A love story for those who love books

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As a book-lover who majored in English and considered going down the path to becoming a professor, I loved everything about this book- from the endearingly charming characters to the minutia of describing book spines and antique manuscripts.

By the Book takes place over the course of one school year at Fairfax College, where Anne Corey, is currently a professor. To keep her position and gain tenure, she has to get her manuscript, Ivory Tower: Nineteenth Century Women Writers and the Literary Imagination, published. Despite the threat of losing her position and drowning in student debt, I was proud of Anne for not being willing to rewrite her book to include men or not have all three Bronte sisters because they were redundant (really!?). She was devoted to the classics and I found myself wishing I had taken a literature class with her myself.

During this tumultuous year, she is caring for her ailing father, her first love appears as the new President of Fairfax, and, all the while, her sister is passive aggressively judging her for her academically inclined life choices.

This is a love story on many levels. The characters learn to love themselves, depend on unflappable friends and familial love, realize that love isn’t always enough, endure loss and find comfort in others, and learn that maybe it’s never too late for a second chance. If life had allowed it, I would have read this book in one sitting.