hoobabi 's review for:

Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop: A Memoir by Alba Donati

4.0

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My mother found this book in a bookshop in Lucca while travelling to Tuscany. I thought it was going to some some kitschy summer read like “under the Tuscan sun” but it turned out to be the diary of a poetess who opened a bookshop in a tiny village in Tuscany during the pandemic. There was something so wonderful and refreshing about it. I read it while we were leaving Tuscany, finding it very hard to leave but dreaming of changing my hectic life and living a simpler life: one I remember living during the pandemic. It’s an ode to books, book-lovers and literature and Alba is also very good at making the mundane sound rather magical. It’s a book that doesn’t really go anywhere. It ends abruptly with no conclusions and this I found rather sad. I suppose I wanted Alba to end with some reflections on her little venture in the mountains. It’s a crazy idea and one I hope that will continue to work for her. I, for one, have already marked La Libreria Sopra la Penna for next time I’m in Tuscany.