Rated of 5
by Linda Collazos A Real Delight
I enjoyed every minute of this book. I felt that I had gotten to know these delightful characters and shared their lives. My horizons were widened by learning about the Channel Islands and their situation during World War II.
Rated of 5
by Helen Hunter The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Loving all things English, this novel begged to be read. Reminiscent of 84 Charing Cross Road in its presentation, I expected there to be attachments made through letters. Such friendships and relationships that can be made when people get acquainted through writing! Shaffer's characters are fully fleshed out with interesting quirks. She keeps the story moving forward with furtherance and hindrance, thus keeping the reader turning the pages. Such an enjoyable novel. Wish there could have been more from Mary Ann Shaffer.
Rated of 5
by Maxine The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
This little book is a gem! The authors take readers through the gamut of emotions from laugh-out-loud to lump-in-the-throat; you care about the finely drawn characters because they are so real. Book clubs should have wonderful discussions about this story.
Rated of 5
by Betsey Gets better and better
Initially I had difficulty engaging in this, an epistolary novel that takes place in the years following WW II. I had difficulty giving it a context. It begins at a place that feels like the middle of things (as if I missed something), but then eventually gathers the far-flung bits of fabric that make up a life and the texture of many lives.
The story is like a tapestry; it starts wit a solitary bit of material and then stitches an epic microcosm of life on the Channel Island of Geurnsey during the second World War. As the tale unfolded, I fell in love with the eccentric, rowdy, and often ribald cast of characters and my heart bled and broke more than a few times, also, over the beautiful comedy that emerged from the tragedy of war.
As I kept reading, the story strengthened and became deeper and enfolded me completely in its tale of hope in a hopeless situation and endurance in an almost unendurable time of German occupation and starvation, a story of courage, dignity and integrity in a time of moral ambiguity..
These rural characters are unsung heroes. I feel like I met each and every one of them personally and that they touched me in all the vital places where love resides. Additionally, it is a history lesson of a place that time will now not forget.
Rated of 5
by Madeline A Love Affair...
This whole novel is a love affair of books and reading, of letters and friendship, set against the background of war and its aftermath. It is also a reminder of how perspectives change when friends and enemies are forced together by circumstance. A heartwarming, enjoyable read!
Rated of 5
by Molly Irrepressible human spirit
The daily privations and loss during a war time occupation are held at bay by generosity and ingenuity resulting in a clandestine feast of contraband pork. The book club hastily formed as an excuse for breaking Nazi curfew becomes a source of strength, courage and hope for the members struggling to survive the war, and results in a journey home for the journalist who visits them after the war.
Stranger than fiction, blending tragedy and farce, How to Create the Perfect Wife is an engrossing tale of the radicalism, and deep contradictions, at the heart of the Enlightenment.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
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Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
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Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
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U.S. ebook sales up in 2012, but rate of growth is slowing(May 16 2013) In 2012, trade book sales (i.e. non academic book sales) rose 6.9%, to $15.049 billion, and e-book sales continued to grow, although the rate of growth...
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