Wednesday, September 17, 2014

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry


I'm a sucker for books about books, for books about readers and writers, booksellers and bookstores.  I'm also making a concerted effort to read more recently published books--I try to pick a book from each month's Book Page and read it before too much time passes.  This month's pick was The Storied Life of A.J.Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin.

I enjoyed this modern-day take on the Silas Marner story in which a crotchety, middle-aged widower is robbed of his treasure only to find love, happiness, and family in its wake.  A.J. grew on me as the story progressed, and I enjoyed reading about the island town in Massachusetts where the story takes place and which is people by a host of interesting people.  My favorite character was actually the police chief, Lambiase, who thinks he doesn't like to read but ends up hosting a book club at the bookstore by midway through the book.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is a book for those of us who love to read--each chapter begins with a quote or two from A.J. about a book, and most of the dialogue has to doing with reading, writing, or selling books.

It's not a surprising book--I figured out most of the plot points a beat or two ahead of the story--but that's okay.  It was a pleasant book, an interesting story about interesting people, and was a great armchair trip to coastal New England.

7 comments:

  1. "I'm a sucker for books about books, for books about readers and writers, booksellers and bookstores." Me, too. This one sounds very enjoyable.

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  2. I too love books that are about books. This one sounds charming.

    Reading something that is set or relates to a place one is traveling in is a really neat.

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  3. Glad that you had a chance to try this one Jane. I loved the audio experience.

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  4. Chief Lambiase was my favorite, too!

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  5. I really want to read this at some point.

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  6. I am another sucker for books about books - and for books set in island towns. Yours is the second good review I've read, and I think I'll add my name to the library queue. I've also been thinking about a better balance in my reading, since I don't read that many new books either.

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  7. I had not heard this compared to Silas Marner before, which I adore. Will definitely have to pick this one up.

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