Speaking Volumes

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AUGUST 26, 2009

The best thing about book groups

It is rare that I read or listen to a book that I have approached with trepidation and find it so utterly wonderful that I don’t want it to end. But this is the case with Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

The book was selected by the Beckish Senior Center book group, the Book Worms. It is our first read this year. We will be meeting to discuss it on September 24, so I must be careful to not include any spoilers here.

Although this book came with strong recommendations from people I trust, I was a little skeptical. The title was odd… I understood it to be historical… I just wasn’t sure it was ‘my kind of book’. But within a chapter I was hooked. The characters are charming, the book delightful and while I have learned interesting historical facts, it is far from a historical work.

This book has prompted me to research – Where is the island of Guernsey? Was it really the only part of England to be occupied by the Nazis? Did they really create tunnels? The book and what I’ve learned have prompted me to want to go and visit this unique place full.

More over, the text, a series of letters, has made me feel a part of this fictional family. There are not distant characters, but friends that are merely away, keeping in touch by post.

So often people, my self included, gravitate to thing we know we like: favorite authors, writing styles, genres. It’s nice to change paths and nice when the new path becomes a wonderful adventure.

For me, that’s one of the most exciting things about book groups – one gets to read things one never would have found otherwise. And in the case of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, we have found a treasure.

I know this book will end soon, but I am so glad to have discovered it… thanks to the book group!

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posted by Su

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Comments

bas bleu said, on Aug. 27 at 7:56AM
I, too, loved this book and recommended it far and wide. By the book's end, I felt that the characters were my friends, and I was saddened that I would no longer be "corresponding" with them through their letters. I'm so sorry that, with the author's passing, we won't have the pleasure of a second novel.

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bas bleu said, on Aug. 27 at 9:26AM
Su, I forwarded your blog to two groups that are discussing this book soon!