A review by readivine
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

5.0

“Sometimes books don’t find us until the right time.”

This book might probably be the most significant one that I've read this year, and indeed it had found me in the right time. This is my 100th book for my reading challenge of 2018, and this has been on my tbr pile for so long and I'm more than glad to pick this one! (I only added this because this was one of Regan/PeruseProject's all time faves). This was an impulsive buddy read with Hamad~

To be honest my words could never justify how beautiful this book is. I initially thought that A.J. was a pretentious prick and I'm holding my breath for some disappointments already. Of course, I wasn't. And the thing about this book that I know could compel any reader to read it immediately is that it's about books, it's about reading, it's about us, the readers; and I have never read one book in my life that captured the beauty of reading in such a profound way. I'm seriously disappointed with myself right now because my words aren't coherent enough to convey how amazing this one is. It's definitely one of my favorite books this year! Here's also a list of highlighted quotes from the book that I love:

“If something is good and universally acknowledged to be so, this is not reason enough to dislike it.”

“We have to look inside many. We have to believe. We agree to be disappointed sometimes so that we can be exhilarated every now and again.”

“A question I’ve thought about a great deal is why it is so much easier to write about the things we dislike/hate/ acknowledge to be flawed than the things we love.”

“ When I read a book, I want you to be reading it at the same time. I want to know what would Amelia think of it. I want you to be mine. I can promise you books and conversation and all my heart, Amy.”

“It is the secret fear that we are unlovable that isolates us,” the passage goes, “but it is only because we are isolated that we think we are unlovable. Someday, you do not know when, you will be driving down a road. And someday, you do not know when, he, or indeed she, will be there. You will be loved because for the first time in your life, you will truly not be alone. You will have chosen to not be alone.”

"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."

“There ain’t nobody in the world like book people. It’s a business of gentlemen and gentlewomen.”

Even if this book has a lot of minor issues, I still gave this a 5 star rating because of how muc it emotionally appealed to me.