Patrick deWitt's latest novel, THE LIBRARIANIST is a beautifully told story with a mix of literary and humor centered around a librarian, now retired when the past connects with the present leading him down memory lane.An excellent story—superbly and fluidly told. I love stories like this as we come close to the end of our time and reflect on our lives (I am in this age group and can relate).Bob Comet is seventy-one years old (a septuagenarian), has spent a lifetime with books, and is a retired librarian who lives alone in Portland, Oregon. He has been married once to Connie, and she left him for his best friend, Ethan, not long after they were married some forty-five years ago. They both betrayed him. Bob's mom died when he was 23, and she left him the childhood home. He never had any children.He is a simple man, introverted, who enjoys his books, reading, solitude, walks, and does not have any close friends. He has few regrets.Each day he walks. One day he goes into a 7-Eleven convenience store and sees a woman who looks lost. She is not talking but he sees the lanyard ID around her neck that shows she is a resident of Gambell-Reed Senior Center.He walks with her and returns her to the center, and while there he meets Maria, who works in the office. He decides he wants to volunteer here and read to the residents.He attains all the proper checks and paperwork, but the residents do not care about being read to. Many have problems the center is not equipped to handle and are understaffed. Maria suggests he leave the books and home and just come and visit. That seems to work! He enjoys making new friends; they take walks, play games, and go to the diner.Then the same woman goes missing again. Bob finds her. Then he learns her name, past, and how she became the way she is. Bob is shocked. This leads him back to his past. The author takes us back to when he met his wife, Connie, and his best friend, Ethan. This leads him to revisit the past, where we slowly hear Bob's life story.Told in alternating timelines: 2005-2006 (present), 1942-1960 (past) until the day Bob decides to sell his house and move into the senior facility.As a child and teen, Bob had been afraid of becoming an adult; this is a response to an idea his mother had unwittingly instilled in him, which was that life and work both were states of unhappiness and composure. She never understood Bob. We then capture him later when his life changes and his past resurfaces.Bob was a brilliant boy, and I loved reading about him running away from home at age 11 via bus and train, meeting the two show-women with the dogs, working for them, and staying at the hotel. This was so much fun!I hoped we would catch up with the ladies again before the end of the book since Bob did not say his goodbyes. This was a fun adventure! I also liked the young window sales guy who helped him. I liked Maria and the seniors, and I did not care for Connie—I felt she would not be suitable for Bob from the beginning. Especially when the two people he was closest to in his life, Ethan and Connie, went away together, gone from his life.What a charming book! The author pens a heartbreaking yet heartwarming story with insight and compassion blended with wit and humor. Beautifully imagined and character-driven, I highly recommend it if you enjoy literary fiction—a moving portrait of an older man's struggle to hold on to his most precious memories.A gem! An uplifting novel about looking deeper into the heart and soul to form bonds with the last people we'd expect—only to discover that they're the ones who need it most.For fans of Catherine Ryan Hyde's So Long Chester Wheeler, Elizabeth Berg's Arthur Truluv series: Earth's the Right Place for Love, and Fredrik Backman's And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer.#JDCMustReadBooks