The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

With the death of his wife, A.J. Fikry isolated himself in the small bookstore on Alice Island that they had started together.  A literary snob, A.J. does his best to push everyone out of his life, including the idealistic and energetic sales rep from Knightley Press who refuses to be put off by his bad attitude.  But A.J.’s world is turned upside down by the theft of a valuable book of poems and an unexpected delivery to the bookstore.  A.J. is given the chance to re-examine his life and become reinvigorated by books and the people that surround him.

“We are not quite novels.
We are not quite short stories.
In the end, we are collected works.”

I wanted to LOVE this book, after all it is a book about a bookstore!  And while I did LIKE the book, I didn’t find it to be anything spectacular.  It was a pleasant enough read – good for a rainy day or a day at the beach.  But for some reason, I just did not connect with the characters or the situations in a meaningful way.  Many of the main story lines felt rushed and superficial.  The elements are there for an amazing story – good characters and a good plot line – it just felt underdeveloped.  Again, it’s an enjoyable story, it just seemed like it could have been much more.

Title: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 272
Publication: Algonquin Books, April 2014

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Looking Forward to April

Tuesday Top Ten

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week’s challenge was to list the top ten books on our TBR list for this spring.  I stuck to books that are being released this spring.  What are you looking forward to reading this spring?

1. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin – A novel about bookstores – how can I resist?!  And it sounds like an interesting story, too.
2. Chestnut Street by Maeve Binchy – One last book from a master storyteller…
3. One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern –Ahern’s books always have a unique perspective on life.
4. The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt – The next book in my Indiespensables subscription which rarely disappoints!
5. The Ninja Librarians by Jen Swann Downey – Sorry, I can’t help it!  When I told my husband I wanted this book, he told me I already have too many books.  My argument?  None of them are about Ninja Librarians!

And a bunch of books in series that I read are coming out this spring!

6. Field of Prey by John Sandford – I didn’t love his last book, but I have always liked the Lucas Davenport books in the past, so I’m giving him another chance!
7. Robert B. Parker’s Cheap Shot by Ace Atkins – Ahh… the chance to hang with Spencer and Hawk again!
8. By Its Cover by Donna Leone – I’m looking forward to the opportunity to travel the streets of Venice again with Commissario Guido Brunetti
9. In the Morning I’ll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty – The last book in The Trouble Trilogy, it will be interesting to see where Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop in the Protestant police force in Northern Ireland in the early 1980s, will end up.
10. The Hollow Girl by Reed Farrel Coleman – I am so excited to read this book, but so sad to see the end of the Moe Prager series, one of the best detective series ever written.