contemporary fiction
Sloan Parker is a librarian who looks forward to her daily arguments with grumpy older patron Arthur McLachlan. When he does not come to the library for a few days, Sloan becomes worried and disregards library policy to find Arthur and make sure he is okay. It turns out, she is not the only one who's concerned.
I listened to the audiobook of Lucy Gilmore's
The Lonely Heart's Book Club and I really enjoyed it. Another entry into
the #GrumpLit genre (see: A Man Called Ove, The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett, or Eleanor Olyphant is Completely Fine), here we have
Arthur McLachlan- grumpy former professor and library patron who must
learn to accept the outreach and love of those around him.
As usual, the cast of characters is generally wonderful- Sloan, the librarian who first reaches out to Arthur, Maisey, the busy-body neighbor with a heart of gold, Mateo, former librarian and nurse, Greg who turns out to be Arthur's estranged grandson looking to right some past wrongs, and Nigel, an old frenemy. Friendship, books, and found family are always things that bring a smile to my face and Gilmore delivers on all three.
Still, some of the characters are stronger than others and parts of the story take longer to get where they are going than they should. The payoff, of course, is the section of the book where Arthur finally takes over the narration and tells his own story in his own way.
The audiobook was read by Angie Kane and I enjoyed her for the most part but I hated the choice she made for Mateo's voice- I wanted to fast forward and skip ahead whenever it was his character's turn to narrate or speak. For Mateo, and Mateo alone, she gets a B-.
Still, I enjoyed the book and recommend it as a summer vacation read.
As usual, the cast of characters is generally wonderful- Sloan, the librarian who first reaches out to Arthur, Maisey, the busy-body neighbor with a heart of gold, Mateo, former librarian and nurse, Greg who turns out to be Arthur's estranged grandson looking to right some past wrongs, and Nigel, an old frenemy. Friendship, books, and found family are always things that bring a smile to my face and Gilmore delivers on all three.
Still, some of the characters are stronger than others and parts of the story take longer to get where they are going than they should. The payoff, of course, is the section of the book where Arthur finally takes over the narration and tells his own story in his own way.
The audiobook was read by Angie Kane and I enjoyed her for the most part but I hated the choice she made for Mateo's voice- I wanted to fast forward and skip ahead whenever it was his character's turn to narrate or speak. For Mateo, and Mateo alone, she gets a B-.
Still, I enjoyed the book and recommend it as a summer vacation read.
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