The Lost and Found Bookshop

A Novel

De: Susan Wiggs

Narrado por: Emily Rankin

Duración: 12 h y 20 m

Resumen del Editor

"A wonderful exploration of the past and the future and, most importantly, of what it means to be present in the here and now. Full of the love of words, the love of family, and the love of falling in love, The Lost and Found Bookshop is a big-hearted gem of a novel that will satisfy and entertain readers from all walks of life. Lovely!" (Garth Stein, New York Times best-selling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain)

In this thought-provoking, wise, and emotionally rich novel, New York Times best-selling author Susan Wiggs explores the meaning of happiness, trust, and faith in oneself as she asks the question, "If you had to start over, what would you do and who would you be?"

There is a book for everything....

Somewhere in the vast Library of the Universe, as Natalie thought of it, there was a book that embodied exactly the things she was worrying about.

In the wake of a shocking tragedy, Natalie Harper inherits her mother’s charming but financially strapped bookshop in San Francisco. She also becomes caretaker for her ailing grandfather Andrew, her only living relative - not counting her scoundrel father.

But the gruff, deeply kind Andrew has begun displaying signs of decline. Natalie thinks it’s best to move him to an assisted living facility to ensure the care he needs. To pay for it, she plans to close the bookstore and sell the derelict but valuable building on historic Perdita Street, which is in need of constant fixing. There’s only one problem - Grandpa Andrew owns the building and refuses to sell. Natalie adores her grandfather; she’ll do whatever it takes to make his final years happy. Besides, she loves the store and its books provide welcome solace for her overwhelming grief.

After she moves into the small studio apartment above the shop, Natalie carries out her grandfather’s request and hires contractor Peach Gallagher to do the necessary and ongoing repairs. His young daughter, Dorothy, also becomes a regular at the store, and she and Natalie begin reading together while Peach works.

To Natalie’s surprise, her sorrow begins to dissipate as her life becomes an unexpected journey of new connections, discoveries and revelations, from unearthing artifacts hidden in the bookshop’s walls, to discovering the truth about her family, her future, and her own heart.

©2020 Susan Wiggs (P)2020 HarperAudio

Simply Charming

Charming story of many kinds of love: mother and daughter, father and daughter, grandfather and granddaughter, and best of all: true friendship. Highly recommended; trigger warnings for death of a loved one and illness of a loved one.

Enjoyable!

During this time of social isolation due to Covid, I have listened to many books. This ranks in my top two, the other being The Henna Artist. The story is complex, going deep within the origins of a San Francisco bookshop, the family that owned it and the building it housed. Highly recommended.

This book is awesome!!!

I loved this story and rarely write a full review. The narrator was perfect. Lots of life lessons along the way. Don’t miss this gem!!

Heartwarming story

I am a big fan of Susan Wiggs and I am a big fan of books and book shops. This story fed my love for all of these.

Run don’t walk….

If you haven’t read this sweet and wonderful story, run and find a copy, the audio performance was terrific! Mothers, daughters, grandfathers, kids, all part of a whimsical story that will tug on your heartstrings all the way through!!

Predictable, but Pleasant

Aside from the main crisis that sets up the rest of the novel, there's hardly a turn in this chick-lit minor-piece that doesn't flag itself well ahead. The nervous effort to illustrate literary prowess with book summaries throughout are eye-roll worthy. See! I'm a real writer who has read EVERYTHING and can quote Antoine de Saint-Exupéry! In French!

That said, as a portrait of a certain genre of San Francisco life, it's quite lovely. Moreover, Emily Rankin's deft narration gives the characters more complexity than they would likely appear on the page. The book makes for a pleasant enough listening experience that's great for a long drive when you don't want to be distracted too much by a complicated plot or 3-dimensional character development.

A wonderful book and a satisfying read (or listen)

I LOVED this book....everything about it! I listened to it on audible and couldn't stop. I've been listening to books while I walk - my pandemic therapy. I started The Lost and Found Bookshop on a two-hour walk, then couldn't stop listening to it. Then I was sad when I finished it. Then I listened to the last three chapters again. Then I told everyone who would listen how wonderful and well-written a story it is!

A thought-provoking, slice-of-Life surprise!

The Lost and Found Bookshop surprised me by being appealing to me on many levels, perhaps due a lot to the fact that I have had many experiences in my life to which I could relate to her characters and story line. The San Francisco-Northern California setting, as well, hit home as that's been my general locale for the past about thirty years while this area has evolved, burgeoned with population and undergone some dramatic changes.

Since I've seen SF and this general area change as it's gentrified and become ever more crowded and since I love books, writing and the building of new and the revamping of old structures, I never found the details of The Lost and Found Bookshop to be irritating. Perhaps, that wouldn't be the case for a different reader; I could understand that, but for me, the details of life and history in and around The Lost and Found Bookshop made the reading-listening all the richer. I hated for it to end.

And, speaking of ending, I thought Ms. Wiggs did a good, believable job of tying up loose ends in a historically rich environment, of settling characters and situations and of generally bringing a satisfying end to a good story. This, too, was another time where an epilogue is helpful; I'm glad it was included. She didn't leave us hanging, which is a friendly reading experience, in my opinion.

Sometimes, during the reading, I found myself irritated by the main character, wishing a few times that she would get her act together and not be so doggone timid! However, obviously people's experiences prompt them to move along in Life as they are able -- the differences of how women or people in general handle hard stuff is sure varied and is not my business. So, I found this book's story lines to be opportunities for reflection on, and a sense of humor about, my own reactions -- not a bad thing for a book to be able to evoke!

Susan Wiggs' quoting of some famous authors and poets I thought to be enjoyable accents. She sparingly used this device, but when she did, it added depth and perspective to her story and it was delightful. It's nice when a fiction book can happily add to our life perspectives and contemplation.

I found Emily Rankin's narration to be easy to listen to, much as if I were reading it aloud, with no huge dramatic changes in the voices of varying characters. I felt that voice drama wasn't needed nor really desired in this story, so, good job!

Now, for some readers, the following observation might not be important, however, for me this is: both the author, Susan Wiggs, as well as her narrator, Emily Rankin, neither butchered grammar, pronunciation nor English usage.

To me, it's really irritating, grating, distracting and dismaying to read and hear bad, lazy grammar and poor pronunciation in society in general, from those employed in communications -- and especially coming from authors who are paid well, have access to good, sharp editors, are many-times published and who should know better! It seems so lazy -- and outright disrespectful of readers who may know and appreciate better. Thank you, sincerely, Susan Wiggs, for not adopting the all-too-common, contemporary, knee-jerk lazy English grammar usage. While your writing style is easy, friendly, not stilted or stuffy, your craft and skill were noticeable and refreshing to me and, quite possibly, to a lot of other readers. Please don't change this approach in your writing!

I found The Lost and Found Bookshop to be great for curling up, settling in and being read to: easy-listening, satisfying, entertaining, multi-layered, pleasant story telling. Good books are such a pleasure!

Almost a 5 star

This was a good story however the crude language sprinkled throughout and sex description at the end are not things I need in a book and kept this book from being a 5. A good story is enough for me!

Entertaining

Thoroughly entertaining. Didn’t want to stop listening. The quotes from writers between the chapters were well chosen