Thanks to Elle and Jana for participating this month!
My reading and borrowing since last time:
READ
- Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt
- One Midsummer’s Day: Swifts and the Story of Life on Earth by Mark Cocker
- Protecting the Planet: The Season of Giraffes by Nicola Davies
- Rhubarb Lemonade by Oskar Kroon
- August Blue by Deborah Levy
- La Vie: A Year in Rural France by John Lewis-Stempel
&
Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop by Alba Donati (2022; 2023)
[Translated from the Italian by Elena Pala]
My final #WITMonth selection (I’m pleased with my total of nine, after these four and those four!) and a perfect choice for readers of Shaun Bythell’s bookshop diaries. Instead of a lovable grump in Wigtown, you get a tiny town in the Tuscan hills and a stock of mostly women’s literature and bluestocking gifts curated by an outspoken feminist poet in her sixties. She relied on crowdfunding to open the shop in 2019 – and again to rebuild it after a devastating fire just a couple of months later.
Set during the first five months of 2021, this gives lovely snapshots of a bookseller’s personal and professional life without overstaying its welcome or getting repetitive. Donati has an adult daughter and a 101-year-old mother who was only just losing independence. Although she generally feels supported by the people of Lucignana, some 30% are naysayers, she estimates, and not everyone shares her opinions – she’s outraged when the council cuts down all the trees in the central square.
While keeping the focus on books, she also manages to give a sense of her family’s convoluted wartime history, local politics, and shifting Covid restrictions. I especially enjoyed hearing about her 25-year career in publishing; Edward Carey, Michael Cunningham, and Daša Drndić were ‘her’ authors and she has juicy stories to tell about all three.
Each entry ends with a list of that day’s orders. It’s fascinating to see which are the popular authors in translation – Maeve Brennan, Emily Dickinson, Fannie Flagg, Kent Haruf, Jenny Offill, Vita Sackville-West, Ali Smith – as well as plenty in various European languages. Sometimes, no doubt, the stock reflects Donati’s own taste. [A couple of the English titles are rendered incorrectly: “Longbourne House” by Jo Baker and “Woman, Girl, Other” by Bernardine Evaristo should have been caught before this went to print.]
In short, she’s a bookish kindred spirit (“I like books that make you discover other books – a virtuous cycle that should never be broken. The only eternity we will ever experience here on earth”) and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her fairly uneventful yet rewarding days. This, too, was perfect (summer) armchair travel reading. 
SKIMMED
- The Orchid Outlaw by Ben Jacob
CURRENTLY READING
- The Year of the Cat by Rhiannon Lucy Coslett
- The Three Graces by Amanda Craig
- Reproduction by Louisa Hall
- Milk by Alice Kinsella
- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
- Wild Fell by Lee Schofield
CHECKED OUT, TO BE READ
RETURNED UNFINISHED
- The Other Side of Mrs Wood by Lucy Barker – I read the first 82 pages. This was capable hist fic but without the spark that would have kept me interested.
- King by Jonathan Eig – Requested after I’d only read two chapters. It’s a massive biography, so I’ll have to get it back out another time when I can give it more attention.
What have you been reading or reviewing from the library recently?
Share a link to your own post in the comments. Feel free to use the above image. The hashtag is #LoveYourLibrary.
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
I like the sound of the Alba Donati. I’ve finally got round to a Shaun Bythell, and didn’t like him at all. I found him opinionated and judgmental, and I wouldn’t dare darken the door of his shop!
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Ah, you’re with Penny there. I can assure you that his persona in the books is somewhat put on; in person he is charming and we got on well the two times we’ve met him.
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I adored Alba Donati’s book – I wanted it and the little bookshop to go on forever and ever.
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I’d love a sequel!
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Me too:)
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I actually considered doing a Love Your Library post this month but ended up DNF 2 out of the 3 books I borrowed (Stephen Graham Jones’s My Heart Is A Chainsaw) and Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero). Will have a mini review of the third in August Superlatives. Good work library though, didn’t waste any money buying and then DNF!
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DNFs are never a problem in my opinion 🙂 I agree, trying things from the library is perfect because you never know what you’ll get on with. People would probably be surprised how few books I buy, especially how few new books, because I rely so much on the library and also get some proofs and review copies. My reading habit would be unaffordable otherwise!
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Oh, Alba Donati’s sounds so sweet and lovely!
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It certainly charmed me and brought back fond memories of our trip to Tuscany in 2013.
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You’re the second blogger not to enjoy The Other Side of Mrs Wood, I’ve come across. Hope you’re enjoying Tom Lake.
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Alas; the premise sounded right up my street!
Tom Lake has had a slow start for me but I’m sure will pick up soon.
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Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop sounds like something I’d like!
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Looks like Scribner published it last year in the USA.
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I am eagerly waiting for a promised advance review copy of “Loved and Missed” to arrive in the mail. It’s set to release here in the States in September. Happy to see you gave it a healthy number of stars!
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It does a lot in its 200 pages. A very affecting mother-daughter story.
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I haven’t tried to get Tom Lake from my library yet–I’m sure I’ll be No. bazillion waiting in line!
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I’m the first one to get my hands on this copy (smug face).
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[…] linkup is hosted by Bookish Beck on the last Monday of each month. Participants share what they have checked out from the library, […]
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I recently got engaged, so I have a lot of wedding planning and style books checked out from the library! No reviews of those yet or any finishes. Here’s my post: https://reviewsfromthestacks.wordpress.com/2023/08/28/love-your-library-23-6/
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Congratulations! And thanks for participating.
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I liked the Donati, I think I had it from NetGalley … yes, I did. I got a bit confused by all the houses she talked about, were you able to grasp that?
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I don’t think I paid too much attention. Perhaps a little map of the village would be in order.
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I might join in this meme since I used the library a lot.
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I’d love to have you join in!
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[…] As I write this post, it occurs to me that the theme of “library” could be taken more than one way, so I am curious to see how the other Fall Favorites participants spin it. I may also tuck this topic away for additional posts in the future, perhaps sharing books that are set in a library or have library in their title. If you’re interested in more library content, check out my other post today about the Love Your Library linkup and its host, Bookish Beck. […]
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[…] Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop by Alba Donati: Lovely snapshots of a bookseller’s personal and professional life. […]
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[…] always loved reading about what goes on behind the scenes in bookshops (The Diary of a Bookseller, Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop, The Sentence, The Education of Harriet Hatfield, The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap, and so […]
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