The Bookshop on the Shore

The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan   416 pages.

Falling in love and lust with an out of work D.J. Zoe soon finds herself a single mother with a guy who will not commit to her nor their son who flies off with his friends at the drop of a hat without even a second thought for anyone but himself.   Having no one to fall back on (Zoe's Dad is dead and her mother moved to Spain) her lover's sister hooks her up with a couple of jobs in Scotland.   A big change from her life in a substandard flat with her son to becoming an au pair to a laird in Scotland is quite a stretch but doable.   Though her son is now 6 years old he has yet to speak, but like a duck to water he takes to his new life in the Highlands and his new best friend - the youngest of the laird's children.   The story is a really good one with lots going on continuously.  Since there is a housekeeper/baby sitter during the day, while Zoe is the au pair at night for the brood, Zoe is able to work a second job during the day working for a very pregnant Nina selling books around the various local villages in Nina's van.    A few clever surprises are thrown in for good measure and Jenny Colgan is such a natural storyteller you don't want her tales to end.    A very enjoyable tale to have a cup of hot tea, and let the characters and their antics take you far away across the sea.   I highly recommend this and all of Jenny Colgan's books.

The Girl Who reads on the Metro

The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Feret-Fleury  208 pages

I consider myself well-read, but when the author started listing titles and books I’ve never heard of, I felt stupid. Maybe that set the tone for me for this book.

Juliette lives in Paris. She has an ordinary life and an ordinary job. On her commute to her ordinary job, she is always interested in the books her fellow commuters are reading. Desparate for a change, Juliette gets off the metro at a stop unfamiliar to her. As she wandes through this new area, she discovers a gate held open by a book.

Entranced, she venture through the gates and discovers a small but very crowded bookstore. This was creepy if y’all ask me. The store is run by a man named Soliman, who lives on the premises with his young daughter. Soliman was creepy. He never ventures out of his compound, yet he has a gaggle of passuers that seem to do his bidding. Their goal is to match a book with the right person.  I was never really sure how that worked. The general gist was that they should follow the person, get to know their habits, etc., so they could be matched with the perfect book.

 “The Girl Who Reads on the Metro” isn’t my cup of tea, and that is why it receives 2 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Mr. Lemoncello’s Great Library Race

Mr. Lemoncello’s Great Library Race by Chris Grabenstein, 279 pages

In this newest adventure about Mr. Lemoncello, he has devised a new fact finding game for his trustees.  While the kids run around the country looking for the fun facts, trying to win the game, someone is planting evidence to try and discredit Mr. Lemoncello and steal his newest game idea.  Unless Kyle and his friends can prove Mr. Lemoncello’s innocence he may lose his library, and worse, his reputation.  I don’t know how Grabenstein can make each Lemoncello book better than the last, but he does.  I loved the latest book and hope that more are on the way.  Kids who like humor and adventure, not to mention mysteries and puzzles, will love this book and the others in the series.

The Bookshop on the Corner

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Cogan          Audio Book:  9 hours, 13 mins      Hardback Book: 368 pages               

Good book.   Set in England at the beginning then in the Highlands of Scotland thereafter, there is such a delightful sharing of the people and landscape told here that the reader really feels and visualizes being there.    I learned that in Summer in Scotland it stays light outside until after 10:30p.m. at night.   How cool.   I had never heard that before, nor did I ever consider the longitude and latitude of the country having close ties with the north pole so much so that the aurora borealis can be seen there at times.   Man!  How cool is that!   I had no idea.    You learn so many things from books.   I love it and the descriptions of the voracious appetites for books and reading that the folks in the small Highland town and countryside that the main character meets and deals with throughout is refreshing.    It starts out with our heroine losing her job at the small Library she has worked in for years.    She decides to go against her normal introverted character and finally pursue her dream of owning a bookshop.   Unfortunately her dreams and her pocketbook are at odds so she thinks outside the box and decides to purchase a cargo van she sees an ad for sale in Scotland to house a mobile bookshop.    Kind of like selling out of the boot (trunk) only bigger.    Her original plan was to buy the van and go around her English hometown to sell books, but, the people in the small Scot town are so intrigued with her idea of the van serving as a bookmobile they try to talk her into doing it as a Library there since their Library closed and there are none anywhere close by.    The inhabitants miss the Library and cajole until finally it works.    While still a bookstore not a library since she has to make a living to support herself as this will be her only source of income, she does end up moving there and bringing in books to sell she gets on the cheap from bookstores and libraries, etc. discounting their materials.    Her landlord and his ex-wife have refurbished one of their barns into a stylish living area which she jumps on because since the landlord is in the midst of divorce he doesn’t know what to charge and gives her a ridiculously low rental fee.    So much goes on, she meets a Latvian man and falls for the romance she reads about in her books more so than really what is in front of her.    It becomes a dangerous deal for her love interest as he drives a train and she gets him to transport the books from London and other areas to her at midnight (for free) by stopping the train for lame excuses long enough for them to unload the books into her van.   She is a bit of a user and really rude at times to her partner in crime and also to her landlord  though she gets annoying toward the end for being such a little jerk seems to me.   She plays it off like the chances people take are their choice – REALLY?   Loads happens.    She wants her way a lot without looking at the other person’s view, so when squirrely things happen to her, I feel she has it coming for being inconsiderate, but, after twists, turns and surprises and what could be really horrendous consequences, I ended up feeling she redeemed herself.    Good book.   If you like Scotland, brogue and books, aye this is a canny story.  

The Shadow of the Wind

The Shadow of the Wind  by Carlos Ruiz Zafron   487 pages

- “In the shop we buy and sell them, but in truth books have no owner. Every book you see here has been somebody’s best friend.” 

- “There are few reasons for telling the truth, but for lying, the number is infinite.” 

These profundities are indicative of the narrative of this Spanish novel, the tone and rhythm of what I believe to be a riveting storyteller. I confess that I was initially drawn to the story simply because it is set in one of my favorite cities, but the author does not romanticize the precarious mood and legitimate peril of post-Civil War Barcelona. However, in spite of the atmospheric and beguiling language, and inventive melding of genres, the denouement and concluding full chronicle of events are awkward and lacking in the magic the earlier chapters promise.

On his tenth birthday, Daniel Sempere is gifted with a book of his choosing from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. He finds The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax, and is immediately enthralled with the novel and more so by the enigmatic author. Daniel’s search to find other works by Carax, which coincides with the emotions and growing pains of his adolescent years, is shrouded in mystery, intrigue and danger. As layer after layer of the puzzle is unraveled, past and present intertwine, revealing a parallel between the lives of the Daniel and Julian. Must Daniel resign himself to the same fate as his obsession?

Booked

Booked by Kwame Alexander, 314 pages

Nick is crazy about soccer.  He’s not so crazy about words, especially reading his father’s dictionary every day to learn new ones.  His father is a word nerd and he wants Nick to increase his vocabulary.  Nick secretly kind of likes knowing so many odd and interesting words, but he doesn’t like being forced to learn them.  When Nick’s parents start having marital problems and it looks like some things may get in the way of Nick playing soccer, Nick feels like his whole life is falling apart.  This book told in verse was excellent.  Great for reluctant readers because of the amount of white space, it’s realistic story will appeal to a wide variety of kids.  

The Island of Dr. Libris

The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein, 242 pages

I liked the books about Mr. Lemoncello better than this book but this one was also pretty good.  Billy is spending the summer at a beach house with his mother, who is writing her dissertation.  Billy's dad is staying at their apartment.  Billy doesn't like that they are spending the summer apart but he's making the best of it.  During the summer strange things start happening.  As Billy starts reading some of the books in the house, the characters from the books start to appear on an island across from the house.  Billy begins to have adventures with Hercules, Robin Hood and Maid Marian, and the Three Musketeers, just to name a few.  As more characters come to life, the events on the island start to spin out of control and Billy isn't sure if he and his friend, Walter, can fix some of the problems.  And if Billy can't figure out how to fix the problems on the island, how can he possibly begin to fix his real life problems?  This was a fun fantasy adventure withy enough real life thrown in to make it really interesting.  I would have liked to see a little more of the real villain in the story, but except for that, I thought it was a pretty satisfying read.

The Uncommon Reader

The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett,  120 pages

The Queen of England is out for a walk, runs across a bookmobile, and realizes she has never really read.  So begins her discovery of books and literature, but can the world handle a Queen who is learning to think for herself?  I don't know about this book- novella, really; maybe it's witty, in a British way?  But it just felt like an endless string of name-dropping authors that sound good on paper to have read.  The ratio of corgis to pages was also dismally low.

Ink and Bone

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
355 Pages

"In an exhilarating new series, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time.... Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly--but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden. Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family, who are involved in the thriving black market. Jess has been sent to be his family's spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library's service. When he inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life--and soon both heretics and books will burn."

Another book I highly recommend.  Caine has created what I hope is the start of a new series.

The Little Paris Bookshop

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George   392 pages

The Little Paris Bookshop is quite an unusual bookstore with an equally unusual proprietor. Monsieur Jean Perdu’s bookstore is floating barge along the Seine. Perdu considers himself a literary apothecary.. He can prescribe just the write book to meets the needs of the buyer.

However, there is one person Perdu cannot ease the symptoms of what ails him, no matter what book he selects. That person is himself. He is heartbroken. Twenty-one years ago, his true love, Manon, left him. She sent a letter which he has never opened because he is sure it contains usual lines: “it’s not you, it’s me;” “I’m not ready for the love you have to give;” yada, yada, yada.

But now things are changing in his apartment building. A new tenet has arrived with only the clothes in her back. The building manager asks all the residents for a donation. Perdu has been assigned a table.

Yes he has a table, but that means entering the lavender room he shared with Manon, which has been sealed shut for twenty-one years. Torn between his reluctance to enter the room and his desire to help his new neighbor, Catherine, he wills himself to enter and takes the table across the hall.

Catherine find Manon’s letter and returns it. Faced with its actual presence again, Perdue opens it. Manon’s words shock him to his core; what she says and requests is nothing, nothing, like he imagined.

Perdue decides to go looking for Manon to learn for himself if her words were true. He casts off the lines of his barge and begins the long trek south to Manon’s home. He is joined by his two cats, and at the last second, by another apartment-building neighbor, Max, who is looking to escape his sudden fame and complete writer’s block.

The story of the journey takes up roughly two-thirds of the book. I didn’t care for the slapstick antics that ensued. It didn’t help that an Italian chef, also looking for a long-lost love, joined the merry cast. The slapstick got in the way of the story for me, making the story seem somewhat unbelievable. I also felt lost with all the names of the villages that the characters traveled through, even though the author supplied one. All in all, I really like the first and last fourths of the story. The characters evoked empathy in these sections.

Sesame and Lilies

Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin, 204 pages

This book collects three lectures by the master.  The first, "Of Kings' Treasuries" is on the subject of how to read and treasure books.  The second, "Of Queens' Gardens", contains the author's reflections on the proper education of girls.  The third, "The Mystery of Life and Its Arts", is a manifesto of aestheticism and the Social Gospel.

Ruskin is, as always, more of a passionate rhetor than a consistent systematic thinker.  His ideas are sometimes bizarre - he supported a set of sartorial laws restricting certain kinds of clothing to certain classes.  Other ideas are now out of fashion - his plans for suburban garden cities.  His central themes, however - the importance of beauty, the necessity of charity, and the moral benefits of work - are what make his work immortal.

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, 227 pages

I guess I was just in a "classic" mood.  Or in a "quick, what's something available on Overdrive right now" mood.  But this is another one that's a classic for good reason- it holds up with timeless concepts and questions of truth, censorship, conformity, and technology (among many others).  Guy Montag is a fireman, who sets fires.  Burns books, to be exact.  But he questions 'why,' and like all great dystopias, that's where the story starts getting interesting.  The characters aren't all that appealing and the story may even feel a bit didactic- but it's an important book that I will probably try to revisit in another decade or so. 

The Shadow of the Wind

The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, 487 pages

Ooh, this was a really great book- expect to see it as a future book club pick.  Daniel is a young man living with his father in post-Civil War Barcelona, Spain.  For his birthday, his father takes him to visit a mysterious place- the cemetery of forgotten books.  Here Daniel finds a wonderful but mysterious book that piques his interest and shapes the rest of his life.  This was a very beautifully-written book that I found is the first in a series, and the audiobook is read by someone with a very good Barcelona accent.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin, 260 pages

This is one of those books that I recommend reading if you work in a library/around books/in a bookstore.  You'll like some of the references and inside jokes.  A.J. Fikry is recently widowed, probably an alcoholic, and having a hard time running his independent bookstore in New England.  He comes home one night to find a baby has been left in his store, his retirement plan has been stolen, and his life changes overnight.  It has all of the markers of a typical "Hallmark" story- there's a quirky shop owner, a blooming romance, and reading has the power to change lives.  Despite that, though, I thought it managed to steer clear of sappy territory, and provide bits and pieces of poignancy, humor, and literary discussion.  It would make a good book for discussion groups.

First Impressions

First Impressions, A novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen by Charlie Lovett
308 Pages

Sophie Collingwood is a recent graduate of Oxford whose love of books came from her Uncle Bertram.  When Uncle Bertram suddenly dies, Sophie inherits his flat and soon has a job in  a nearby bookstore.  When two different customers ask to find the same obscure book, Sophie finds herself entwined in a mystery that may present evidence that Jane Austen plagerized the beloved book Pride and Prejudice. 

 A literary mystery that jumps back to Austen's life  and then returns to the present presents an enjoyable reading experience.

Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman

Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman
384 Pages

I don't know if anyone else read the Imperfectionists, but that was the reason I picked up this book to read.  Rachman's second book is nothing like his first but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  This book is still an acceptable read.

Matilda "Tooly" Zylberberg lives a quiet and aimless life as the owner of a small failing bookstore in Wales.  When she gets contacted that her father is sick, she is called back to New Tork and forced to confront her past and find out answers to questions she has held for years.
The book shuffles between three time periods and we find that Tooly was taken from her father in Bangkok and raised by Sarah, Humphrey and Venn.  Now that Humprhey is ill, Tooly comes in contact with another old player in her life.  As the novel progresses more information is revealed and finally Tooly comes to understand why and how everything happened to her.