Month: March 2026

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry–a storied treat!

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

By Gabrielle Zevin

Published 2014

Read Dec 2025

It’s not clear to this reader how she chose to get this audiobook but she is glad she did.  The only other Gabrielle Zevin book this reader has encountered is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.  In that book she used the story of three young people that develop and sell video games to give readers some insight into that industry and people who inhabit it.  In this book she uses the story of a mismatched group of people to give readers some insight into independent bookstores and the publisher agents that sell them books.

While some have found this book to be too predictable and somewhat sappy, this reader does not share this opinion.  Several characters must reset their lives after experiencing tragedy.  Their reset is generally neither very pretty nor quick.  The author does a good job of honestly showing their flaws and misguided steps.

When we meet A.J. Fikry, he is a 39-year-old widower who is mourning the loss of his wife, business partner, and love of his life, who perished in a car accident.  He’s drinking himself to sleep each night and thinks that drinking himself to death may be a good path for him.  He and his wife were both in literature PhD programs and not enjoying them when his wife suggests they open a bookstore in her hometown—Alice—which is on Alice Island, an island off the New England coast that is only reached by a ferry.  During one night of mourning, while passed out from drink, Fikry’s beloved and very rare copy of Tamerlane, a book of early poetry by Edgar Allen Poe (the writer at the center of his unfinished PhD thesis) goes missing and thus his “nest egg” for retirement.    He is well described as an often-surly book snob which doesn’t help his store’s bottom line.   He is quite mean to the new publishing rep for Knightly Press after the previous rep died.

A major change in Fikry’s life happens when a two-year-old is left in his store with a note “please take care of her”.   Her drowned mother is found washed up on Alice Island’s beach. The inconvenience of the required ferry trip for the social worker assigned to the case means the child spends a weekend with Fikry who decides to be her foster care provider.  Yes, the reader needs to accept that this proposal actually flies, but so what—it’s a fictional novel!

Other significant characters include:  1) Chief Lambiase, divorced from his high school sweetheart who wasn’t actually a sweet person,  who investigates the case of the drown woman and abandoned child;  2) Ismay, the sister of Fikry’s dead wife, a school teacher who is unhappily married to 3) Daniel Parish, a one-hit author; and 4) Amelia, the publisher’s book rep and a book lover. 

Each chapter has a short note from A.J. about a book.  We eventually learn these notes are for Maya, the little girl he eventually adopts.  There are plenty of book references that book lovers will likely appreciate—recall this it the Storied Life of our protagonist.

This was certainly an enjoyable read.  Amid the book references and story about a bookstore, a major theme is relationships and their importance in our lives.  The relationships that the characters develop enable them to live richer lives than they had before and to get through past and present tragedies.  This reader gives this book a recommendation TO READ!

PS The reader of the audiobook that this reader enjoyed was perfect for this book. 

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves–read to find out why

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

By Karen Joy Fowler

Published 2013

Read March 2016

This reader must admit she’s not sure how she came upon this book.  The title was intriguing and the cover was bright.  Wow that’s about it!  This reader was fully virginal about the book’s characters, plots, and the interesting plot twist revealed about 1/3 way into the book which will not be revealed. 

What this reader will tell you is that Rosemary, the narrator of the story, is quite clear she’s starting in the middle of the story and will come back to the beginning later.  In the middle, Rosemary is a dilatant student at UC Davis.  She tells us that both her older brother, Lowel, and her sister, Fern, stopped living with the family for some unspecified reason(s).  She and her parents moved from the house they had all lived in to a smaller house and that in-between she stayed with her grandparents.  During that in-between time, she wasn’t sure why she was there or whether she would see her parents again.  So now this reader was fully engaged—what happened and why?

Before we learn that we are introduced to some characters that Rosemary meets via a chance encounter.  These characters are clearly not people her parents would be enthusiastic about, but Rosemary is apparently lonely and engages with them. 

All of the characters we meet are drawn as “full-bodied” meaning brimming with interesting histories and facets but are all flawed, damaged, or both. This makes for engaging reading as well. Fortunately for Rosemary and the reader, Lowell briefly comes back into Rosemary’s life, and we start learning why we’re all beside ourselves.

This reader won’t spoil anymore of the book.  Unfortunately, after the plot twist occurs, the book dragged a bit for this reader but eventually got back on track and this reader completed the book quite quickly, wanting to know what was coming after the middle of the story. 

This reader wouldn’t put this book at the top of a “must read” list but it’s certainly an interesting read.   

Isola: rousing historical fiction

Isola

By Allegra Goodman

Published 2025

Read Feb 2026

This is a rather unique historical fiction novel.  While this reader shies away from historical fiction where the actions and particularly the feelings of a real person are the focus of the book, this one worked for this reader. 

The story is based on Marguerite de la Rocque, an heiress, whose parents are gone and whose guardian is Jean Fracois de la Rocque de Roberval.  Several accounts exist about here, including one in a book of stories by Queen Margerite of Navarre.  All agree Roberval is commissioned to set up a Catholic French colony in the New World that he takes Marguerite (age 20) and her nurse with him, and that Marguertie, a lover she takes on the ship, and her nurse are abandoned on a island off the coast of the New World.  Further she somehow is rescued and returns to France where she eventually is associated with a school.  But since only these thin bones of her story are known, Goodman has wide berth to fictionalize Marguerite’s story and provide the reader with an engaging, exciting, and sometimes raw story of this woman and those around her.  Readers are provided with a sense of the times she inhabited, the trappings both good and bad as a young female ward of high standing, and especially the trials she and her companions face after they are abandoned. 

Reese Witherspoon picked this novel as her Feb 2025 selection.  This action seemed to have prompted Amazon, and perhaps others, to advertise the book as “Isola:  Reese’s Book Club: A Novel”.  Regardless, this reader does recommend this book as a rousing read. 

Q’s Legacy–why we have 84 Charing Cross Road

Q’s Legacy

By Helene Hanff

Published 1985

Read Jan 2026

Q’s Legacy is a memoir by Helene Hanff which she wrote after her book, 84 Charing Cross Road became a major success. 

The reader gets to know why 84 Charing Cross Road exists.  She describes her fleeting experience in college and her lucky acquisition of a job at a bookstore that provided her with a lot of time to read.  She decided to get her own English literature degree so seeks out a professor who had published appropriate book(s) about it.  She started looking alphabetically and found no one to her liking until she reached volumes of lectures by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, a don at Cambridge.  As she was literally living “hand to mouth” then (and for most of her life), she begins by obtaining books he recommended through her library but decided owning them would allow more time to completely digest them.  She couldn’t find used copies she was willing to buy in New York City and chances upon an advertisement for Marks and Co Bookstore at 84 Charing Cross Road, London.  She writes to them with a list of books and strict budget.  Thus begins the relationship between Helene and Frank Doel, buyer for the bookstore. 

She describes the ups and downs of her writing career.  She made good money when writing for live TV that was produced in New York City and that enabled her to move into a larger apartment with its own kitchen and bathroom.  That gig dried up when TV moved to Hollywood and she didn’t follow it.  She tried writing plays, none of which went anywhere.  She wrote history books for children until that gig dried up as well.  Throughout this time a publisher named Genevieve (Gene) believed in her and encouraged her to try to publish 84 Charing Cross Road as a book vs a magazine article which she was writing.  Unfortunately for Gene, her company did not buy the book which became a cult classic. 

Much of Q’s Legacy tells of the aftermath of 84 Charing Cross Road.  Readers pummeled her with requests to sign her book and send it to a loved one (as she bore the shipping costs, this was a reason she didn’t really make much of any money on the book royalties).  The BBC made a TV series of it; she was invited to watch rehearsals and the taping which she describes.  James Roose-Evans adapted the book to the stage which was a triumph in the UK although not the US.  (Her generosity for sending food stuff to the bookstore during times of dramatic rationing was renowned in the UK.  The US suffered nothing similar.)  The book was written before the successful movie adaptation was made.

Some of the book describes her trip to the UK when she went for the opening of the play.  The diary part of the book dragged a bit for this reader but generally her discussion of this trip still captures her eye for detail and her wittiness.

This is a book lovers of 84 Charing Cross Road will greatly enjoy.  Readers get to know Helen Hanff, which is an absolute treat. 

84 Charing Cross Road–read it and love it

84 Charing Cross Road

By Helene Hanff

Published 1970

Read Jan 2026

In 1949 Helene Hanff wanted to obtain a “good” used copy of all the books recommended by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, a Cambridge don whose volume of lectures she had devoured.  She couldn’t find anything satisfactory in her hometown of New York City.   The available books were too worn and/or miserable for a collection she wanted to create.   She saw an ad for Marks and Co, an antiquarian bookseller located at 84 Charing Cross Road in London.  She wrote an inquiry to them which was answered by Frank Doel, the store’s chief buyer.  Thus began a nearly twenty-year correspondence between these two individuals.  After Doel died in 1968, and with permission of the family and company, she decided to publish a book of their correspondence.  And that’s all the book contains—the various letters written by Helene, Frank, his wife, and later his children. It’s a fascinating, short (97 pages), and fun read. 

The book was later adapted for live television drama by the BBC, for the stage and finally as a movie. 

This essay has yet to reveal the impact it had on this reader nor on those who have experienced the adapted works for the BBC, for the stage, and the movie.  Helene’s letters show her to be demanding, exacting, witty, and generous.  Frank’s letters show him to be the professional he is who is drawn into friendship with Helene as she reveals the attributes just announced.  The correspondence covered the war and post-war years when the UK was under severe rationing of food stuff.  Helene’s care packages of canned meats, candies, and dried eggs were shared by the staff and endeared her to them.  Frank’s wife begins writing to her as well and even sends her a beautiful tablecloth made by her elderly neighbor who also benefits from Helene’s generosity.

This book reminded this reader of her fondness for epistolary books, this one non-fiction, and led to reading yet another epistolary book which will be covered in this site in due time.  It also led this reader to immediately obtain a copy of Q’s Legacy, which will be covered in a separate essay. 

It’s absolutely no wonder that this slim volume is a classic that meets the definition of still being read 50+ years after its publication and is beloved by those who read it.  This reader was not surprised to learn that some of the reviewers on Amazon indicate they have copies not only of the book but also of the play and screen play.  It is a book that left a mark on this reader for providing an insight into the life and minds of real people living through the same real war and post-war time in two different countries who experienced the war so differently.

I found a wonderful quote on Stuckinabook’s blog:  “Amongst those of us who write or read book blogs, there are two varieties: those who love Helene Hanff’s 84, Charing Cross Road, and those who have yet to read it.”  (1).  Well said.