Book Review: Bookish People

Are you doing anything this weekend? I'm just glad we have a long weekend. Olivia turns 17 in a few days, and I have some crafty things I want to do. I don't want to get crazy, but I might be listing some things in the ol' Etsy shop. I kind of miss doing that, I just have such a hard time managing time and it's hard. Life is hard, folks. 

Bookish People - Susan Coll

A perfect storm of comedic proportions erupts in a DC bookstore over the course of one soggy summer week—narrated by two very different women and punctuated by political turmoil, a celestial event, and a perpetually broken vacuum cleaner.

Independent bookstore owner Sophie Bernstein is burned out on books. Mourning the death of her husband, the loss of her favorite manager, her only child’s lack of aspiration, and the grim state of the world, she fantasizes about going into hiding in the secret back room of her store.

Meanwhile, renowned poet Raymond Chaucer has published a new collection, and rumors that he’s to blame for his wife’s suicide have led to national cancellations of his publicity tour. He intends to set the record straight—with an ultra-fine-point Sharpie—but only one shop still plans to host him: Sophie’s.

Fearful of potential repercussions from angry customers, Sophie asks Clemi—bookstore events coordinator, aspiring novelist, and daughter of a famed literary agent—to cancel Raymond’s appearance. But Clemi suspects Raymond might be her biological father, and she can’t say no to the chance of finding out for sure.

This big-hearted screwball comedy features an intergenerational cast of oblivious authors and over-qualified booksellers—as well as a Russian tortoise named Kurt Vonnegut Jr.—and captures the endearing quirks of some of the best kinds of people: the ones who love good books.

I am going to chalk this one up to bookstagram made me do it. I am SO GLAD I didn't purchase this one because I didn't like it. Not even a little bit. I've seen people mention how fun and funny it was, and maybe it was because I listened to the audiobook of this, but it wasn't funny. I honestly got to the half way point and couldn't tell you what it was even about. I mean, we've got a hod podge group of people working at this bookstore, we have the store owner kind of doomsday prepping for no real reason, a couple of employees who have adopted a turtle, it's just such a bizarre book with zero point to it. There wasn't any focus, the writing is just all over the place, I didn't care about any of the characters, so I never felt invested. The only reason this wasn't a DNF for me is because it was an audiobook I listened to in the background as I was doing other things. It also is pegged as a romance and it really wasn't that at all. It's more women's fiction... kind of? I don't know. This was kind of lame and if you're on the fence with this one, skip it. You can find tons of other options that are romance and feature the book world, because this is not that. 

Have a safe and fun Labor Day weekend!