Peruse The Storied Life Of A.J. Fikry Constructed By Gabrielle Zevin In Physical Edition

and unabashedly charming. Cozy, sweet and lifeaffirming and yet somehow avoiding the overt sentimentality, managing to remain quietly refreshing and, again, charming in the nicest meaning of that word.

"The most annoying thing about it is that once a person gives a shit about one thing, he finds he has to start giving a shit about everything.
"

It's a lovely quiet story about the way a life of a lonely and surly bookseller on a remote New England island gets turned around when he unexpectedly finds himself a guardian and then a father of an adorable toddler abandoned in

his bookstore.
It's a story of how one event can help reaffirm life and steer it into a completely new direction, soothing old wounds and opening new possibilities.

"What I say is, a town isn't a town without a bookstore, It may call itself a town, but unless it's got a bookstore it knows it's not fooling a soul.
" "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

It's also a story of the world of book selling and book publishing, about the role a brickandmortar bookstore can and should play in a small community, about the love of books and the connections that they can help form.
In the world of ereaders replacing 'dead tree' book and vanishing bookstores outcompeted by online retail giants this book is infused with optimism about the survival of the neighborhood bookstore and what's more important, the simple necessity of such a survival.


Lovely and charming book that can generously give it's readers a few hours of quiet feelgood time and who doesn't need these feelings from time to time I know I do.
stars.

"We read to know were not alone, We read because we are alone, We read and we are not alone, We are not alone. "

"There ain't nobody in the world like book people, "

It's a bit embarrassing to admit how emotional this book made me, I'm not even a fan of Zevin's work I quite liked the concept behind sitelinkElsewhere but not the execution, and I pretty much hated sitelinkAll These Things I've Done.
But this book is just so warm and funny and bittersweet, It speaks to the thing inside me that has always loved books, will always love books, and has allowed my life to be swept in certain directions by my love for literature.


A. J. Fikry is one of my favourite kinds of characters he's cynical and grumpy, but simultaneously witty, clever, funny and lovable.
This is essentially the tale of his life after the death of his beloved wife, He must somehow pick up the pieces of his world and continue managing his bookstore, while all he really wants to do is drink away his problems.


One day, A, J. receives an unexpected package that is guaranteed to completely change his life, Like many great books, his life twists in a strange new direction, introducing him to new people and new ways of thinking.
He soon begins to realise that he still has many things worth living for,

Woven with allusions to many works of literature especially short stories this novel should resonate with many book lovers.
Those of us who have been truly affected, influenced, changed or dare I be so melodramatic even saved by them.
I don't know if Zevin intended to make a point about the death of the bookstore and physical books in favour of ereaders, but I found myself feeling a little melancholy as time went by and more people stopped buying physical books.
Though ultimately relieved, as I realised how important bookstores and paper books still are to many people,

Whether this book is for you or not, I cannot say, It is both funny and serious, happy and sad, light and dark, . . but I wouldn't have it any other way, There's joy in my heart and a skip in my step today after closing the last page of this jewel of a book.
A must for book lovers and booksellers alike, The Storied Life of A, J. Fikry is an affirmation of the love of books and reading and how they meld lives together,

A. J. Fikry, is the owner of the independent bookstore, Island Books, Fikry is grieving the loss of his wife, sales are down, a rare book worth scads of money is stolen from the shop leaving him irritable, and irritating.
Frankly he's depressed and is turning more and more inward, cutting himself off more than the normal isolation of Alice Island living.
Fate or something else entirely steps in when one night he finds a special package on his bookshop floor changing his life forever.


Gabrielle Zevon treats us to some of the most likeable, memorable characters I've met in a long time.
Though I adore them all, even cranky Fikry, my favorite is the cop, Lambiase, who in the line of duty must visit the store frequently and so buys books.
Not wanting to waste his hard earned money, he reads the books and eventually leads the Chief's Choice Book Club.


A question asked as part of A, J. F's reviews that head each chapter
"Is a twist less satisfying if you know it's coming"
My answer, "No A.
J. , No Gabrielle!"

If you've ever wondered about the inner workings of an independent bookstore or how it might feel to be a sales rep pitching a publisher's catalog, put this on your list.
If you like a feel good, romantic story that will make you smile with a need for a few tissues, put this on your list.


To give credit where credit is due, my sincere thanks to Michael Rockliff of Workman Publishing for his spirited recommendation of The Storied Life of A.
J. Fikry Aprilwhich sent me flying to Edelweiss to snag an advance copy, A nod to Algonquin for their trust in allowing me this reading experience, Don't you just love reading a book that you can't wait to get back to, a book you want to savour yet must keep on reading.
This UNPUTDOWNABLE delightful story about a charming little bookstore and so much more fit into that category for me.
It combines laughoutloud moments with an occasional need for a tissue, engaging characters with real life problems and a twist or two along the way.
Anotherfavorite for this book lover! It pains me that we are losing our beloved bookstores, I do enjoy my ereader, but still love my real books more, A town isn't a town without a bookstore,

while it's true that this is the literary equivalent of a stone skipped over a pond, it's a pretty damn charming stone.
reading about other booknerds, even when they are better described as bookcranks, is delightful to me, sitelinkA Novel Bookstore, sitelinkSalamander, sitelinkMr, Penumbra'sHour Bookstore, etc are among my favorite books, are they the best books ever written nah, but they have characters whose sensibilities are so close to my own, it's hard not to feel a little heartswell when you encounter them.
because if you're on goodreads at all, you know that books matter, whether you read the kinds of vampire books that fikry laments or the more serious tomes he applauds although considering he esteems sitelinkThe Book Thief, hasn't finished proust's ISOLT, and dismisses sitelinkInfinite Jest, i'm taking his purported booksnobbery with a grain of salt, you know the power of a good story, even when it's just a sweet little piece of light escapism.


this is a love letter to booklovers about the power of the written word to bring people together whether the relationships be romantic, parental, or bookclubby.


several of these relationships involve the titular a, j. fikry a bookstore owner and widower living on a small island somewhere new englandy who finds himself entrusted with the care of a twoyearold named maya after she is abandoned in his bookstore.
he's already oldman curmudgeonly although still in his thirties, but finds the raising of maya and instilling in her his own love of books to be one of those rewarding experiences that enriches one's life and is all sorts of inspirational.
although he expresses it differently,

Fucking love, he thinks, What a bother. It's completely gotten in the way of his plan to drink himself to death, to drive his business to ruin.
The most annoying thing about it is that once a person gives a shit about one thing, he finds he has to start giving a shit about everything.


and give a shit he does, as his love for maya allows him to nurture other feelings including reluctantly acknowledged romantic ones for a vibrant bookloving woman with her own relationship baggage.
in a comment that sounds like something ripped right out of sitelinkMadame Bovary,

Her mother likes to say that novels have ruined Amelia for real men.


thankfully for fikry, this is not true, because he is indeed a real, flawed man,

but he's also the kind of man whose firstdate chatter involves "In what restaurant based on a novel would you have preferred to dine"

so he's got some good points.


so it's a romance and a sortof cozy mystery although the theft of his copy of sitelinkTamerlane: Poem is not important to the story until it is, and one of those cheeky feelgood smalltown books in which suicides both occur and are contemplated and people die and there are miscarriages and infidelity, but it's all glossed over in the same way as those other pesky realities like how an abandonedchild scenario would really be handled.
because, no.



so despite the supremely precocious maya and the novel's relentlessly cheerful tone, both of which i would ordinarily find irritating, i enjoyed the bookyness of it more than i was irritated by its greeting card outlook.
all the discussions about the perils of ebooks and chain bookstores the only thing worse than a world with big chain bookstores was a world with NO big chain bookstores.
,the methods of publishing reps, the assessment that blurbs are the blood diamonds of publishing, "nerd" as a term of endearment, all the meta stuff at the beginning "if this were a book.
" it's all stuff from "my" world, so it's easy to love,

it's a very quick read about bookfolk that may not be the most cerebral thing on the shelves, but it's hard not to get caught up in its genuine enthusiasm and start nodding along nerdily at certain moments.


it's summer enjoy yourself,

my answer sitelinkJames and the Giant Peach, with giant animatronic bugs, slightly scarier than the ones on the film, and a menu including

baked peaches with ricotta and honey



chicken with peach chutney



peach cobbler



peach crisp



peach and pancetta pizza



peach soup



peanut butter and bacon burger with peach chutney



salmon and peaches



now, if you will excuse me.

all those peaches have made me feel daring,

sitelinkcome to my blog!,