The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. “This is a feel-good novel, very beachy. It’s been compared to the Book Thief, but I think you’ll be disappointed if that’s what you’re expecting. It’s about a very crabby widowed bookseller. An abandoned baby comes into his life and everything changes. It sounds schmaltzy, but it’s really not. Okay, maybe a tiny bit schmaltzy, but not maudlin. How’s that for a review? Just read it if you haven’t already, it’s good for the beach.” “Every now and then I find a book where the words just leap off the page into my eyes as if it's reading itself. This delightful little wisp of a book is almost too fairy tale perfect. There is a cantankerous but loving bookseller, a smarter than average abandoned baby girl, a love story, a scoundrel, a comeuppance, a sad story, a happy story...every single thing you would want in a book that will whisk you away to a perfect little New England island world for a few hours."
