Read This | The Stationery Shop

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali found me on week 2 of being sick in bed and it hurt me in the best way.

Sometimes, I get myself all tripped up thinking I have to make every single post a HUGE DEAL when really, this place is just meant to be a spot for me to come and talk about the books I’ve read and enjoyed lately. It isn’t that deep, but I am an earth sign and it annoys the shit out of me sometimes.

Anyway, last week, I was sick in bed with - I don’t know what. I just know it wasn’t covid, flu or strep. I was merely suffering and that is all I know. For a few days, I was dead to the world. It hurt to open my eyes, I was growing more and more frustrated the longer I was sick and I just missed media. Books, games, movies, you name it!

So one day, when my symptoms decided to take five, I felt energized enough to turn on an audiobook. I have been on the waitlist for The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali for over a year and finally, I was like “enough’s enough” and I bought it instead.

I turned it on and I was immediately immersed in a quiet yet tumultuous love story full of heart and hurt. Set in Tehran, Iran during a very messy political time, young Roya seeks solace in between the shelves of a little bookstore and stationery shop near the city center. Introduced by the shop owner, Roya meets the passionate Bahman and they bond over Rumi and their love of their little bookshop haven.

You will follow Roya through the rest of her life and that was not something I was expecting. It was an enveloping story about the wins, losses, pains and joys of life in all its phases and it hurt in the best way. You can click here for the trigger warnings, please protect yourself because there are definitely some dark themes in this book but overall, I loved it.

I gave it 5 stars, one for each time I wept. I’m just kidding… or am I?