorgensen

No idea how available any of those are, though, and the only author on that list who I've read is Pronzini. Weikart gets points for the title, though.

Here's a summary of Casualty Loss: Jay [Jasen, tax accountant] has just returned from a weekend with his brother, Donald, and sister-in-law, Joan, and their friends. They were celebrating the sixties, when they all lived in a commune. Suddenly a phone call informs Jay that Donald and Joan have been killed in a car crash. When he arrives at the scene, he finds a partially burned briefcase filled with money. Where did the money come from? And why is a filmed record of the get-together stolen? First novel.
posted by box 12 December | 12:57
Be wary gifting American Psycho. It's grisly and has some very nasty sexual violence. Neverwhere is a fun choice, I'm in the middle of the audiobook right now.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur 12 December | 13:00
Terry Pratchett's latest ouevre, Making Money, has a major character who's sort of an uber-accountant. The protagonist is an ex con-man, though. Still, it's a pretty fun book with the background being the transition of currency away from a gold-standard model. Um, it's actually a lot more fun than that sounds.
posted by ooga_booga 12 December | 13:39
What Ambrosia said. It's probably not the best book to give someone at work. Unless you want her to never ever speak to you again and ask to have her desk moved to the furthest part of the building or possibly another building altogether.
posted by elizard 12 December | 13:56
Awesome, people. Thanks. I'll post back after I've purchased.
posted by danostuporstar 12 December | 13:58
Oh, and I'm pretty sure the 'secret' part is in full effect so she won't know it's from me...but, yeah, I don't think American Psycho is the one.
posted by danostuporstar 12 December | 13:59
If you can't give American Psycho to a co-worker, you should quit your job. But, yeah, I didn't think about that aspect of it. I'm a horrible person.
posted by mullacc 12 December | 14:03
Naw, mullacc, you just work with some way-out people ;)
posted by elizard 12 December | 14:12
Hey, horrible person, we should do a DC meetup next month.
posted by danostuporstar 12 December | 14:13
I read a manga recently in which the villain was an evil insurance actuary. He plotted the deaths of his victims by arranging meetings with them at places and times where their chances of being killed by freak accidents were very high.
posted by pieisexactlythree 12 December | 16:07
What's the difference between an accountant and an actuary?

An accountant will look at YOUR shoes when they speak to you.

He he he he. My office humor, it is so tickling to me.

*toddles off to insure stuff*
posted by rainbaby 12 December | 19:02
danostuporstar: I'm up for it. Someone over at mefi had the same idea.
posted by mullacc 12 December | 19:18
mullacc, read a lot of books that involve shoving starving rats into vaginas, do you?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur 12 December | 19:34
Ambrosia, much as I like you, I think that was pretty uncalled-for.
posted by elizard 12 December | 22:15
Ambrosia: Only that one. Mostly I read it for the fashion tips, but the vagina-stuffing was a bonus.
posted by mullacc 13 December | 00:33
elizard: Why I can't rib mullacc about his defense of the (obviously) not-recommended-for-mixed-company content of a book, which I could barely get through? People don't know that about American Psycho, and they maybe should. So call me a spoiler.

Giving that book as a gift could send such weird signals if it wasn't to someone who was, say, already an Ellis fan. If someone gave it to me, which establishes a premise of "I think you'll love this" I would look at them pretty askance after reading it. It's also just overrated. I preferred Bright Lights, Big City and Less Than Zero.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur 13 December | 13:28
The Gaiman and Dick Francis books were available across the street. And cheap. I got both for under the secret santa price limit, with gift receipts in case she hates 'em.

Thanks again!
posted by danostuporstar 13 December | 14:45
AV--Sorry if I misinterpreted. I guess with how some of the threads were going yesterday I took your comment in a different (meaner) spirit than it was intended. My apologies.

dano--Glad you found your gifts!
posted by elizard 13 December | 15:45
elizard: no sweat. It was a pretty shocking thing to bring up.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur 13 December | 18:26
Just to clarify, AV is only making reference to a scene in the novel.

*shudders* That was a bad page to read. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I didn't read all of that scene, just flicked my eyes over most of the words while my mind hollered "NO NO NO NO NO NO IT IS NOT HAPPENING" over the narrative.

What I'm saying: American Psycho might not be the universal choice to spread holiday cheer. That's all!
posted by Elsa 13 December | 18:36
Based on the ads || So bad it's wonderful.

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