The Bookshop on The Corner by Jenny Colgan
🔥 or 🔥🔥 out of 5 steam level
Nina Redmond is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more. Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile—a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling. From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.
OMG, can you believe it? I listened to my first straight up fiction audiobook! I have listened to fantasy audiobooks (i.e. Harry Potter and The Books of Beginning) and loads of non-fiction books (I tend to like presidential memoirs, and celebrity memoirs), but never just straight up fiction. I posted to my instagram stories asking for suggestions of audiobooks that will make me want to drink tea. You read that correctly, I wanted tea drinking audiobooks. What can I say, when I go into a new hobby, I really commit. Anyways, this was the audiobook suggested to me.
Considering how slowly I get through an audiobook these days (constantly surrounded my kids and rarely alone), I felt like I flew through this one! It was somewhere around 9 ish hours long. And I only had to check it out twice from hoopla. I know, someone get me an award for the fastest anyone has ever listened to an audiobook! What...? That's not actually fast? Hmm.. okay. I guess I shouldn't mention that it took me a year and a half to finally finish Becoming by Michelle Obama on audio then....
The narrator was amazing. She does voices, and accents. I had her sped up to 1.25 and I got everything she was saying. Overall I greatly enjoyed the vibe of this book. The note from that author in the beginning was pure joy. The way the main character, Nina, loved books felt very authentic to my deep love of books and inspiring others to read. I was very sure this was going to be a high ranking book for me. And in a way, it will be, I think I'll recommend it a lot. But in other ways I'm not sure I would've liked the book if I read it vs. listening to it. Nina and I definitely would not get along in real life. I found myself yelling at her a lot in my car. "Nina, for the love of God- stop making bad decisions!" I didn't like the communication issues at the heart of both of her beau's in the book. I hate a love triangle...and in this there were two. I felt like the climax wasn't totally necessary, and the book could've ended earlier without further drama from ex-wives. Saying all of that might give you the impression that I didn't like this book, though. And that's totally untrue. I liked how deeply Nina felt things, she would say things like "utter loss of joy" or something that made you realize how deep in her bones she was feeling her feelings. She was so passionate about books and the journey's they can take you on. She helped others even when it was awkward for her. She was a good friend to her BFF. So I don't want you to give up on Nina. You may like her more than I did- I require a lot from my fictional heroines but most of all I require gumption.
Overall it was really relaxing to listen to, and I'll see if hoopla has the next one!
Published Oct 2, 2020
