Name: The Lending Library
ISBN: 9781643589985

Aliza Fogelson

When the Chatsworth library closes indefinitely, Dodie Fairisle loses her sanctuary. How is a small-town art teacher supposed to cope without the never-ending life advice and enjoyment that books give her? Well, when she's as resourceful and generous as Dodie, she turns her sunroom into her very own little lending library.

The Lending Library

A heartwarming debut novel about a daydreamer who gives her town, and herself, an amazing gift: a lending library in her sunroom. When the Chatsworth library closes indefinitely, Dodie Fairisle loses her sanctuary. How is a small-town art teacher supposed to cope without the never-ending life advice and enjoyment that books give her? Well, when she's as resourceful and generous as Dodie, she turns her sunroom into her very own little lending library. At first just a hobby, this lit lovers' haven opens up her world in incredible ways. She knows books are powerful, and soon enough they help her forge friendships between her zany neighbors--and attract an exciting new romance. But when the chance to adopt an orphaned child brings Dodie's secret dream of motherhood within reach, everything else suddenly seems less important. Finding herself at a crossroads, Dodie must figure out what it means to live a full, happy life. If only there were a book that could tell her what to do...

Rachel

I wanted to love this book... 

*May contain Spoilers*

Dodie lives in the town of Chatsworth when the local library goes under construction due to asbestos found in the walls, Do decides that she will open a lending library in the sunroom of her house. From there, the game is afoot.

Dodie's best friend adopts a little boy from Ethiopia, I think, and when she tragically passes away the question of what will happen to Terabithia is up in the air. 

We also meet Dodie's two sisters, whom one is single, one is married and getting ready to adopt a baby of her own. 

I saw a lot of myself in our main character Dodie. However, I also saw a lot of qualities that I like to believe I grew out of once I entered college. Dodie feels like she is still a teenager in a grown woman's body, but that may be a result of trauma in her past relationships. 

We learn very quickly that Dodie and her sister's birth father left them when they were young, but their mother married a man who turned out to be the man of their prayers. We get to meet "not dad" as they refer to him, and for me, I feel as though that meeting was not completed or thought out very well. 

While there is a love interest for Do, he honestly felt like an afterthought throughout this entire book, that I think he could have been left out and we would not be missing anything as far as moving the plot along. 

I'm not sure that I would recommend this book, but there were some interesting questions this book raised, such as what does it mean to be a woman if you can't / don't want to have children. I think that if Fogelson would have put a little more thought into the interaction with not dad, it could have been an interesting narrative of how a parent leaving can cause a child to be emotionally stunted.

The Lending Library

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