The Moment of Everything by Shelly King
Title: The Moment of Everything
Author: Shelly King
Publication: September 2nd, 2014 / French edition: June 5th, 2015
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing / French edition: Preludes
Read: August 4th, 2016
Summary:
In the tradition of The Cookbook Collector comes a funny, romantic novel about a young woman finding her calling while saving a used bookstore. Maggie Duprès, recently "involuntarily separated from payroll" at a Silicon Valley startup, is whiling away her days in The Dragonfly's Used Books, a Mountain View institution, waiting for the Next Big Thing to come along.
When the opportunity arises for her to network at a Bay Area book club, she jumps at the chance-even if it means having to read Lady Chatterley's Lover, a book she hasn't encountered since college, in an evening. But the edition she finds at the bookstore is no Penguin Classics Chatterley--it's an ancient hardcover with notes in the margins between two besotted lovers of long ago. What Maggie finds in her search for the lovers and their fate, and what she learns about herself in the process, will surprise and move readers. Witty and sharp-eyed in its treatment of tech world excesses, but with real warmth at its core, The Moment of Everything is a wonderful read.
My Review:
Lou's mind stars: ✭✭✭✭✭
I will be honest: when I first started this book, I didn't want to finish it because the writing was such that it was difficult for me to engage into the story. But, this was a book I received through Netgalley thus I forced myself to read a little more. I decided that, if after few chapters, the feeling was still there, then I would drop it and explain why to the publisher and the author.
Obviously, seeing my rating, this never happened. Despite the pretty crude writing, I loved this story. The Moment of Everything is a story for book lovers. It has everything in it. Some romance, some difficult times but most importantly, it's talking about books in a way that talked to me, deeply.
In the pages of this novel, I found my favorite bookstore 'Shakespeare and Co.' and the way it was spoken of was exactly how the bookstore is. There is also Dragonfly Book Used. I would have loved to be able to walk into its alley. It reminded me of the old bookstore I loved to spend my time in when I was in highschool, 'Frérot'. I could almost remember the smell of it while reading this book.
If you are a book lover, read this book. Get past the few first pages and its rude writing, and give it a chance. I promise you, you won't regret it.
I have read it in French. My only regret is the way they translated the title into...
*book received from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review*
