This is not the first review post I've written dedicated to books about bookstores/librarians, and I'm sure it won't be the last... because of course I'm a total sucker for this sub-genre. Here's a roundup of 5 that I've read recently, spanning romance to YA to epistolary memoir:
The description of this rom-com caught my eye immediately for two major reasons: (1) the main character is named Evangeline, called Evie, which is exactly the name/nickname I would have picked if I were having a girl (my grandma's name is Evangeline!), and (2) the premise has Evie taking a vacation to a quaint English village where she is staying at a rental above a bookshop and gets to run it during her stay. Book nerd dream vacation, of course! You get what you expect in terms of a rom-com plot with this premise: Evie's life is falling apart a bit at home, her professional and romantic confidence shot; this impromptu escape to England is supposed to help her find herself and her dreams, not by any means love...which is why the hot farmer who she meets on her first day in town can ONLY be her friend. Right?! True to genre form, we have a friends-to-lovers trope with some great side characters in this little village, along with some comical bits and some character growth in confidence and ability to love/be loved. The steam factor is pretty high at times, and the pace maybe dipped a bit for me in a couple of spots, so it's not my favorite romance of the last year, but all in all still quite a satisfying one if you enjoy the genre, and especially if you enjoy a side of cute bookshop, some Shakespeare references and puns, and a lovely little village community with it.
The Bookshop of Second Chances
Thea is feeling completely lost and unmoored after having just lost both her job and her husband of 20 years, who has left her for her best friend, when she finds out that a distant uncle in Scotland has died and left her his house and his huge antique book collection. She heads there with the intent of cleaning out and selling, gaining the means to have the fresh start she so desperately needs - not at all expecting to fall in love with the quaint little house, the village, and the quirky, inviting people in it. She eventually starts to form relationships with the people in town, who are mostly warm, except for the gruff secondhand bookshop owner, Edward, she is negotiating the sale of her uncle's collection with. His attitude and his longstanding feud with his brother drive her crazy, but as she decides she might take a leap and stay in Scotland she ends up getting a job in his shop and forming a bit of a love-to-hate relationship with him that makes her realize that the new life she's gotten into might just be as complicated as her old one - but might just be worth it... This one is billed for fans of Evvie Drake Starts Over, which I adored, and I can definitely see some resemblances, though I think this one is slightly slower paced (not in a bad way - just be prepared for that) and perhaps a bit less of the romance/banter at the forefront. With this book, I liked having protagonists who were a bit older, just a bit of a different perspective from a typical book of this variety, and I liked how while there is a romance at the background, it's a lot more about Thea creating the life she wants for herself. It's a fairly quiet read with some heartwarming feels - that doesn't mean it's totally tame or doesn't move along, but I think it lands in a sweet spot that's just as much about the Thea growing into a new life, and about the lives/relationships of the villagers around her, as it is about the romance, in the way that How to Find Love in a Bookshop charmed me so much (review here).
3.5/5 stars, received an advance copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review (releases May 4)
I first encountered this memoir-in-letters in my big-time Anglophile days of early high school, and I remember loving it because of the idea of making friends with any British bookseller - but revisiting it now, and having many more years of experience, perspective literary references, etc. under my belt, I was even more charmed than ever. Helene Hanff was a script writer living in 1940s New York City who couldn't find the (admittedly obscure-sounding at times!) used books she wanted nearby, so she started writing to a rare books shop in London - and thus started a correspondence with the staff of the shop over several decades, and especially with bookseller Frank, who was very proper and British compared to her boisterous and joking American tone - but who clearly became a great personal friend over time. This is most definitely a book for book lovers. Even if Helene is reading a lot of heavy non-fiction that I wouldn't dream of (and she even declares her dislike of fiction at one point [!] though she grows a bit in that area), her love for the physicality of books and for the written word is so universal to book people, and it comes through in every letter. Beyond the love of books, one thing that struck me with a bit of perspective was how kick-ass Helene Hanff was, as a single woman just doing her thing in this era - she's independent and self-assured. I might have thought of her as "plucky" once, but it's more than that - she's got some sarcasm to her humor, and scrappiness to her dogged approach to work/making ends meet that extends to procuring books, even if she barely has the budget at the time. I also appreciated even more how the letters over the span of many years give you glimpses of huge things happening in history (rationing after WWII, Beatlemania, the assassination of Kennedy), which really sets it in context, but all of that is a backdrop to such personal concerns of the letter writers. Their lives might seem "small" or just super normal, but they come alive and have so much meaning here, especially in the relationships that develop between these people who have never met. Makes for a very poignant and bittersweet feel that I just adored. Also love how there is a story arc to the letters, but how there are actually gaps in between that you sort of fill in as the reader - it feels very real-life to see how correspondence might wax and wane depending on what's going on in these people's lives. Sentimental and charming in the best of ways.
5/5 stars, for every book lover to read (you can do it in one sitting!), and I will be revisiting the sequel ASAP as well!
Shoshana adores her after-school job at Once Upon, an independent bookstore in her local shopping mall, and prides herself in being able to recommend the best book selections. So while she is dealing with a car that needs repairs that she has to fund and moms who are bickering a worrying amount, this shop is even more beloved as her home-away-from home, and the holiday season contest to sell the most books of all the employees and earn a $200 bonus couldn't come at a better time. Except that there's an annoyingly cute new employee, Jake, who is giving her a run for her money - all the more frustrating for Shoshana because Jake is a self-proclaimed non-reader. As the competition intensifies, Shoshana is also trying to solve lots of problems that aren't her own: her friends', her mom's, and even the maybe-going-out-of-business bookstore owner's. Rival Jake turns out to be a big help in some of these, help that Shoshana begrudgingly accepts - until she realizes that they just might be more on the same page than she had been willing to admit or give him credit for... I'd say this is YA in the realm of the To All the Boys series (it's actually blurbed as "To All the Boys meets You've Got Mail") - the protagonist is sweet and a bit naive (the kind of into crafts and baking kind of dork I was in high school, let's be honest), and while there are certainly some serious issues, like worrying about her parents' rough relationship patch, and dealing with some rocky moments in her friendships, it's pretty lighthearted, and the romance element is quite chaste. Maybe feels a bit light/silly at times, and Shoshana can be a bit self-centered in the way that 16-year-old naive girls just are, but overall it's a fun escape, particularly if you feel like vicariously browsing a bookstore or visiting a bustling shopping mall through the characters - very pre-quarentimes setting!
3.5/5 stars, might be fun to save for the holiday season (the characters celebrate Hanukkah, but there's also lots of Christmas shopping seasonal vibes)
Rachel always had a crush on her very best friend, Henry Jones, but he had eyes only for the pretty but temperamental Amy. Before moving away to the coast, Rachel left a note for Henry in his family's bookshop to confess her feelings, but Henry never responded - and she really hasn't been in touch with him in the couple of years since. Now, in the wake of her brother's death and her ensuing depression that has made her lose interest in all of her favorite things and start to do very poorly in school, her mom is sending her back to the city to live with her aunt and get things back on track - part of which is having to take a job in the Jones family bookshop. She's not ready to see Henry again and subject herself to her old romantic feelings, or to acknowledge her brother's loss, so she ignores everyone else in the shop and buries herself in her own work, cataloguing the store's special section where people can leave letters for others tucked into meaningful pages of books, or record notes or memories on personal favorite passages (I loved this concept - very unique independent bookstore type thing). But as she becomes more enmeshed in the community of bookstore patrons, she starts to unthaw a bit. Meanwhile, Henry and Amy are on the rocks yet again, and he's ready to fall back on his friendship with Rachel, not understanding why she is being so prickly. The grief and hope and love tucked in the pages of the books Rachel is cataloguing eventually help them find their second chances. The YA category for this one is more along the lines of Nicola Yoon, Jennifer Niven, or Jandy Nelson - not necessarily super heavy, but dealing with real issues of grief, etc. in a more emotional and poignant way, rather than having a very lighthearted tone. It just didn't quite reach me in the way those comp books did - maybe a bit less fully-fleshed out characters here, but I did love all of the bookshop scenes and feels.
3/5 stars, learned about from a MMD Summer Reading guide a while back and finally read my Kindle version
Some other very favorite bookstore books, in case you're in the mood for more, again across a variety of genres: The Storied Life of AJ Fikry (contemporary fiction, a 5-star read), How to Find Love in a Bookshop (cozy British romance), Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (fun and quirky adventure mystery with a touch of fantasy), Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore (a touch of mystery with past family drama), The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap (memoir of owning a bookstore), and Parnassus on Wheels (short classic about a traveling bookstore - delightful!).
Sharing on Show Us Your Books.
No comments : Post a Comment
Post a Comment