Reading Journal 2023: The Door-To-Door Bookstore

Reading Journal 2023: The Door-To-Door Bookstore
Author: Carsten Henn

The Door to Door Bookstore became available from my list of library holds, so I embraced it as a nice buffer between my seasonal horror reads. Figured it would be a nice break and a good fit for fall.

This might be the most good hearted book I’ve read in a long while. Effortlessly likeable and breezy, its the sort of read that is meant to reward the quietness of a brisk afternoon and a warm drink. It has found family, followiing this growing bond between a young girl and an elderly man. This generational gap plays into the story, with the elderly man’s tradition of bringing books from the bookstore to those who are unable to venture out themselves being thrown into question by a changing world. Its a hold over, for him, from a simpler time, and satisfies his passion for reading, for his town, and for people. A modern interest in progressing with the times and chasing economic interests threatens to make his position at the bookstore obsolete, thus making this elderly man obselete. It is this relationships between the young girl and the elderly man that strives to reminagine that narrative, proving that she needs him as much as he needs her, and both of them occupy the same story in this small, German town. Even where the world changes, what really matters remains the same.

I have one regret. This book is so chalk full of wonderful quotes, I wish I had a pen and paper with me while I was reading it. Sadly it had to be returned to the library. Quotes like,
“Within each book lies a heart that begins to beat when someone reads it.”

Or
“It has been said that books find their own readers—but sometimes they need someone to show them the way.”

Or
“If you’re a character in a book, you live forever. For as long as someone reads you, you’re alive.”
“In that case, I want to be in a book too.”
“You’ll have to write your own then.”

A reason to revisit this one down the road.