Happy Tuesday! This week’s prompt is a joy. It’s all about bookish characters. I chose to focus on books in which the main character(s) is a professional book pusher — one who gets paid to get someone to read. (As opposed to those of us who just do it for fun. 🙂 ) Basically booksellers and librarians. I am currently listening to The Librarian of Saint-Malo by MarioEscobar. It is riveting, and naturally it is on my list. With the variety of genres represented, I hope you find a book to pique your interest.
I found this week’s Top 10 Tuesday prompt — Characters That Remind Me of Myself — a bit daunting. I lead such a boring life, that it would never make it as a book. 😉 I really struggled to come up with the requisite 10 to fill this post, until I started thinking about what consumes a lot of my thoughts — books! I read them, talk about them, blog about them, sniff them . . . . Anyway, I came up with a list of characters that are surrounded by books too. I really wouldn’t want to trade places with any of them because of their issues, and the fact that some regularly stumble on dead bodies or engage in nefarious activities! And while my husband may say our home is starting to look a lot like a bookstore or library, I do not work at either. But I am a book pusher enthusiast who makes sure everyone has the opportunity to get their hands on the story that is just right for them. Whether you like cozy mysteries, suspense, romance, women’s fiction, or time-slip novels, I hope you find a book you just need to read!
Ok, I know that the title of my Top Ten Tuesday post is a bit redundant, but I have a reason for this somewhat silly title. Today, bloggers are supposed to share the bookstores and/or libraries they would love to visit. A very bookish bucket list. 😉 There are a number of real life bookstores that I would absolutely love to visit. Powell’s in Portland comes to mind. But those destinations will have to wait. So I thought I would share the bookstores I have already visited, however fictionally. Yes, my list consists of bookstores that reside in books, hence bookish bookshops. Some of the books are cozies in which bookstore owners double as mystery solvers, while others share stories beyond the covers of books and walls of stores.  Have you visited any on my list? I’d love to know what you thought.
Be sure to head over to That Artsy Reader Girl to find out just where other bloggers want to visit.
Top Bookish Bookstores
Bay Books — Camino Island by John Grisham
The Book Depot — Strangled Prose by Joan Hess
Charming Books — Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower
Death on Demand Bookstore — Death on Demand by Carolyn Hart
Island Books — The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Magic Balloon Bookshop — Hidden Among The Stars by Melanie Dobson
Oak Tree Bookstore — The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
I cannot believe March is here, or at least will be tomorrow! 2016 is flying by. My two book clubs have already gotten off to a good start with our selections. Here’s what we will be reading in March.
A courageous young noblewoman risks her life to hide French resistance fighters; seventy years later, her granddaughter visits the family’s abandoned chateau and uncovers shocking secrets from the past.
Gisèle Duchant guards a secret that could cost her life. Tunnels snake through the hill under her family’s medieval chateau in Normandy. Now, with Hitler’s army bearing down, her brother and several friends are hiding in the tunnels, resisting the German occupation of France.
But when German soldiers take over the family’s château, Gisèle is forced to host them as well—while harboring the resistance fighters right below their feet. Taking in a Jewish friend’s baby, she convinces the Nazis that it is her child, ultimately risking everything for the future of the child. When the German officers begin to suspect her deception, an unlikely hero rescues both her and the child.
A present day story weaves through the past one as Chloe Sauver, Gisèle’s granddaughter, arrives in Normandy. After calling off her engagement with a political candidate, Chloe pays a visit to the chateau to escape publicity and work with a documentary filmmaker, Riley, who has uncovered a fascinating story about Jews serving in Hitler’s army. Riley wants to research Chloe’s family history and the lives that were saved in the tunnels under their house in Normandy. Chloe is floored—her family isn’t Jewish, for one thing, and she doesn’t know anything about tunnels or the history of the house. But as she begins to explore the dark and winding passageways beneath the chateau, nothing can prepare her for the shock of what she and Riley discover…
With emotion and intrigue, Melanie Dobson brings World War II France to life in this beautiful novel about war, family, sacrifice, and the secrets of the past.
A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when a mysterious package appears at the bookstore, its unexpected arrival gives Fikry the chance to make his life over–and see everything anew.
Thanks to The Broke And The Bookish for hosting Top 10 Tuesday. This week’s theme is books we want Santa to bring. Because I am an unrepentant bookaholic, it is hard to limit the list to just 10. The books on my list are upcoming selections for book club along with books that I want just because. To find out what others want Santa to bring, click HERE.
Top Ten Books I Want from Santa
The Astronauts Wives Club by Lily Koppel
Chateau of Secrets by Melanie DobsonÂ
In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
Midnight on The Mississippi by Mary Ellis
My Brother’s Crown by Mindy Starnes Clark and Leslie Gould
Sister Dear by Laura MacNeill
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
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