Big Reads: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

I have been on a roll with one day reads lately.

Three in a row, in fact. The Girl You Left Behind, Kids of Appetite (review coming later this week,) and this one - The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.

This is my favorite kind of book. One that I simply can't put down and read in one day. Also, I love books about books. Especially when I've read the other books mentioned in the book. It feels kind of magical to me. This one in particular was just delightful (and strongly reminded me of A Man Called Ove and we all know how I felt about that one. I frickin loved it.)

Lets get into it - The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is about a bookseller (the titular A.J.) who has recently lost his wife and is a bit of a curmudgeon. (Sound familiar, Ove-readers?) The story opens with publishing company sales rep Amelia Loman making her first sales call to Island Books (owned by A.J.) They have a horrible first meeting, A.J tries to drink himself to death every night, a priceless first edition is stolen, and a package is left in his store one night (hint - cover art. I didn't even see it until I was writing this post and looked at the photos I took.)

The story is a bit of a roller-coaster. I especially loved the book "review" A.J. writes at the beginning of each chapter. He's writing a letter to someone about each book and they give a small hint about the forthcoming chapter. There are plenty of ups and downs and I was fully invested for all of it. This was a truly wonderful book. If you love books like I do, definitely add this one to the top of your TBR.

Come back tomorrow for another Christmas gift idea for the little people in your life. (This one is actually for my little person, so I have to wait until she isn't home to shoot it.)