The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry

This book is a little quirky which is why I chose it.  A.J is an owner of a bookstore on Alice Island a fictional place located somewhere in New England.  The bookstore was opened by A.J and his wife Nic but unfortunately Nic was killed in a car accident.  Needless to say A.J. is in a deep funk walking through life in a coma. 

One day a child is left in his bookstore.  From the beginning there is a unique bond between them.  She literally changes his life in so many ways.  It is almost like she awakens a side of him that he did not know existed.  But the story is not as straight forward as one would think.  There are a few twists that I did not see.  I also liked the way the author developed the characters. 

E readers came up as a subject in the book when A.J's Mom made a rare visit at Christmas and brought identical gifts for A.J, Amy, his wife and Maya, his daughter.  A.J. was enraged and I am certainly sympathetic to his point.  The more popular e readers become the more likely book stores become obsolete. His business definitely is impacted by the device. 

Unfortunately this is so true.  Gone are the days that bookstores were everywhere.  Part of the fun of going to new places was to find local book stores.  One of my favorite local bookstores is in Duck, NC called Duck's cottage.  Although they are booksellers they also sell great coffee and mugs. I would stop by in the mornings the week I was there for some java and I don't mean the software. I picked up a mug and several books including one mystery written by a local author  I drink out of my Duck's Cottage mug every morning. Thankfully there are still lots of people like me who love to hold a book in my hand.  I have my e reader but I still by books. 

I can see why this was not a major bestseller but I enjoyed.