The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

by Gabrielle Zevin

My mother recommended The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry to me last month and I was delighted she did. I devoured the novel over a long weekend. It was fun, heartfelt, and breezy. If you’re looking for a good summer beach read, I’d highly recommend. It’s a book for every book lover and every reader (or owner) wistful for the classic independent bookshops.

“A place ain’t a place without a bookstore.”

“Someday, you may think of marrying. Pick someone who thinks you’re the only person in the room.”

“In reading Twain, I often suspect he is having more fun than I am.”

“We aren’t the things we collect, acquire, read. We are, for as long as we are here, only love. The things we loved. The people we loved. And these, I think these really do live on”

“You know everything you need to know about a person from the answer to the question, What is your favorite book?”

“Who are these people who think a book comes with a guarantee that they will like it?”

“It’s a well-known fact that hate shows up on your face once you’re forty.”

“Sometimes books don’t find us until the right time.”

“Most people’s problems would be solved if they would only give more things a chance.”

“She is seventy, and she believes you try new things or you may as well die.”

“The most annoying thing about it is that once a person gives a shit about one thing, he finds he has to start giving a shit about everything.”

Sticky Books are those that you just can’t get out of your head. They stick with you long after you have put the book down and have moved on to something else. These are some of my Sticky Books. I don’t enjoy reviewing books myself. I find I am either full of far too much praise for the book because I know how difficult it can be to write a book, or I am far too negative about a book because, well, I guess I was just in a bad mood. So instead of reviews, I have pulled some of my favorite quotes from each Sticky Book.

Find more writing and publishing tips at Nothing Any Good.