It doesn't get much better than this. Bookish books, lovely characters, the perfect plot, a book shop on a beautiful, lone island, and of course an aging and evolving character that is both crusty and cantankerous but which readers fall in love with anyway. Mr. A. J. Firky, that is. I wasn't expecting to fall in love with this novel, I truly wasn't. I usually find books about book stores a bit cliche to be candid, but this one here is one for the books. Pun intended. It has the perfect amount of everything you could want out of a novel. Like having just the right amount of baking ingredients for that perfect Lemon Pie. Some few hundred pages to the end made for quite an eloquent read, not too long not too short, again just right. Most of all, the quirky references to all time favorite titles, seemingly made in jest at the start, were impeccable. I certainly cannot stress how much I recommend this book. It has now become one of my all time faves. If you believe in book hangovers, well this one definitely left me in a deep state of one. Happy reading.

Great book for book lovers, people who love book stores, and people in book clubs. There was a small book store in a beach town that I always visited when at the beach, and I absolutely loved this store. The women who owned the store read each book and had a small pencil written review inside the cover. Many of my favorite books were purchased as a result of their reviews. A little mystery, a little love story and absolutely wonderful characters in this book.

This book has a great storyline. Lots of unexpected twists and turns! It reflects life on many small New England Islands. A great read!

The Collected Works of A.J.Fikry (aka The Storied Life of A.J.Fikry) is the fifth stand-alone novel by American author, Gabrielle Zevin. Alice Island, a New England summer destination requiring bus and ferry travel, boasts a main street book store. Island Books is owned by recent widower, A.J.Fikry, an opinionated, often cranky man in his late thirties with a (self-described) porcupine heart. Since the unfortunate accidental death of his beloved wife, his plan has been to drink himself to death and drive his business to ruin. This plan is derailed by three occurrences: thirty-six-year-old sales representative for Knightley Press, Amelia Loman makes her first visit to Island Books to present the publisher’s Winter List (and is treated rather shabbily by A.J.); A.J.’s escape valve, a rare and valuable edition of Tamerlane, a collection of poems by Edgar Allan Poe, is stolen; and a bright two-year-old girl named Maya is left in his bookstore. Against all odds, A.J. finds himself (with frequent help from Google and occasional input from the Island’s residents) bringing up a young girl. Zevin has given the reader characters who are appealing despite their flaws, or perhaps because of them. The story has an element of mystery and the plot has a few unexpected twists. Each chapter is prefaced with a paragraph of A.J.’s comments for Maya about a certain literary work: advice for writing and advice for life. It contains many words of wisdom, making it, as others have said, a very quotable book: “Sometimes books don’t find us until the right time” and “We are not quite novels. We are not quite short stories. In the end, we are collected works” will resonate with many readers. This book is filled with lightness and dark, with laugh-out-loud moments and lines that will have the most cynical reader choking up. It is a book for anyone who loves to read or loves book stores, and lovers of fine literature will be especially captivated. This delightful read is one of those books that is almost impossible to put down and most readers will be sorry to reach the end. A keeper.

A delightful novel filled with talk about literature and reference to books and short stories. The characters are quirky and charming. The story touches one's heart. Readers will love the literary allusions.

I read this book in two sessions and only was able to put it down to get some sleep. I found the characters fascinating and became very vested in their welfare; I cared what happened to them as if they were real.

A lovely little story that reconfirms why we read, and why we love when others read, too!

I totally loved this book.. It takes place in a small bookstore in an out of the way town. It is a little bit of everything, love story, family saga. The characters come alive and the story is such a sweet story. I recommend this book to every one who loves books or just wants a good book to settle down with.