In the city of Munster, after the bookshop closes for the night, an aging fellow named Carl begins his rounds. Walking the city’s cobblestone paths, he visits a village within the metropolis that only he is aware of: a little community of ardent readers who Carl knows only by the literary names he’s given them, like Mr. Darcy. These readers prefer receiving their ordered books at home, hand-delivered (and hand-wrapped) by Carl, whose genial company and recommendations they welcome. Times are changing, though: the owner of the bookstore is in declining health, and his daughter, who regards the book delivery service as a waste, is eager to dismiss him. If one young woman sees him as a relic who needs to be forcefully retired, another — younger still, a ten year old girl named Schascha –  finds him fascinating. She’s watched him make his rounds in the evening and has decided he could do with some company, and begun tagging along with him whether he likes it or not. A curious friendship develops between the old and young, the reserved and the exuberant: although he despair of her at first, thinking her a noisy intruder whose questions threaten the privacy of his customers, they soon grow attached to one another, and through her impetuousness Carl will be shaken from his reserve and become more involved in the lives of the little community that’s grown around him, even as his new boss is pushing him out the door and regarding him with so much contempt that you might think he shot her dog and kicked it for good measure. Ultimately Carl will meet his own trial and need to rally through his connections to Schascha and his little community.  Door to Door Bookstore is an utterly sweet story. I enjoyed the inter-generational friendship and its slow growth enormously, especially because Schascha disrupts routines and sparks character and relational growth between Carl and all of his customers — and those customers themselves are to a man (and woman) interesting characters, especially the nun who lives in a closed cloister and can’t leave it because the authorities will board up the door the moment she steps outside to get the groceries. The book is checked only by the inexplicable hostility of Carl’s boss; there are some scenes that shed some light on why she’s so defensive, but overall she just comes off like an appointed villain. Another lovely little read!

Highlights:

Schascha took a deep breath, because what she was about to say needed
to be announced in a full voice. “You need to take different books to your
customers!”
Carl frowned—a facial expression he could make to great effect, since
he had acquired a great deal of forehead over the years. “But I take them the
books they order.”
“They’re all ordering the wrong ones.”
“Aren’t they the best people to know what they want?”
“Hah!” Schascha barked out a laugh. “Hah! I want to eat ice cream all
day, but is that good for me? No!”
“But books aren’t ice cream. They don’t hurt your stomach.”
“You don’t understand!” Schascha would have stamped her feet, if only
her legs could reach the ground.
“So you’re saying I deliver the book equivalent of a stomachache?”
“Books are much, much more dangerous than ice cream! They hurt your
head. Or worse, your heart.”