UGH! I wanted to love this one so bad. I truly did. I love any book concepts that have to do directly with books. This one, however, I felt was so undeveloped in its plot. I didn’t feel connected to any characters, which is also really important for me in a novel. I would definitely give this author another try, though!

Sadly, I could not finish this book. It had so much of what I love but I could not connect. Sophie, the main character, is grieving the loss of her spouse. She owns a bookshop and my confusion just grew from there. There was a lot of detail about this little nooks she created for herself that she might want to live in. The subplots were hard to follow. I hate rating poorly but it was hard to finish the book.

Sadly a DNF at 25% for me. The premise sounded so intriguing but I couldn’t get into the various subplots and I got lost with the focus on vacuums. I struggle with leaving not positive reviews but this wasn’t the book for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Muse for the advanced reading copy. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Bookish People is set in an independent Bookstore in DC., America. The plot with its various characters - the bookstore owner, booksellers and it's customers is crazy, chaotic and absolutely funny. And beneath it all there's solace to be found in ,not surprising, books and literature.

Sophie owns a bookstore and is dealing with her growing anxiety over the outside world on her own after the death of her husband. Clemi is the head of events at the store, and is insisting on hosting a controversial poet for a signing because she thinks he might be her biological father. Autumn T is the new store manager now that Jamal is moving away with his partner. The book centers around these and other characters as they deal with their personal lives while they all revolve around life at this bookstore in Washington DC.

I wanted SO MUCH to like this book. Seriously. I'm obsessed with reading books about bookstores, libraries, book restoration sand preservation... If the book is ABOUT books, I'm in. But it's taken me 38 days to get 41% into a book about books. I don't like any of the characters. I'm not rooting for them. I don't feel any attachment to them at all. There were two chapters devoted to discussing vacuums. They're supposed to be the "comic relief" in the book, I think. I wasn't laughing. I was just bored.

I HATE not finishing a book. I don't like leaving a story unfinished. I always want to know more, tell me about the lives of these people, I need more! With Bookish People, though, I just felt like I was given someone's stream of consciousness writing and told that it's pure gold... I just... Can't.

The literal only bright spot for me was Autumn T's end of day reports. If we SAW more of those moments, instead of being told about them in passing, after having read pages upon pages about someone's almost-romance over a turtle, or waxing poetic about a Roomba, the book might be more engaging. Bring told that now fun was had, but we missed it felt like a slap in the face.

I'm guessing that there are people out there that "get" this type of storytelling better than me, or think that this book is hilarious. There must be. This book was just 100% not for me. I wish the story was told in a different way. Or with more focus elsewhere. I just... Don't get it.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity.

I love books about booksellers but I couldn't finish this one. I found it had too much tell and not enough show rather than the other way round. It may have been the wrong book for me at the time, but I was disappointed that I didn't love it.

What is this book? It's so hard to read with everything going off script all the time. This is my first DNF book in years. It was just so hard to read. One minute she's at a party, then somehow that turns into her thinking about her dead husband, which is fine and expected but how did we end up with some college roommate she may or may not be friends with? I just didn't get it. I'm sorry.

Giving 3 because I wanted to enjoy the book more than I did, but the different storylines didn’t mesh well for me and seemed to switch at random times and nothing truly felt resolved by the end. Except maybe the nook? I think that all the different storylines and points of view were interesting, but none of them got a chance to be fully formed and that just left me wanting more out of this book. The book summary also seems misleading because that doesn’t cover but a small portion of the book.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. Any opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

the total had the name Bookish in it and that was it for me. I signed up to read this one right away. Loved it.

I just reviewed Bookish People by Susan Coll. #BookishPeople #NetGalley

This book had me wondering what it was about regularly and then slowly but surely it all came together and I ended up thinking it was a good read. The book is about a bookshop, it's owner and various members of staff working there. Some of the author events lead to weird situations, not always unbelievable . This is a book that takes some concentration when reading, partly because of the writing style and partly because it is written with different narrators with their own way of thinking, which are quite different. I suppose the binding factors are the news bulletins from the new floor manager and the bookshop itself.
Now I have finished, I would say that this is an entertaining read, during reading it felt like wading through treacle at times.
Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review .

Sophie Bernstein is an independent bookseller in Washington, D.C.. Her staff is made up of people with their own eccentricities, a pet turtle named Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and a vacuum cleaner which has it's own agenda. A controversial poet is scheduled to speak at the shop which is causing stress for Sophie who repeatedly asks Clemi, the events manager to cancel the event. For reason of her own, Clemi does not. Throughout all of this Sophie is still morning the loss of her husband and is obsessed with hiding away, like the Frank family, in a secret nook in her bookshop.
While some may find the storylines to be comedic, I did not. Not that I do not have a sense of humor, but I could not find a central thread that wove this all together. The narrative was messy and actually put me off from trying to tie these quirky events together. It seemed much more a book of ideas for stories rather than a polished cohesive offbeat comedy that I was hoping it would be., I truly hate writing review for books that did not work for for me if only because I know how much work goes into every publication. It's like telling a parent you don't like their kid. Unfortunately, this is not a child I would invite over for another playdate.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to read the book because of the cute cover and amazing plot line but I was disappointed. This book just didn’t hit. Maybe it was the writing styles because I was left so confused most times and sometimes it was worse because I didn’t know who’s POV it was. This book just left me confused but to some extent the plot was good. I did struggle with finishing this book. Those were the major things that made it annoying for me to go through the book and that’s why I gave the book a 2-star rating.

“Bookish People” takes place in an independent bookstore outside D.C., following the staff over the course of one comedy-of-errors filled week. The main characters are book store owner Sophie and events manager Clemi, with the rest of the store staff filling out supporting roles.

This book was amazing! I enjoyed every single chapter, and it kept me hooked the entire time, which I loved!

I hate to write a review of this book as I could not finish this book. The story was hard to follow and just not enjoyable. Choppy would be the best word I could use. I didn’t get attached to any of the characters as I don’t feel like any of them were around long enough.

Also, nothing against the author here, but the giant Harper Muse logo throughout the ARC made it incredibly hard to follow the actual story.

Thank you for the ARC.

I usually love books about books and bookstores, but I had a hard time getting into this one. I wasn't pulled in my the characters and the plot seemed a bit messy to me. Also, through no fault of the author, the actual galley was extremely rough and my Kindle version had the Harper Muse logo randomly scattered throughout paragraphs of the book, which was distracting and confusing because I kept thinking it signaled the end of a chapter or section.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Muse for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel and love a good book about books, but this just didn't do it for me. There was a lot going on but didn't really seem to be any point to it all. LOTS of characters that I had a hard time keeping straight. And the chapters were SO LONG. All in all, it was okay. But I won't be recommending it anytime soon.

I loved the title of the book and am grateful for the review copy. It was a good attempt by the author and I wish the book all the best.. Somehow though it didn't work for me. But then. liking a book depends on personal opinion. So, do give it a go, if you wish to.

I am so sad to say that I was disappointed with this book. I couldn't even finish it. I could not get into the story because of the writing style. The author just seemed to tell instead of show which really took away from the story. I didn't feel connected to the characters either. I was really looking forward to it because it seemed like a great book for me, but I couldn't get past the writing.

I recently read Bookish People by Susan Coll.
I had such high hopes for this book, it sounded delightful and right up my alley
Kind of a riff off of "The Reading List"

So dissapointed.

The book is set in Washington DC just after the Charlottesville neo-nazi incident.
--Story issues - the biggest issue I had with this was that the protagonist keeps comparing herself to Anne Frank as she considers going into hiding in a secret room. In some twisted perverse way, she has romanticized one of the saddest chapters of Holocaust history. It was incredibly offensive to me that she would think her thoughts of "hiding away" because of her grief over the loss of her husband were somehow equivalent to the experience of the Frank family in wartime. I just couldn't get past this- and it was unbelievably offefnsive to me.

---The story itself started slow and there were multiple POVs, it was not always clear whose POV we were on.

It was also incredibly technically challenging to read this book.
I did receive an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Harper Muse, so I understand it was a galley but,

1. I typically read across multiple platforms - sometimes on a tablet, sometimes a phone...
There were no chapter numbers or chapter place/book marks.
The point at which you stopped did not sync over to another platform, so I had to read exclusively on one device.
2. Again I realize it is a galley but every 3 or 4 pages half of the entire page was taken up with a Harper Muse splash screen.

I cannot recommend this book under any circumstances
My opinion is my own, and as mentioned I received a free ARC in exchange for my honest review.