Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 21-25 of 1017
 Wonderful engaging book November 14, 2009
mommy2girls (SC)
I loved reading this book and getting to know the characters. I would reccomend it to anyone who loves history and stories about enduring friendships with a dash of romance.
 Good read! I could see myself reading this at the beach. November 14, 2009
Ivymaeve (OK USA)
I had heard a good deal of gushing from friends in regard to the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I finally got to pick it up and finished it in two nights. Lovable characters and some heart-wrenching moments! I like the way it was written through letters. The epistolary-style did not get old due to how caught up I became in the character's stories.
Page turner November 12, 2009
Laurel A. Hughlett (Richmond, VA United States)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was truly sorry to come to the last page.
Delightful! November 11, 2009
Jane Hoppe, author (Illinois)
United by love for literature, author Juliet Ashton and a quirky band of Guernsey Islanders embark upon mutual enchantment. The story, told through letters to each other, unfolds when their WWII memories are fresh and touching stories abound. Just as Juliet's professional goal during the war was to write humorous commentary to help lighten the oppression, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society novel's daily funny surprises relieve the modern reader's sadness on learning of the war's cruelties and hardships.
You have to love a columnist whose comments on the Prince Albert statue in Kensington Gardens include praise for the planting of peas on the grounds, since "no better scarecrow than Prince Albert existed in all of England." And you have to love a book club that encourages candor such as "Marcus Aurelius was an old woman." Through the book club, one member discovered a poet, Wilfred Owen, who really spoke to his heart; he was upset that The Oxford Book of Modern Verse, 1892-1935 excluded Owen's poetry. When he investigated, he learned that "they let a man named Yeats choose the poems, but they shouldn't have. Who is he, and what does he know about verse?"
Characters include a woman who reads the bumps on people's heads, a claustrophobic parrot, unscrupulous competitors, octogenarian twins who throw darts at a portrait of the Duchess of Windsor, and a wine-tippling man sustained during troubles by Seneca's relevance. These simple Guernsey farmers found solace and enlightenment in books during a dark period in their island's history. Some had read hardly anything but gardening books before discovering Charles Lamb, Charles Dickens, the Bronte sisters, and Shakespeare, among other classic writers. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is perfectly crafted to broaden today's readers' literary horizons as well.
This novel paints a profound, poignant portrait of human nature with a light touch. Despite grim details of German bomb destruction and occupation poverty, every page depicts true friendship, heroic courage, and rich, simple pleasures. I've read this delightful book twice recently; I could easily read it again.
Enjoyable read, Didn't want it to end!! November 11, 2009
Helen T. Diehl (Ivyland, PA)
If I was forced to desribe this book in one word I would call it CHARMING.
The Guernsey Literary Guild is comprised of a series of letters written by the author of a book, her publisher & "friends" she made on the island of Guernsey. Initially, I found it a strange format but then began to really like it. By the end I didn't want the letters to stop coming.....
This book was well written & it also teaches about Guernsey (which I never heard of before this book - it is a REAL place!). You almost feel like friends with everyone in the book & it makes you feel like you want to write a letter too - to be included in their loop!
Showing reviews 21-25 of 1017
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