A love story you won't soon forget

I struck gold because I didn't think I'd fall so deeply in love with a book so quickly after finishing up The American Way of Death Revisited but then along cameThe Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows & Mary Ann Shaffer. GUYS. This book was a joy to read from start to finish. I gobbled it up in 2 days and then felt absolutely bereft when it was over. If you enjoyed 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (this is the reason I picked it up) then you will love this book too. Told in letters and telegrams this is the story of a group of people living in a small town in the Channel Islands called Guernsey and their interactions with a Londoner (and writer) named Juliet. Juliet had made her name (except it was actually not her name but a pen name) writing a popular humor column during WWII but at its close (and the beginning of our story) we find her in a bit of a writing rut and looking for her next challenge. This is when she receives a letter from a man in Guernsey who has found a book about Charles Lamb with her name written inside the front cover. This is the beginning of her interest in the place, its people, and its creation of a literary society which saw them through the war and their occupation by German soldiers. While it starts with correspondence between Juliet and Dawsey (the man with the book) it soon blossoms into back-and-forth communication with the other members of the Society (and a few Islanders hellbent on its dissolution). A common thread runs through much of their remembrances of the occupation and the start of the Society and it seems to center around Elizabeth McKenna who while not an Islander came to play a pivotal role in so many of their lives. There were quite a few "WHOA" and "THAT explains it!" moments while reading this book (as well as quite a few tears I ain't gonna lie). I think it's impossible not to fall in love with this book and its characters. 10/10 and absolutely gutted there won't be more books written by Shaffer in the future.

PS Someone informed me they adapted this for film and I AM LIVING FOR IT. (Lily James is one of my faves so ya'll know I'm gonna be watching this at my earliest convenience.)

Source: Goodreads

What's Up Next: Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan

What I'm Currently Reading: I don't even know anymore

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If a book has an overabundance of grammatical errors I find it exceedingly difficult to enjoy the experience. I'd love to sit down with the editors of Edge and find out just what they were thinking when they thoughts this book was okay to go to print. Also, it read like I should have had prior knowledge of events as if there were a prequel. There is no prequel, guys. This is the first in a series. I guess you gather that I don't highly recommend this one. The premise was a good one. The idea that society had degenerated into such violence that the majority of individuals walked around with sheathed knives is a novel one. However, I don't think this book was ready to deliver. Don't waste your time.

In awesome news, I met up with a friend to exchange books and the one she recommended is Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (great name). Photographs from the past are used to help create fictional stories about children set apart on a deserted island because they may (re definitely) have been a danger to society. I glanced at the photographs and I can already tell that for those easily spooked this book will keep you up at night. Good thing I've mostly gotten over my fear of the dark. Here we go!