I was visiting York (Topping and Company bookstore! Clearly I had to buy a book based in York – this one was in their local section.
Here’s the blurb …
The Lost for Words Bookshop is a compelling, irresistible, and heart-rending novel, perfect for fans of The Storied Life of AJ Fikry and The Little Paris Bookshop.
Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never, ever show you. Into her hiding place – the bookstore where she works – come a poet, a lover, and three suspicious deliveries. Someone has found out about her mysterious past. Will Loveday survive her own heartbreaking secrets?
I really enjoyed this novel. It was charming. A beautiful story about found family, community and books – lots of books.
Archie says books are our best lovers and out most provoking friends.
This is why I don’t like talking to people. I never think of anything interesting to say. I need time to find words, and that’s hard when people are looking at me. Also, I don’t like people much.
Reading, writing, thinking about tidying up but not bothering. (I hope you’re not feeling sorry for me, because I just described my ideal evening.
And one of Nathan’s poems.
I sometimes think I want to write a book about my life
So that when I meet you – or anyone new – I can
hand it over and you can read it
Instead of trying to read me
You can take it away and decide whether it’s worth
giving me your time.
You can think about if, the next time we are walking
towards each other, you’ll smile without slowing down
Or cross the street and pretend you haven’t seen me
Or stop and put an arm round my shoulder,
steer me into the nearest pub, and buy me a pint of stout.
Because you’ll know, having read the book, that
stout is what I drink.
You see the elegance of my proposal.
But every time I sit down to write the book, I hit a
snag.
I could tell so many stories.
I could be a poet or a magician or a failed mathematician
I could be happy of soul-sore of lonely.
I could start when I was born, when I was twelve,
when I left university
And the book would be different for each story
I choose
And the book would be true, and untrue, for each.
Our pasts are as unfixed as our futures, if you think
about it.
And I like the freedom I have to tell a different story.