I was overjoyed to have won this book in a GoodReads giveaway, as the premise sounded amazing and it did not disappoint.

This book is the literary equivalent of sitting on the late bus, the one with all the nutters, drunks and outcasts, and they are all sitting next to you. But... you kind of like having them there, as it makes the journey more interesting.

The Odditorium contains a few pages each on a large number of eccentric characters, in a reference book sort of format. You will surely have heard of some of them, but perhaps not known the entirity of their history, and with a weird variety of people some of the biographies are more interesting than others. Each chapter ends with a "Seeker's Directory", with books and films and things to visit to find out more about each of the eccentrics. I frequently found myself going off on a tangent searching for more information, or books, wanting to know more than some of the all too brief entries provided (by which I mean, the length meant certain detail was omitted, rather than the entries were too short overall - they are a good length to get an overview, but the more interesting creatures you will want to find out more about).

Thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining and educational to boot.