What a nice little read! Sadly it is the only piece from this author that I have yet read, but I will seek out more. What could be sweeter than a book about a bookshop?

sent to another bookcrosser in bookrelay.

Received in the mail yesterday. Will put it on the top of my TBR pile and move it along when I'm done!

I did read this book soon after I received it, and just noticed that I hadn't journalled on it yet. I love browsing in bookstores, particularly used bookstores, so I enjoyed the descriptions of how the shop was organised. This was a nice book about the difficulties encountered by a woman trying to open a book shop in a small town, but I must admit that it didn't leave much of an impression on me.

On its way to goatgrrl as part of her Booker project.

I was delighted to receive this in today's mail from crazy-book-lady -- thanks so much :^). I'm really looking forward to reading this one. Best wishes from New Westminster, British Columbia! (At left: the Fraser River, as seen from the top of my street.)

This is a sad little novel (more of a novella, really), which was shortlisted for the 1978 Booker Prize.

The Book Shop is about a middle-aged widow, Florence Green, who in the early 1950s relocates from London to the fictional hamlet of Hardborough on the East Anglian coast, where she subsequently buys a derelict, centuries-old house and warehouse and opens a book shop.

Having just finished The Book Shop, I can't quite decide what it was really about. Possibilities include the meanness and hypocrisy of small, socially impenetrable village communities, the erosion of literacy, the fragility and randomness of human relationships (Florence's strongest connection in Hardborough seems to be with the ten year old girl who assists her at the shop), and loneliness. What the book wasn't about was how lovely it would be to run a book shop in rural England!

I enjoyed reading The Book Shop, and read it quickly because I wanted to know what would happen to Florence and her shop. Without revealing the ending, I can only say I'm truly not sure I got Fitzgerald's message, and thus found this book an odd candidate for the Booker.

Thanks very much to schmetterling and crazy-book-lady for sharing this one -- notwithstanding my confusion, I'm glad to have had the opportunity to read it!

Going out to djfil in Atlanta, Georgia as a RABCK. Happy trails, Bookshop! And best wishes to djfil from New Westminster, British Columbia.

Thanks goatgrrl! What a quaint novel! Just looking at it inspires some deep feelings. I'm very curious about this one and will keep you all updated on my experience with it.