Books about books are nirvana for readers. And this
book is one of the next best things to heaven. I could barely put it down.
Ava thought her twenty-five-year marriage to Jim was
strong. Then she sees a text on his phone from another woman, a woman Jim
claims to be in love with, and her life begins to completely unravel.
For years, Ava has wanted to join the book club at
her local library, but membership is held to ten members, and there is a
waiting list. However, the librarian is one of Ava’s best friends. She knows
that Ava needs the group, so she bumps her to the top of the list.
The book club picks books based on a theme for the
year. Each member gets to pick a book based on that theme. The theme for the
upcoming year is “The Book That Matters Most.” Each member is to pick the book
that has changed his/her life, the book that has had a substantial impact on
his/her life.
Hood’s story is broken into chapters, each with an
epigraph from that month’s book and the theme for the chapter. The titles range
from The Great Gatsby to Pride and Prejudice, from The Catcher in the Rye to
Anna Karenina.
Ava’s life is complicated by her rebellious,
just-out-of-rehab daughter, Maggie, who has gone to study in Florence. Along
with Ava’s story, Maggie also has a section in each chapter that tells of her
decent into addiction at the hands of a much older man whom she follows to France.
As Ava tried to come to terms with her new life, a
retired detective shows up at her door, wanting desperately to put to the bed,
at last, the tragic events of Ava’s childhood that have haunted her.
Ever since I first read this book’s title, I’ve been
trying to determine which book matters the most to me in my life. Two of the strongest
runners are Jonathan Hull’s Losing Julia
or Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind
(the book version, not the movie version). But if I had to name just one, could
I say, “All of them?”
I loved The
Book That Matters Most. I give it 6
out of 5 stars.
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