Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Thirty year old June Jones gave up her dreams of college, new friends, and a writing career when years ago, her mother was fighting cancer, a battle her mother lost. While her librarian mother was still alive, June became a library assistant, the same job she holds today. Shy, lonely June spends her days at work and her nights and weekends eating alone and reading books, some many times over, while dodging the hisses and swats of her late mom's old cat, Alan Bennett. A wonderfully warm and uplifting story of kindness, community, and love that made me laugh, cry, cheer.”— Clare Pooley, New York Times bestselling author of The Authenticity Project However, June's world begins to shift slowly when her library, along with others, is earmarked for closure and the building set to be sold. She is warned that as a council employee, she is forbidden to take part in or get involved with a protest action group that is has been set up to fight the closure, and at the beginning she adheres to this rule. An old schoolfriend, lawyer Alex Chen arrives in town to help run The Golden Dragon, his father is getting a hip operation, and as June recommends books for him to read, she listens to his advice about her quandry and he tells her to ask herself about a favourite fictional character, what would Roald Dahl's Matilda do? This spurs June to help the FOCL (the Friends of Chalcot Library) campaign, giving advice, information and ideas covertly as Matilda, but when a beloved daily library user, Stanley Phelps starts a sit in protest, she openly joins the protests. Finally, and I am not a psychologist, but we're supposed to believe that Ralph remembers working at the Abbey and so returned to it, but has no memory of his own parents or even his own last name?? Or did he know his last name and didn't even make the connection that two of the only three other servants were also named Hewitt and therefore probably related to him in some way? And it took to 62% for really anything involving the library to really happen, beyond Ivy's headaches. There was some at the beginning, but it just disappeared.
His best friend Nelson is an author, he offers to help and gets his sister Chelle Andreas involved too. Runit is concerned about his son Grandyn becoming embroiled in the rebellious act, but is unable to prevent him joining the growing team and also bringing his girlfriend Vida along, as well as his Treerunner colleagues. Surely all those would be enough to achieve the saving of 100,000 books. Library assistant June knows a lot about the regulars at Chalcot Library, yet they know very little about her. When her mum – the beloved local librarian – passed away eight years ago, June stepped into her shoes. But despite their shared love of books, shy June has never felt she can live up to the village’s memory of her mum. Instead, she’s retreated into herself and her memories, surviving on Chinese takeaways-for-one and rereading their favourite books at home. This book is about small towns and how vital a library can be for many of the residents. It’s also about friendship and the power of a GROUP OF VOICES COMING TOGETHER!!!So, when a few of the patrons start a group called FOCL (Friends of Chalcot Library) to save the library and the books that have touched them, June decides to step out of her shell and campaign with them. Not only will this give her a chance to break out of her comfort zone and shine, but she might be able to move past the funk she’s been in and find happiness within herself and with the help of those she lets in. Unfortunately, things go downhill from there. And not in small part because of the protagonist's actions. For someone who constantly says that she doesn't need anyone to take care of her, because she was doing that just fine on her own, thank you very much, she sure makes a lot of stupid decisions. To me, this just felt like a big warm hug of a read! It is a story about love, loss, friendship, kindness, community and standing up for what you believe in. Only two things bothered me was instant romance between charming Alex Chang and June and abrupt ending of the book. The romance parts could be developed a little bit and I think the book could be a little longer.
Hot Desk by Zara Stoneley– Alice’s desk might look a mess, but she knows exactly where everything is. Or she did. Until she found out she’s going to share it with the most annoying guy in the office. The story could be considered a prophetic tale, with the prevalence of digital books, many people nowadays don't need the paper books anymore. But who keeps the records of what the author intended to be read? As another reviewer has already commented, this book would be perfect turned into a film or TV drama.Around 40% in, it lost me. It's about 75 years into the future and the world has gone to hell. I like a good dystopian book, unfortunately, this one wasn't that good. The protagonist and last librarian is Runit, who is described as "brave and true". However, I don't find much brave and true about someone who not only lied to his co-workers and a group called the Treerunners (think boy scouts) to procure their assistance, but also endangered their lives. Seriously, it bothered me more than a bit that Runit and Nelson, knowing the penalty for being caught could be imprisonment or death, would allow the library volunteers and Grandyn’s TreeRunner friends to aid in sneaking the library books out while lying to them about what they were doing. Fortunately, none of the volunteers or TreeRunners were deep thinkers since they never questioned what they were doing or what they were being told. And the insta-love between Runit and Chelle.... spare me. The author actually described her as having "movie star looks", with hair that smelled like "snow and tangerines" and when Runit held a sobbing Chelle in his arms after knowing her for about a day, he described it as the most erotic moment of his life. Groan. This happens in a vehicle with a little old lady sitting across from them. The old lady is blue-haired and has volunteered for 3-4 years, but Runit hardly knows her.... the library staff is 7 employees and a dozen volunteers, but Runit - the director of library - doesn’t know her?! This author can’t be bothered with the effort of putting thought into physical descriptions, so we have leading ladies with movie-star looks and little old ladies with blue hair. Sigh. I think if anyone found their diary torn to shreds while they had been away the response would be I’ll keep a smaller portable notebook on my person instead. Ivy just gets a bit upset and never tries again. This is conflicting because we are TOLD she is stubborn, yet not shown how she is stubborn.
Initially, June is more concerned for her job, but when Stanley proposes the group occupy the library, June joins in and their action goes viral. They're joined by Alex Chen, an old school friend of June's who takes an interest in her and further brightens her spirits. Chalcot library is actually, really and truly, at the heart of this novel, in this aspect so thoroughly unlike many other books that set similar claims;At age eight, Legg's father died suddenly, plunging his family into poverty. Two years later, while suffering from crippling migraines, he started in business, and turned a hobby into a multi-million-dollar empire. National media dubbed him the “Teen Tycoon,” and by the mid-eighties, Legg was one of the top young entrepreneurs in America, appearing as high as number twenty-four on the list (when Steve Jobs was #1, Bill Gates #4, and Michael Dell #6). Legg still jokes that he should have gone into computers. When her beloved library is threatened with closure June bands with this group of friends to protest the closure even at the risk of losing her job. The fact that libraries are so much more than just a place to borrow or read books but a vital part of community is the message that pervades this novel. As the story progresses we see how June overcomes her shyness and grows into a more confident version of herself and takes control of her life .
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