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

What an interesting novel! I had heard of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin numerous times from the What Should I Read Next? podcast with Anne Bogel (the brilliant mind behind Modern Mrs. Darcy). So I added it to my list (and my bookshelf) and this first weekend of our campus' fall break seemed like the right time to pick it up. And well, I finished it in less than 8 hours thanks to some quiet hours of reading after the boys I was babysitting went to bed and staying up until 1am myself.

At first, I wasn't sure I was going to get into it. It seemed very choppy, staccato-like and I couldn't quite keep track of how things were going to fit together. But then about three chapters in, I figured out the storyline, the pattern, and was lost in the pages for the rest of the night. The oldest boy I was babysitting kept checking in on how far I was getting and he could not believe how fast I was reading (I should note that while I was reading, he was curled up on the couch next to me reading the first Harry Potter after we had watched the Goblet of Fire earlier in the evening!). 

 A.J. is the exact picture of an eccentric small bookstore owner and his store is one that is marked with pain, chaos, love, restoration, illness and family. There was a lot packed into the story, but it all went together so well. And the conversations about his favorite books and the notes he made about them throughout the book were the perfect addition for this book-lover's heart.

While there was some language (quite a few F-words... I can't stand when a book has the F-word... it is a word that really serves no purpose, especially when there is a whole dictionary of words that could be used to express an emotion or reaction...) and two random "adult" scenes that really didn't seem necessary to the story, the book was lovely. The characters, while not overly developed, were lovable. And the concept was spot on.

If you're looking for a weekend read about a quirky bookstore owner, this just might be the book for you. If you read it, come back and let me know what you thought of it!

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