Monday 5 October 2015

"The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend"

   I discovered this book while wandering the shelves at the local book store.           Covers really speak to me and this one shouted, "Buy me!"
               A book about books!
Does it get any better than this?
The protagonist is a young woman named Sara who LOVES books!
She lives in Sweden and just lost her job in a book store.
Quote: "Sara couldn't help but think that she had somehow missed the moments when life was meant to begin.  For a long time she had simply been drifting through it, reading, and while everyone around her had been teenaged, unhappy and foolish, this hadn't been a problem.  But then suddenly she realized that everyone had grown up around her and she had done nothing but read".
   And so... she has a chance to visit her elderly penpal in the United States.  However, her penpal died before she arrived, and Sara is taken in by the small Iowa town of Broken Wheel.  And that town had very interesting characters!
  The chapters of this book are interspersed with the letters that had been exchanged between Sara (in Sweden) and Amy (in Iowa).
  There is mention of many, many books- from "Little Women" to "Harry Potter".  Lots of authors are discussed.  I loved that aspect!  And, I put some titles on my 'to read' list.
  The first half of the book was delicious and compelling.  I was fascinated.  But I lost interest in some of the storylines towards the end of the novel.
    Overall, I had a great romp through this book!
"The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend" by Katarina Bivald.

Goodreads says this about the author:
Katarina Bivald grew up working part-time in a bookshop. Today she lives outside of Stockholm, Sweden, with her sister and as many bookshelves she can get by her. She's currently trying to persuade her sister that having a shelf for winter jackets and shoes is completely unneccessary. There should be enough space for a book shelf or two instead. Limited success so far. Apparently, her sister is also stubbornly refusing to even discuss using the bathroom to store books. 
  Katarina Bivald sometimes claims that she still hasn't decided whether she prefer books or people but, as we all know, people are a non-starter. Even if you do like them, they're better in books. Only possible problem: reading a great book and having no one to recommend it to.

1 comment:

  1. I am just finishing this book now. I hoped to love it, but found it a bit boring. I'm actually the opposite to you, however. I found the beginning slow but it is picking up for me in the last half. I'll post my review on my site as soon as I am done.

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