Wednesday, July 26, 2017

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan *****

Nina Redmond’s branch library closed and the main library is more interested in multimedia and the Internet than books. Whether she wants to move into the book-free future or not, there is little chance the new administration will offer her a job. The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan is a romance about Nina’s new adventures, life, and love.

The “Bookshop on the Corner” is a mobile bookshop, and much of the story is a paean to books and readers, with references to specific books and the joys and transformational qualities of reading. With the is an occasional nod to poetry, the emphasis is on fiction and novels. There is even a comment on the evil of banning books.
“You know,” he said, “when my parents were little, books were banned…”
The secondary theme is the idyllic life in the Scottish Highlands.
“[Kirrinfief] was an actual community, not just a long row of houses full of people who happened to live next to each other. There was a difference, and she had simply not realized it before.”
“…up here in the peace and the wilds of the great valleys and deep lochs of Scotland she had found something that suited her, that soothed her soul”
When someone in the village needed help, many people got together because “It needed doing, that was all.”

Since this is a HarpersCollins book, I feel justified to complain about edit fail. When Nina arrives in Kirrinfief Scotland, “She took out her phone regardless and check it. No signal.”

However, the next day, in an even more remote location, “She took a selfie of herself with the lambs behind her and sent it… Her roommate immediately replied.”

Somehow, overnight, this sleepy Scottish village was miraculously online.

This is a heartwarming tale of books and small towns. An enjoyable tale for all book lovers.

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