‘The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry' by Gabrielle Zevin

This is another of my favorite type of reads: Well-written, quirky characters, heartwarming, with the nice addition of book suggestions to begin each chapter. A.J. Fikry is a recently widowed bookstore owner who is in a mentally dark place at the beginning of the book, and then three important things happen: A treasured valuable book is stolen from his apartment, a baby girl is left in the back of his store and a new salesperson, a woman, enters his life. These things are the impetus for him to change his life and experience joy once more. Along the way he also becomes good friends with the police chief, entices him to read for pleasure and helps him start his own "Chiefs Choice Book Club." This book has everything a reader loves: People who love to read, books, book stores and books changing people's lives. My favorite quote from the book is, "A town isn't a town without a bookstore." So true, so true.

Three professional reviewers said:

"In this sweet, uplifting homage to bookstores, Zevin perfectly captures the joy of connecting people and books."

"Filled with interesting characters, a deep knowledge of bookselling, wonderful critiques of classic titles, and very funny depictions of book clubs and author events, this will prove irresistible to book lovers everywhere."

And, finally, "Funny, tender, and moving, it reminds us all exactly why we read and why we love."

When I went to the library's online resource "NoveList" to find read-alikes, I discovered several titles I have recommended before: "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer, "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" by Rachel Joyce and "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" by Helen Simonson.

While in the NoveList site, I discovered they've recently added another great feature: Lists of books in 46 different genres or topics. First, they give a brief description of what kinds of books are considered to be that genre, and they offer some unique ones: Travel writing, food writing, police procedurals, steam punk, etc.

To get to NoveList, start from the library's homepage, click on "Subscription Resources" on the purple bar and then on "What to Read Next" on the drop-down menu.

Happy readings!

Betty Martin