This book was recommended to me for years, gushingly, by various people. I tend to avoid recommendations - they generally don't live up to expectations. This book was written in epistolary form - which I generally don't enjoy and actually find tedious. This book is full of pointedly quirky characters - which generally make me roll my eyes and stop reading. I should have hated this book, but I loved it. I found it sweet and charming and thoroughly enjoyable. I won't bother recommending it, but if I did that sort of thing, this would be on the short list of books I recommend.