The Bookshop: A Novel

by Penelope Fitzgerald | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0395869463 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingmaryzeewing of Taneytown, Maryland USA on 9/22/2005
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5 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingmaryzeewing from Taneytown, Maryland USA on Thursday, September 22, 2005
I've read several books about books since BC, and this one caught my eye at the store.

From the cover -
In 1959 Florence Green, a kindhearted widow with a small inheritance, risks everything to open a bookshop - the only bookshop - in the seaside town of Hardborough. By making a success of a business so impractical, she invites the hostility of the town's less prosperous shopkeepers. By daring to enlarge her neighbors' lives, she crosses Mrs. Gamart, the local arts doyenne. Her warehouse leaks, her cellar seeps, and the shop is apparently... haunted. Only too late does she begin to suspect the truth: that a town that lacks a bookshop isn't always a town that wants one.
Balzac, an expert on how nasty people can be to one another in small country places, once said that the ordinariness of human lives can never be a measure of the effort it takes to keep them going. Anyone who has found this to be true will admire Florence Green for her wit and her innocent courage, a courage that comes from simply choosing to survive.

Journal Entry 2 by wingmaryzeewing from Taneytown, Maryland USA on Saturday, September 24, 2005
The cover of this one caught my eye in the book store a while back, and after numerous "books on books" threads here at BC, I thought I had heard of this one.

It wasn't what I expected. Granted, I picked it up quickly based mostly on the cover, and I was expecting some charming tale about life in a book store in a small town. Well, I got small town life (in the UK - unfortunately, never been there, that may have been part of the problem). This was more about what the locals would do to keep someone from their life's dream, that it was about life running the bookstore. It really could have been about any retail establishment.

And somehow, I didn't care for the style of writing either. Not sure if it was the language, or the way the plot moved or didn't.

I'm going to pass this on within BC. I'll be interested to hear what others think. Fortunately, it was a short book (not much over 100 pp).

10/17/05 update - Mailed to Antof9 for m-bag to NZ.

Journal Entry 3 by Antof9 from Lakewood, Colorado USA on Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Caught for the m-bag going to our friends in New Zealand.

Thanks, MZ -- our NZ friends ought to enjoy this!

Journal Entry 4 by NZ-2006-Con from Dunedin, Otago New Zealand on Wednesday, December 21, 2005
The m-bags have arrived (or 4 of them anyway!) We have had a wonderful afternoon unpacking them! Thanks for posting them Antof9 and thanks for the book MaryZee, your contribution to the convention is greatly appreciated!
I love books about books...should I sneak this one out to read too?

Journal Entry 5 by wingmeganhwing from Preston, Victoria Australia on Sunday, February 19, 2006
This book came to me at the convention via my goody bag -full of wonderful treasures including books - handmade bookmarks and a beautiful paua shell bookstring, lots of lovely labels, brochures, lollies etc. Thanks for helping to add to the NZ convention - a wonderful weekend meeting old friends and new, and experiencing the picturesque city of Dunedin.

Journal Entry 6 by wingmeganhwing from Preston, Victoria Australia on Monday, May 1, 2006
After reading Penelope Fitzgerald's Booker prize winning novel Offshore, I was interested to read this work of hers. Both books have been similarly written, about very communities and the relationships which occur in them. Both were also very short in length.
I enjoy Ms Fitzgerld's style of writing and spent a rainy afternoon devouring this book. The main character, Florence Green could have been expanded upon a bit more but we did learn that she was a midddle aged widow who had done a bit of book-keeping and decided she would like to run a bookshop. She seemed pretty insipid but she took a great risk stocking 250 copies of Lolita when it was first published - this was the highpoint and also the lowpoint in her life as a bookshop owner.
Thanks for sharing this book MaryZee and to Antof9 for shipping the m-bag. I will help it travel a little more.

Journal Entry 7 by sims8 on Monday, February 19, 2007
I foound this book outside a closed bookshop I intend to pass it on as soon as possible. I believe it was st free by Meghan I have helped it travel as I live in Hamilton Victoria and brought it home to read. Being English I enjoyed the small town life in the book but found the ending a let down.
Linda

CAUGHT IN GISBOURNE VICTORIA AUSTRALIA

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