Elisabeth Egan

Smart, funny, and heartfelt, I loved Elisabeth Eagan’s new book “A Window Opens.” While the overall plot has been done before – Mom goes back to work full-time (to a job that wasn’t quite what she thought it would be) and struggles to manage it all – Eagan scores originality points for incorporating main character Claire’s struggles with aging/ill parents; creating real, likeable characters; and writing a book for book lovers.

Some of my favorite parts of the book were all of the literary references ranging from the classics to contemporary novels. Some are included to move the story along, others are included strictly for the enjoyment of the audience – sort of like all those cameos in Muppet movies (For example, a bookstore owner is overheard telling a customer, “No, Jonathan *Tropper*. Trust me, he’s a lot more fun than Jonathan Franzen.)

Claire also reminisces about dressing up as The Book Lady as a little girl, filling her rolling suitcase with books and walking around the house trying to sell books to her family members. It brought back memories of my own, when as a child I organized all the books on our shelves and created my own version of the Dewey Decimal system. My siblings weren’t allowed to take a book from the shelf without first “checking it out” with me!

4.5 enthusiastic stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
… (mehr)

I am a sucker for books by and about book lovers, libraries, librarians, really any book that obviously is written by a book lover. Egan's book is somewhat too "pat" for me (the main character, Alice's, life is a bit messy, but resolve's quite nicely) the writing is good. As the story progresses, so does the plot, that is, the story becomes more engaging.

I think the back story of how we (as a society, and personally) look at books and reading in the current level at technology is well incorporated into Alice's situation as played out in the novel. I appreciate that Alice is true to her passions as a reader and the reader experience. Recent articles from numerous sources cite numbers showing that after the initial burst of popularity, "paper" books are outselling e-books AND that the number of new independent bookstores are growing.

See the following articles for more information:
"Paper is back: Why ‘real’ books are on the rebound" - GeekWire
http://www.geekwire.com/2015/paper-back-real-books-rebound/

"Why Indie Bookstores Are on the Rise Again" - Slate
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_edgy_optimist/2014/09/independent_boo...

This, of course, makes my heart sing, and I am grateful to Elisabeth Egan for writing a good read that promotes the world of reading!… (mehr)