“You know everything you need to know about a person from the answer to the question, 'What is your favorite book?'"  ― The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

I give this book: ★★★★★

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry introduces you to a grieving (in the form of grumpy) independent bookstore owner named – you got it – A.J. Fikry. After the death of his wife, A.J. has no real interest in doing anything besides working in his store, getting drunk off cheap wine and surviving on microwaveable meals. When one of his most valuable books goes missing, A.J. pretty much gives up hope for a happy ending ... that is, until a small and very surprising gift is left for him in the bookstore and changes his life forever. With foreshadowing that is so subtle you almost can't notice it, the pages of the book follow A.J.'s life along with a few other key people on Alice Island, including a determined sales rep, a friendly police chief, an adulterous author and more. Like most books that I find myself connected to, this story unfolds much like that of life – one event at a time and somehow also all at once. Complete with a booklist of it's own, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry covers a lot of literary ground. Just when you think you know where the story is going – just when your attention is focused on one aspect of the story – author Gabrielle Zevin mixes things up. It is this lifelike unpredictability that  makes the work such a wonder.

“The words you can’t find, you borrow. We read to know we’re not alone. We read because we are alone. We read and we are not alone. We are not alone. My life is in these books, he wants to tell her. Read these and know my heart. We are not quite novels. The analogy he is looking for is almost there. We are not quite short stories. At this point, his life is seeming closest to that. In the end, we are collected works.” ― The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Since Brown's death in 2014, the library has transformed to fulfill many of the town's essential needs. It became an educational safe haven when local schools were closed due to the riots after the grand jury's ruling. The library also became an office for local businesses and a meeting space for anyone who needed it. Bonner and his team stepped up to serve the needs of their community the best way they could: by being librarians. According to an article in American Libraries Magazine, "Bonner discussed modifying library policies to account for the changing needs of the area. The library even acted as an art gallery, being one of 14 venues that participated in the Alliance of Black Art Galleries’ 'Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Artists Respond,' an art exhibition that featured more than 100 artists and ran from October 17 – December 20, 2014."

"Hands Up, Don’t Shoot" Quilt by Heidi Lung on the wall of the Ferguson Municipal Public Library. Photo credit: Willie Miller/American Libraries Magazine.

"We are far, far more programming-oriented. I knew when I took this job that I was going to try to make the library more responsive to the community. I didn’t know we would have to do it at lightning speed. It was a big shift from what the library did previously. When I started, there was no programming on the schedule. The previous director had watched her budget drop from $600,000 in 2008 to $400,000 in 2012, so she pulled back a lot on library hours and programming, like so many libraries have had to,"  – Scott Bonner

Director Scott Bonner. Image via Library Journal.

"We still have healing kits [backpacks stuffed with a stuffed animal, children’s books about healing, and information about mental health resources; patrons check out the kits, return the books and the backpack, and keep the rest]. We just had a big box of stuffed animals donated for those. And our Readings on Race book club is doing really well. It was started by community member Carla Fletcher. She wanted to find ways for people to stop talking past one another on race issues, and help people find a common vocabulary. They meet once a month, and we usually have a diverse group of about 20 people show up. In my experience, that’s a really good turnout for a small library book club,"                                              – Scott Bonner

With Fangirl, I found myself relating to the book's main character, Cath, in a variety of ways: we both love to write, wear glasses and can get entirely too caught up in works of fiction. Not to mention how talented Cath (in the form of Rainbow) is at noticing/obsessing over the small details about other people's appearances – mainly boys'. As an incoming college freshman, Cath is also Internet famous for the Simon Snow fanfiction she writes. Simon Snow is a made up book series within the Fangirl story, and is basically a Harry Potter and Twilight hybrid. For this reason, some readers bash Fangirl, but I think it just makes Cath's obsession with a fictional world that much more relatable and acceptable.  While adjusting to college life, Cath also must come to terms with the ever-growing distance between her and her twin sister, Wren; her manic father and estranged biological mother; a new roommate and *gasp* a new love interest, Levi (who may be one of the most adorable fictitious characters I've ever "met"). Not to mention impending release of the final book in the Simon Snow series . . .

I give this book: ★★★★★

“The whole point of fanfiction is that you get to play inside somebody else's universe. Rewrite the rules. Or bend them. The story doesn't have to end. You can stay in this world, this world you love, as long as you want, as long as you keep thinking of new stories,”  ― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

"What is Halloween? How did it start? Where? Why? What for? Witches, mummy dusts, haunts. It's all there in that county from which no one returns. Will you dive into the dark ocean, boys? Will you fly in the dark sky?" 
  – Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree

I think the reason I loved the movie so much was how effortlessly it captured the spirit of Halloween, especially for a child growing up in the Midwest. And the book? Why, the book does the same, but even more successfully. If you are unfamiliar with the story, The Halloween Tree is a tale of eight trick-or-treaters who gather at a haunted house near the edge of town looking for a spooky adventure. But when their friend Joe Pipkin, "the greatest boy who ever lived," is surprisingly absent from the festivities, the boys must venture through time and space to look for their friend and discover the true meaning of All Hallows' Eve. As their sinister guide, Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud, whisks them around the globe in search of Pipkin, the boys learn how Halloween was celebrated around the world since the beginning of mankind.

"You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me,"

"If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads,"

"A house without books is like a room without windows,"

"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child,"