Lucy Gilmore

Okay, I would have rather said 4 and a half stars, because it takes an awful lot to rate 5 in my view.

To me, five stars implies some kind of perfection, and this book was not perfect. But it really was loads better than many of my 4-stars. So.

The only real flaw was that it took a little too long for me to warm up to and believe the characters. I wondered if I might just give up and move on.

Plus I am a little spoiled by writers who have a more finely tuned ability to animate the reader's sense of place and setting.

But I am VERY glad I did not give up. It was like a love letter to those of us who really, really love books.

And it got better and better (yes, as my friend Diane said it would), until the end was a rich, beautiful completion that brilliantly sidestepped the maudlin and the overly predictable.

Highly recommended: a solid 4 and a half stars!… (mer)

It is very rare that I include a book in my collection that I don't own. That means it is special and this book is. By and large the book club members were strangers to each other and the coming together makes the novel. They need each other even if they don't know it. I found the character development the entire premise of the book and that made it endearing. It is really irrelevant what books they read; the main point is that they come together and lift each other up. I highly recommend this book even if you don't belong to a book club yourself. I may even buy it.… (mer)

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore came by way of Hoopla and was probably recommended because I listened to The Last List of Mabel Beaumont. Both books share an elderly main character who is befriended by younger people and they find that they can all help each other to face their lives. In this book, the character is Arthur, a truly mean old man who despite his best efforts cannot seem to keep the quirky young people out of his life and his house. He meets some of them at the local library and the group eventually finds themselves forming a book group. The book is told from multiple perspectives so we are able to experience the richness of all the characters' lives. I loved the focus on books with Anne of Green Gables, a favorite of mine, playing a central role.… (mer)