For the book lovers

I first saw The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society at bookstore, looked through it and passed it by. It's set just after World War II, and that's not my usual type of book. Of course, I don't usually go for World War I books either, and I loved Maisie Dobbs.

Then I saw that Lucy liked it. Since I tend to like the same sorts of books as Lucy, I got the book. I am so very glad I did because I absolutely loved it. Loved it!

We learn the story from a series of letters to and from Juliet Ashton, an author. Eventually Juliet becomes so fascinated with the letters and stories coming from the members of the Society that she travels to Guernsey herself.

It should be mentioned that this is probably a book for book lovers. Personally, I was hooked only a few pages in, with this paragraph:

I love seeing the bookshops and meeting the booksellers -- booksellers really are a special breed. No one in their right mind would take up clerking in a bookstore for the salary, and no proprietor in his right mind would want to own one -- the margin of profit is too small. So, it has to be a love of readers and reading that makes them do it -- along with first dibs on the new books.

Ah yes. That describes me well.

My one troublesome point with the book comes at the end, when the narration suddenly switches from letters and telegrams to the journal of a different character. Since Juliet has been the center point until then, the switch bothered me. Considering what is told in the journal, I can understand the switch in the point of view, but that could have been handled easily in the current letter format, so I wish the author had continued with it.

All in all, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is very highly recommended.