Lucy Gilmore

The Short of It:

Probably my favorite book of the year. Books featuring other books win me over every time.

The Rest of It:

Sloane is naturally curious by nature which makes her an excellent librarian. As excellent as she is, she likes to keep to herself. She’s engaged to a successful chiropractor and their plans for the future seem promising.

Enter Arthur McLachlan. An old, crotchety patron who finds Sloane to be terribly insipid and boring. He dismisses everyone he meets and sends all the other librarians running for cover. Sloane’s love of books and reading encourages her to spew forth with banter that is not at all welcome. Or is it?

When Arthur’s regular visits to the library stop, Sloane grows worried and seeks his whereabouts. This leads to the introduction of many, wonderful characters. I won’t name them because you must meet them yourselves. As these people gather around Arthur, they all realize that although they do okay on their own, they are really meant to do life together, in community so a book club is formed.

It’s SO MUCH MORE than a book club. These are wonderful, flawed characters, all searching for love and friendship. It’s a feel good read and we all need those these days. Highly recommend.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. Books about books get me every time. You can thank me later.

For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter.… (more)

The Library of Borrowed Hearts by Lucy Gilmour was a feel good story of loving, losing and rediscovering life. The two main characters--Jasper and Chloe--live parallel experiences despite being almost 50 years apart in age. They are neighbors: Jasper in a mean old man who keeps the toys that come over the fence and Chloe is the older sister called home from college to take care of her younger siblings when her mother abandons them. The story moves between the present day and 1960, taking place in a small logging community in northern rural Washington. There are some interesting twists and turns with at least some of the narrative unfolding as notes written in the margins of classic novels. I listened to the book and it had four narrators. They took the lead on the sections and did all the voices in that section which meant individual characters sounded a bit different. I'm not sure it worked for me.

I did love the book. I knew it would have a happy ending but would break my heart along the way.… (more)