Book Club Report

Last Wednesday seven of us met for Book Club at Evone Pope's house. We enjoyed taco dip and chips and yummy Pecan Bars while we talked about the book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

Here is the official website with more about the authors and even a recipe for Potato Peel Pie if you're brave enough (or hungry enough to try it).

The plot
January 1946: writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

This book is an epistolary novel told in the form of letters. Twenty different voices tell the story from their own perspective. You get a peek into the lives of these people and how they surmounted their challenges.

Books bring hope
"Books bring hope and warmth to the people of Guernsey enduring the German occupation."

Watch a video by the author.

A list of books mentioned in the novel.

Other epistolary novels.

Favorite quotes
"None of us had any experience with literary societies, so we made our own rules: we took turns speaking about the books we'd read. At the start, we tried to be calm and objective, but that soon fell away, and the purpose of the speakers was to goad the listeners into wanting to read the book themselves. Once two members had read the same book, they could argue, which was our great delight. We read books, talked books, argued over books, and became dearer, and dearer to one another. Other Islanders asked to join us, and our evenings together became bright, lively times--we could almost forget, now and then, the darkness outside." p. 51

"Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books." p. 53

Okay, ladies, what is your favorite quote?