This was an incredibly sweet book. It just made me feel good. The setting, characters and everything about it, felt like a warm sweater and a cup of tea. Cozy! Loved it.

A delightful read ! If you love bookstores, books and a good mystery I highly recommend this book. It has a wonderful bookstore as the star, fun characters and a good mystery to keep you guessing. The transformation of A.J. from stodgy book store owner to successful businessman with a thriving bookstore is a delight to read. This is full of the love for books and bookstores that will delight every reader.

Several years ago, I received The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin as an e-galley, but I couldn't get it to download to my Kindle. I knew that I was missing something really good, but I figured I would just wait until it was published and read it then. And then, as it tends to do, time passed. Finally, after hearing friend after friend, not to mention lots of reviewers, talk about the beauty of this book, I was able to get my hands on it. And I was not disappointed.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is about a recently widowed bookseller in his late thirties. A.J. Fikry owns the only bookstore on Alice Island, a fictional island in the area of Nantucket. He isn't a particularly lovable character, he's rather prickly in the beginning, but that is a bit understandable. His wife, whom he adored, died very unexpectedly nearly two years before we meet him. Then his prized possession, and future retirement, a rare, early edition of a book by Edgar Allen Poe, is stolen. Life does not seem to be going the way A.J. had hoped it would. Then everything changes when someone leaves something very unexpected in his bookstore for him. The isolation that A.J. has spent so much time crafting for himself suddenly evaporates as he becomes more and more connected to the people of Alice Island.

This book is really just lovely. I adored this book and my only regret is that I waited so long to read it. This would make a wonderful selection for any book club as there is so much to discuss. This is the kind of book you will want to hug, to curl up and hold these characters and their words. I am disappointed that I cannot tell you more without telling too much, so I will just reiterate that you really must read this book. I will leave you with a quote from A.J. Fikry, taken from when he describes a book he has recently discovered and loved:

"Every word the right one and exactly where it should be. That's basically the highest compliment I can give. I'm only sorry it took me so long to read it."

Things can't get much worse for A.J. Fikry. He married his college sweetheart and they opted out of graduate school to open a bookstore on a New England island. Their life was satisfying, but that all ended when Fikry's wife is killed in an auto accident, leaving him to run the bookstore while grieving. He barely makes it through the days, going home to drink himself into oblivion at night. While drunk one night, his prize possession, a first edition of Edgar Allen Poe's book of poetry, Tamerlane, is stolen. This is a real blow as it was his nest egg, a book worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Then something surprising and unlikely happens. A.J. returns to the bookstore one day to find that someone has left a small child in the bookstore with a note saying that the mother can't raise her and thinks being raised in a bookstore would be the best thing ever for a child. A.J. has no interest in having a child, but agrees to keep the little girl for a weekend since the social service representative won't be able to get over to the island until the next week. By the time she comes, A.J. has changed his mind and ends up adopting Maya.

The book continues to chronicle A.J. and Maya's life together over the following years, as they learn to live together, Maya starts school, A.J. comes out of his introversion and becomes a community member. The bookstore starts to do well as Fikry becomes more entwined in the island's life. Throughout the years, A.J. writes about his favorite books and tells Maya which ones he believes she will like as she grows as a reader and writer.

Gabrielle Zevin has written a heart touching novel made for readers. It celebrates the reading life and attempts to demonstrate the large part that books play in the lives of readers. As the book progresses, one finds oneself cheering for A.J. and Maya and the lives they are building. This book is recommended for readers and those who enjoy literary fiction.

A charming read, a little simple, but nonetheless enjoyed it. Some of the characters were a bit one-dimensional but still a good plot line and story.