The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman tells the story of Nina, a smart, quick-witted woman in her late twenties living in Los Angeles. Nina lives a quiet, comfortable life as she tries to cope with her anxiety. She spends her days working in a bookstore, playing on a trivia team, attending a book group, and sticking to her planner as closely as possible. As a child, Nina was raised by her loving nanny, while her free-spirited mother traveled the world as a photographer. All the while, Nina learned to be OK with not knowing who her father was. But suddenly, her quiet life is disrupted when she learns that the father she never knew she had has died, and she is overwhelmed by the idea of meeting her new family members. She also begins to fall for a cute guy on a competing trivia team, which is another disruption to her predictable schedule.
This book was so much fun! I loved Nina and related to her in many ways, and wished I could be more like her in other ways! I work in a library and live a pretty quiet life similar to Nina, but I wish I was a knowledgable trivia nerd like her (with a cute cat named Phil to keep me company).
The witty banter between characters is great: between Nina and her trivia team, her coworkers, her new family members and even with a Lyft driver. Although in real life, it’s implausible that every person you encounter is going to be clever and witty, this is fiction, after all, and it’s a work of fiction that sort of pays homage to the wonders of fiction.
One thing that kind of bothered me was how effortlessly Nina and her love interest fall for one another. I dislike it when characters get too mushy too fast and without enough buildup, but that’s personal preference. Also, Nina’s love life is not the focus of the plot, so it would be a waste to spend too much time developing their relationship.
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill is a novel that many book lovers will see themselves reflected in. Not only does this book celebrate literary people, but it’s also just so happy and upbeat. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to take the edge off and relax with a good book!
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