I don't read much fiction these days so when I do read fiction I try to make it count. I will say straight out that this is one of the best novels I have ever read. The main reason is the lead character, A.J. Fikry, with whom I identify closely He is a classic book, print oriented person who adapts to technology as best he can. He owns a bookstore, he reads, he talks books, he deals with bookstore customers and publishing reps, he loves and extolls reading, short fiction being his favorite genre. He and I are two of a kind. I feel like this fictional character could be my best friend.
After his wife dies, A.J. lives alone in the apartment above his bookstore on Alice Island somewhere in New England. Providence and Boston are mentioned. His bookstore has sales ups and downs referencing the demise of independent bookstores. He has a Princeton literary degree and his specialty is Poe. He owns a valuable copy of Poe's Tamerlane. Only 50 copies were printed. The book might bring half a million dollars at auction.
The action begins when his Poe book is stolen mysteriously from his house when he leaves his house unlocked, the book on the kitchen table, and he is passed out drunk. A mystery to be sure, not solved until the end of the story.
Shortly after the book theft, someone leaves a 2 and 1/2 yr old baby in his bookstore. But who? How did this happen? The complete story works its way to the end of the novel. Long story short, the 35 yr old man ends up adopting the baby named Maya. A single man, widower after the death of his wife Nic. Maya turns out to be as literary as her father.
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P. 39 You, sir, are an idiot.
P. 62 A.J. gives Maya her first bath. Doesn't want her to start looking like a miniature Miss Havisham.
P. 82 The first way Maya approaches a book is to smell it by holding it to her face.
P. 83 Precocious Maya started with picture books. You can tell a lot about a story from the pictures, but pictures sometimes give you the wrong idea. Maya would prefer to know the words. The words are primary, not the pictures if there are any.
P. 90 "The Catholic Church is thinking of making me a saint." Amelia
P. 96 "You are probably a more evolved person than I am," A.J. says.
P. 187 No one will ever love me that much again.
Each chapter has a reading recommendation to his adopted daughter Maya.
Pl 87 "A Good Man is Hard to Find." You know everything you need to know about a person from the answer to the question, What is your favorite book?
P. 129 Twain's jumping frog story, not one of my personal favorites.
P. 187 "A Perfect Day for Banana Fish." A scary choice. A startling Salinger story.
P. 239 His favorite short story is Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." I cannot argue with his pick.
A.J. despises e-readers. He doesn't react well when he receives one from his mother for Christmas. An infernal device! It is only after his operation for brain cancer before he dies that he is forced for ease and comfort to read from one in his hospital bed. Technology is a final crutch.
The gist of the story is a cantankerous and opinionated intellectual man age 35 named A.J. owns a bookstore. His wife recently passed away. The bookstore is on Alice Island somewhere in New England. He is called on my an attractive publishing rep. It takes a while but a romance develops and he ends marrying her. Someone steals his valuable Edgar Alan Poe copy of "Tamerlane." Someone leaves a baby in his bookstore. A.J. ends up adopting the child whose name is Maya, who turns to be a reader like her father. A.J. eventually marries the book rep whose name is Amelia. His sister turns out to be the one who stole the Poe. The baby was fathered by her no good late husband. She was going to give the book to the mother who committed suicide for money to support the child. At the end A.J.gets brain cancer. He and Amelia sell the Poe to pay for the operation. The surgery gives him another year to live. A sad ending.
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