Play 2026 Book Bingo
25 Books About Books – Readers’ Favorites
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.Each year, we host the Book Lover’s Reading Challenge, featuring 12 bookish prompts for people who can’t get enough of reading about reading. We know life gets busy, and not everyone can tackle a year-long challenge, so we reviewed the results from last year’s reader rating logs and pulled together this curated collection of the very best Books about Books.
You’ll find contemporary and historical fiction filled with the places and people we love to read about, including libraries, bookstores, and book clubs. Every title on this list earned at least 4.2 out of 5 stars from our readers, with over 96% saying they’d recommend each book to a friend.
The Best Books About Books According to Our Readers
How to Read a Book
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In Abbot Falls, Maine, three unlikely people are about to have their lives changed forever after connecting at a bookstore. Violet is only twenty-two but was just released from prison after nearly two years for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher. Harriet is a retired English teacher who runs a book club at the prison. Frank is the handyman at a bookstore, and he had a complicated marriage to the woman Violet killed.
When Violet, Harriet, and Frank run into each other at the bookstore, they begin to learn about seizing second chances and the power of books to change lives.
Our Thoughts on This Book
We love books about book lovers, and this one in particular captured our hearts because of the life-changing connections formed between the characters. We included it on two lists – Novels with Characters Connecting Through Books and Books About Book Clubs – and it was a popular pick for both, with nearly 200 of our readers selecting it and sharing their rating with us.
In Our Readers’ Words
“This was such a heartwarming read! It’s a true found-family story showing how books can bring very different people with diverse backgrounds and experiences together. I love how the author cleverly wove the books into the story. Highly recommend.”
“I absolutely loved this book more than I can put into words!!!! One that will stay with me for a while! Highly recommend. The connection to books and how they impacted each character was so memorable. Beautifully done. Not predictable.”
“This is a book that’s a must-read in today’s world because it emphasizes the need for empathy and forgiveness and stresses putting ourselves in the shoes of others and trying to understand them.”
“This book does a wonderful job of instilling empathy for often stigmatized people. I honestly believe this book should be required reading for every human.”
Ban This Book
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
When the classic book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is banned from a school library, a fourth grader boldly fights back. Amy is normally shy, but this is her favorite book ever. She isn’t going to let it disappear without a fight.
You’ll laugh and cheer as she assembles a group of students who rally together to keep their access to books and make a positive difference in their school.
In Our Readers’ Words
“Love this book!! Even though it’s geared toward young readers, it’s appropriate for all. So many good messages and quotes.”
“This is a YA book, but it was very enjoyable to me as an adult!”
“As a former community college librarian who also had to run the gauntlet of people wanting to ban books in our library, I enjoyed the story and thought the students came up with a great way to show how wrong it is to let one person’s opinion override the rights of others.”
“This may be a children’s book, but the concept is NOT childish! I really enjoyed the main character and how she stood up against banning books!”
“I absolutely loved this book. I know it is for younger readers, but it is still one of my favorite reads this year. Such a great book.”
The Book of Lost Names
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In 1942, Eve fled Paris after her father was arrested for being a Polish Jew. When she arrives in the Free Zone, she decides to help Jewish children escape by creating new identity documents for them. She doesn’t want their true identities to be lost forever, so she begins documenting them in The Book of Lost Names.
Sixty-five years later, in Florida, Eve is now a semi-retired librarian. She’s shocked when she sees a photo of the book in a magazine article about the looting of libraries in WWII. Only Eve knows that the code contained within the book, but she’s not sure if she has the strength to revisit this tragic time in history.
In Our Readers’ Words
“Kristin Harmel is my favorite historical fiction author, and this book is one of my all-time favorites.”
“This book drew me in and kept me involved. It hit me with all the feels.”
“I couldn’t put it down – fast-moving, exciting, and very moving.”
The Keeper of Hidden Books
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In Warsaw, Zofia depends on books and her best friend, Janina, to endure the horrors of the Nazi occupation of Poland. However, as bombing increases, even books are endangered. Zofia begins hiding books away, and even starts an underground book club. When Janina is forced into a newly established ghetto, she still doesn’t give up her love of reading.
However, as the war continues, Zofia and Janina’s activities put them at risk. Can they save both Janina and the literature that has brought them so much comfort?
Thoughts on This Book
This book was a 2023 Goodreads Choice Finalist for Best Historical Fiction. It’s both heart-warming and heart-breaking, so be sure to have Kleenex on hand.
In Our Readers’ Words
“I loved this book! I learned so much about history that I did not know before. And I liked hearing about the books Hitler banned that the club read. I also just enjoyed the general reverence for literature and how books could give a glimmer of hope in such a dire situation. So glad I chose this book!”
“I have read a lot of WW2 fiction, but never about the Polish occupation. It was very informative and well written.”
The Stationery Shop
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Set against the backdrop of the Iranian Coup, Roya, an idealistic teenage girl, finds a literary oasis in the neighborhood book and stationery shop.
The owner introduces her to his favorite customer, the handsome Rumi, who is passionate about justice and poetry. The two fall in love, but are separated on the eve of their marriage. Finally, they are reunited 60 years later, when they are both living in America. Together, they discover the truth of what really happened all those years ago in the town square.
In Our Readers’ Words
“This was one of the best books I’ve ever read, that’s the truth!”
“Such a tragic love story. The plot is all about love, loss, family, heartbreak, manipulation, and peace. The writing is incredible. The characters are beautifully portrayed, and the plot makes you feel like you are living and breathing this story. I experienced so many emotions… one minute I was smiling and laughing, the next I needed tissues because my heart felt everything the characters felt. This is definitely a top read for me.”
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
The impoverished residents of Troublesome Creek struggle for nearly everything, but thanks to Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, they aren’t lacking books.
Book woman Cussy Mary Carter is not only Troublesome Creek’s own traveling library but also the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry. But not everyone approves of Cussy’s family or the government Library Project. Cussy wants to bring the joy of books to the hill folks, but she has to confront prejudice and suspicion as old as the Appalachians.
About the Series
The sequel, The Book Woman’s Daughter, is also set in Kentucky two decades later, in the 1950s. We are eagerly anticipating the newest novel, The Mountains We Call Home: The Book Woman’s Legacy, scheduled for publication on April 21, 2026. While it’s listed as the third in the series, the publisher calls it a standalone companion novel.
In Our Readers’ Words
“Not only is it an interesting story of the Pack Librarians, but it also shows the importance of libraries in our society.”
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
As London is emerging from WWII, Juliet Ashton, a writer, is looking for the subject of her next book. She begins exchanging letters with a man she’s never met – a native of the island of Guernsey. Through their letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of the man and his eccentric friends. Though they range from pig farmers to phrenologists, they are all literature lovers.
As Juliet learns about their tastes in books, she also comes to understand the impact that the German occupation has had on their lives.
Thoughts on This Book
This is a great choice for those who love epistolary novels, which are told through written correspondence between the characters.
Geography Note: Located between the UK and France, the Channel Islands, including Guernsey, are not part of the UK or the EU, but are dependent territories of the British Crown.
In Our Readers’ Words
“This is one of those books that will keep coming up in conversations, long after you read it.”
“I absolutely love this book! The characters talk about a specific book they read during the occupation that had a great impact on their lives and kind of took their minds off the horrific things going on around them, at least for a little bit. This reminds us of how books can have a great impact on us and can transport us anywhere in the world. These books played a huge part in each character’s life.”
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Komachi is Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian, and she has read every book on the shelves. She always knows exactly which book her patrons need at each visit. From the restless sales attendant who feels stuck at her job to the struggling working mother who longs to be a magazine editor, Komachi talks with the visitors and then hands them a book that will have life-changing consequences.
What to Expect in This Book
This Japanese fiction book contains five interconnected and hopeful stories rather than a novel to read straight through. You’ll find some light magical realism throughout.
In Our Readers’ Words
“I loved the separate stories around the library/librarian and the relationships.”
“This was a sweet, simple book. I liked the connections that arose between the characters of the specific vignettes- it made it feel more cohesive.”
The Book Club for Troublesome Women
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Margaret, Viv, and Bitsy appear to have it all by the standards of the early 1960s, but “all” doesn’t feel like enough to them. They live in a brand-new “planned community” in Northern Virginia and feel guilty and confused that they aren’t satisfied with their supposedly idyllic housewife lives.
Things begin to change when the three women form a book club with their artsy new neighbor from Manhattan, Charlotte. Together they read Betty Friedan’s controversial new book, The Feminine Mystique. For the first time, each of these women realizes that they are not alone in their dissatisfaction or their longings.
Their lives are forever altered. The book may be the start of it all, but it’s their bond of sisterhood that helps them find the courage they each need to navigate the rapidly changing world and see themselves in a new light.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
Angela picked up this book as a crossover read for our Books About Book Clubs prompt in the 2025 Book Lover’s Reading Challenge and the 1960s prompt in the Decades Challenge. This is one of her favorite time periods to read about, so she knew she’d enjoy the book from the outset, but it exceeded her already high expectations.
Sometimes in a book that follows four characters, we’re left feeling like none of them are as well-developed as we’d like, but here Marie Bostwick has created four fully-realized, unique characters. Each of the women has her own struggles and dreams, and the development of their storylines, individually and together as neighbors and friends, feels realistic and relatable.
In Our Readers’ Words
“I liked that the club made such an impact on the members’ lives and that they stayed in touch for decades. I hope younger readers are shocked by the restrictions women faced during the ’50s and ’60s.”
“This novel does a fantastic job of describing the feminist movement in the 1960s and its effect on middle-class women. I was rooting for each member of the book club to have her best life, as defined by her and no one else.”
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Liesel Meminger is a 9-year-old foster girl living in Nazi Germany in 1939. While trying to avoid all the death around her, she learns to read and begins stealing books. Soon, she’s sharing the books with neighbors and the Jewish man hidden in their basement.
It’s a heartbreaking read like so many others that cover this subject, but The Book Thief also underscores the vast power of books to help you through a terrible time.
In Our Readers’ Words
“This book shows the power of how reading and books can connect people to see the brighter side of tougher circumstances. It brings multiple characters from different backgrounds and age groups together. This book brought me into the story to feel the heartbreak and struggle with all the characters.”
“This book illustrates how books, both good & bad ones, can make a difference in how our world is seen. It also emphasized the importance of words; words matter.”
“It’s a long read, but worth it. I found it poignant and thought-provoking.”
The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
With World War II closing in on their city, Jacques’ wife is forced into hiding. Desperate to hold onto something, Jacques focuses all of his effort on saving his beloved bookshop. But when a woman and her child show up at his door one night begging for refuge, he can’t say no.
In present-day Paris, Juliette and her husband are supposed to be on a romantic getaway, but instead, she quickly discovers how far they’ve grown apart. When she comes across an abandoned bookshop with a for-sale sign in the window, she thinks it might just be the new adventure she’s craving. But the bookstore hides a lot more than meets the eye.
In Our Readers’ Words
“This book is such a heartwarming story. I loved the crossover between the different generations.”
“I enjoyed this book because I love historical fiction. The author’s transition from the past to the present was done very well.”
The Correspondent
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Sybil van Antwerp is a 72-year-old grandmother, wife, and distinguished lawyer. Three days a week, she sits down to write letters. And she sends most of them – whether to her brother, her best friend, or authors like Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. But to one frequent recipient, the letters are never sent.
She expects the rest of her life to continue as normal, until letters arrive from someone tied to one of the most painful chapters of her past. Is it finally time to share the unsent letters she’s been writing all these years?
Why We Think You’ll Love This Book
This epistolary gem highlights the many kinds of relationships formed throughout a lifetime through the words of a witty, spunky, book-loving woman who has endured grief yet retains hope. We loved that the letters always included notes about what book she and her friend were reading at that time, and we espcially enjoyed her letters to specific authors.
Angela enjoyed the full-cast audio version, and Melissa loved seeing the letters and emails in paper form. You can’t go wrong with either choice!
In Our Readers’ Words
“Sybil van Antwerp is my first choice for literary best friend.”
“Delightful on audio. The twist at the end packs a punch. I think I’ll always remember this book.”
“I enjoyed the premise of the story, being told through letters, following characters throughout several years. The language is beautiful, and you get to be an observer of how lives affect one another and how a person develops through life. Sybil Van Antwerp is such an interesting woman.”
Close Enough to Touch
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
From the ages of 17 to 27, Jubilee has lived in a world of solitude because of a rare allergy to human touch. Her last experience in the world led to a major anaphylactic shock during her first kiss, so it feels safest at home. However, when she loses her mother, she decides to reenter the world.
She finds employment as a librarian, and there she meets Eric. He’s a divorced father with a brilliant but struggling 10-year-old adopted son, Aja. He also has a 14-year-old daughter who lives with her mom and won’t speak to him. Jubilee, Eric, and Aja bond over books at the library, and each begins to find their own healing.
What to Expect in This Book
This story is endearing and quirky, with some humor incorporated despite each character’s difficult circumstances. While there is a romance thread, the focus is more on each character’s personal growth.
With Love from London
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
96% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
When Valentia was a teenager, her mother, Eloise, abandoned her and her father to start a new life in London. Now in her 30s, Val is a librarian and recently divorced. As she reevaluates her life, she realizes that the lack of closure with her mother is still nagging at her. But in a bittersweet twist of fate, Val learns that her mother has passed away before they’ve had a chance to reconcile.
Val is surprised to discover that Eloise left her a Primrose Hill apartment and the deed to a bookshop that Val never knew her mom owned. Determined to piece together a better understanding of Eloise’s life, Val decides to leave Seattle for a fresh start in London. It doesn’t take long for her to fall in love with the pastel-colored flat in a cozy neighborhood, not to mention the quaint bookstore. Unfortunately, she soon learns that The Book Garden is in financial trouble.
Told from a dual-timeline perspective, this book explores Valentia’s new life in London, as well as her mother’s past and what happened when she left her daughter behind.
Thoughts on This Book
Although the cover of this 2022 release says “sweet rom-com,” this is actually more of a feel-good story about mothers and daughters.
Another Sarah Jio book, Goodnight June, is also perfect for book lovers, as it tells the fictionalized origin story of a best-selling children’s book.
In Our Readers’ Words
“Loved this book, thought it might be just a light rom-com, but it was so much more. Loved the bookstore, and it is truly integral to the story.”
“It’s perfect, cozy, and oh-so-heartwarming!”
The Story She Left Behind
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Growing up in the 1920s, Clara Harrington had a magical childhood as the daughter of renowned author Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham. Bronwyn became a national sensation when, at the age of just twelve, she wrote a book in an invented language.
But when Clara is just 8 years old, her mother goes missing off the coast of South Carolina. Not only does this leave her daughter and husband brokenhearted, but it also dashes the hopes of ever translating the sequel to her book.
Years later, in 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising a daughter of her own. Out of the blue, she is contacted by a stranger in London named Charlie Jameson who claims to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical but can’t help but be intrigued.
Together with her daughter, Wynnie, Clara crosses the Atlantic. When they arrive, London is experiencing a deadly natural disaster—the Great Smog. It’s too much for young Wynnie’s asthma, so Charlie invites them to seek refuge at his family’s retreat in the Lake District. There, Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.
Another by This Author
Patti Callahan Henry’s The Secret Book of Flora Lea was one of Angela’s favorite books of 2023, and it’s another excellent book for book lovers.
Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
99% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Beverly is on the local school board, and her archrival Lula has turned into a local celebrity thanks to her mission to rid the public libraries of all “inappropriate” books—none of which she’s actually read.
To counteract the “pornographic” books housed in the local library, Lula starts a little library in her front yard, full of “worthy literature.”
At night, Beverly’s adult daughter, Lindsay, sneaks over to Lula’s little library and replaces the books but swaps the dust covers. Suddenly, Our Confederate Heroes actually contains Beloved, and The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette turns into The Girl’s Guide to the Revolution.
As Beverly and Lula’s rivalry intensifies and they run against each other to replace the mayor, the townspeople who have been changed by borrowing books from Lula’s library begin to reveal themselves. Everyone from the postman to the prom queen has something to say, ultimately forcing Lindsay to confess.
What to Expect in This Book
This work of satire digs into what so many communities across the US have faced when people blindly fight for books to be removed from libraries without even reading them. While it addresses serious issues like racism, misogyny, antisemitism, and the frightening rise of neo-Nazism, the humor keeps it from becoming too heavy. One reviewer called it “a love letter to the power of banned books.”
In Our Readers’ Words
“I loved how each character got exactly the book they needed at the time they needed it. The best books always do that.”
“This book tackles a serious subject in an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek manner that totally works. Every community has a Lula Dean. It’s up to us to seek out the Bellas and Lindsays, Beverlys and Isaacs, and stand beside them.”
“I loved this book! I want to read it again. I keep thinking about the characters and how the perspectives they gained from a book helped expand their worldview. Even if and often because they were not expecting it.”
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Book Lovers is about a literary agent named Nora. When Nora’s younger sister, Libby, begs her to take a month-long summer trip to a small town in North Carolina, she envisions all the possible romance novel tropes that could happen in her own life. Why couldn’t she run into a handsome country doctor and find her happily ever after?
Instead, Nora runs into Charlie, a brooding editor she has encountered several times back in the city. While neither of them is the ideal heroine or hero, they kept being thrown together in unlikely situations and must confront the stories they’d told themselves about who they are.
Genre Notes About Book Lovers
Despite having threads of romance, all of Emily Henry’s books have characters with real-life baggage and flaws. Book Lovers gives us a strong sister relationship and insight into Nora’s work, making her a well-rounded lead.
Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In the final year of WW1, Jessie took a leave of absence from her job at the New York Public Library(NYPL) to work for Anne Morgan’s charity – the Committee for Devastated France (CARD). This international group of women was rebuilding devastated French communities just miles from the front. While she’s shocked to be so close to the fighting that she can hear the shelling, Jessie persevered to set up the first French children’s libraries by turning ambulances into bookmobiles and training the first French female librarians. Then, she disappears.
Seventy years later, in 1987, Wendy is a NYPL librarian who finds a reference to Jessie in the archives. She’s immediately intrigued and begins compulsive research into Jessie’s fate.
In Our Readers’ Words
“Great read, the writer makes the characters come to life in this well-researched book about librarians bringing children’s books to war-torn France at the end of WWI.”
“I absolutely love his book! My favorite reads have always been books about strong women and those that teach me something I never knew before. This definitely checked both those boxes for me.”
More About This Book
This novel is based on the true story of Jessie Carson, an American librarian known for her efforts to establish children’s libraries in war-torn France. It also highlights the important work of the CARD group in helping to restore French villages.
If you enjoyed The Paris Library, we think you’ll love this well-researched book by the same author!
The Bromance Book Club
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Gavin is a second baseman for the Nashville Legends. He prides himself on his performance on the ball field, but when he finds out that his performance in the bedroom has been less than impressive to his wife, it’s more than his ego can handle.
With his marriage in major league trouble, Gavin finds help in an unlikely place. He’s invited to join a secret book club made up of some of Nashville’s top A-list alpha males. Taking inspiration from the plot of their latest romance read, the guys coach him through his rocky relationship.
In Our Readers’ Words
“Love that this is a man’s pov! It’s much funnier and heartwarming than bodice-ripping. There are still juicy bits, but they aren’t the main focus.”
“This was hilarious! I laughed out loud numerous times when the guys discussed romance books. Gavin trying to win his wife, Thea, back was touching and made me immediately root for them. I am looking forward to reading more of the books in the series.”
The Memory Library
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Sally has added a book to her shelf on July 11th, her daughter Ella’s birthday, every year for forty-two years. Inside the front cover, she adds a note to Ella, but for the past twenty-two years, Ella has not seen any of the books or notes.
After a heated argument when she was twenty, Ella fled to Australia and has been estranged from her mother ever since. She now has her own life and an eight-year old daughter. But, when Sally has a fall, Ella reluctantly travels back home to face everything she left behind.
The Book Girls Say…
One of our inspirations to create the Book Lover’s challenge was the vast number of ways people are able to connect through books. Generally, we wouldn’t expect a mother-daughter story on this list because they have an established bond outside of reading.
In this case, books became the catalyst for connection and restoration. Readers say this book is full of great bookish references and an amazing sense of community. However, be prepared that Ella is not a likable character.
In Our Readers’ Words
“Loved the way the author used books to mend a relationship between the mother and daughter.”
“This is a heart-warming story about a community that has found ways to connect together through the library and books.”
“Any book lover would give anything to have a library like this. I also think for most of us book lovers we would give anything to have a special person in our lives to do this for.’
The Bookbinder
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Twin sisters Peggy and Maude work at Oxford University Press’s book bindery. While Maude is very content spending her days folding the pages of books with her fellow bindery girls, Peggy dreams of more. As Peggy works, she wishes she were instead across Walton Street at Oxford’s Somerville College, where female students have a huge library at their fingertips.
When Oxford is filled with Belgian war refugees, the sisters’ lives are impacted in surprising ways. Peggy becomes more determined to find a career that uses her intellect instead of her hands. But the responsibility that comes with falling in love with a Belgian soldier may hold her back.
Worth Noting
This book has an alternate title of The Bookbinder of Jericho outside of the US. The ratings for this book come from our Decades Challenge list of Books Set in the 1900s-1910s.
In Our Readers’ Words
“This was an amazing book. It provides a new perspective on WWI, great details about working British women’s lives, and insight into the process of book-making. I loved all of the characters!”
The Library
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Teenager Tom and pensioner Maggie are unlikely friends who have an unlikely encounter at their local library. While Tom dreads his future, partly because his mom is gone, Maggie is dwelling on her past, partly because her son is gone.
As the duo works together to save the library, they prove that libraries are about more than just books.
Thoughts on This Book
Reviewers say that while this book addresses some heavy topics, it’s also a very sweet story full of heart.
The Reading List
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
When teenage library worker Aleisha finds a list of little-known novels in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird, she decides to read every book on the list. Each story is magical to her for different reasons.
Widower Mukesh worries about his bookworm granddaughter, Priya. To connect with her, he visits the library and meets Aleisha. When she shares the found list with him, they begin to form an unexpected friendship and discover the healing that is desperately needed for each of them.
In Our Readers’ Words
“This is a great book. I have recommended it to many people, and it inspired me to keep reading and exploring classics I’ve always wanted to read but just haven’t.”
“As a librarian, I appreciated how this story showed the importance of libraries for connecting people and strengthening communities.”
“This is a warm book that has a list of real books as important ‘characters.’ I loved the intergenerational friendships and how even the oldest character changed a lot and learned new things.”
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Alice Island bookstore owner A.J. Fikry is having a terrible year. His wife has died, the store isn’t making enough sales, and his beloved book of Poe poems has been stolen. As a result, he’s cranky and pushing those around him away more than ever. Luckily, he has a few people who look past his curmudgeonly attitude.
His depression reaches the point that he no longer enjoys books. But sometimes, life gives you second chances in unexpected ways. For A.J., it’s a small, but heavy, mysterious package that arrives at his shop. And as he begins to see the world around him in a new way, those around him can see him in a new way, too.
Movie Adaptation
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry was also released as a movie. It would be fun to read with a friend and then watch together.
In Our Readers’ Words
“I laughed, I cried. Such a charming book.”
“Wow! I missed this book when it came out. What a treat for book lovers. The story jumped through time. I didn’t think I would like it, but it worked perfectly for this story. There were so many book references in this story!”
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Joy’s French husband has passed away, and she has no idea why he has left a valuable painting to a woman named Robyn on the western coast of Ireland. So, she decides to deliver the painting in person.
When she arrives in Ballycove, she finds that Robyn runs a chaotic and unprofitable bookshop and desperately needs assistance. Joy soon becomes entangled not only in the bookshop but also in the town. All the while, she’s still trying to discover the secrets behind her late husband’s painting.
About the Book
While this book is not part of a series, if you’ve read other Faith Hogan books set in Ballycove, like The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club, you might recognize a few familiar faces.
Readers say this is a cozy, found family story despite having some heavier themes of grief.
In Our Readers’ Words
“The bookshop is what brought the ladies together and formed the family. This is the way a bookstore does. It draws a person out, and you can dream or remember in a bookstore. That is what this story did for me. I would definitely recommend this book!”
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If you are participating in the Book Lover’s Challenge, click here for a full list of all of the reading prompts.
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- Books About Authors & Writers
- Novels Set in the Publishing World: Editors, Agents, & Publishers
- Novels With Characters Becoming Part of the Story
- Modern Retellings of Classic Novels
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