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'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' by Mary Ann Shaffer (Sa13+) This month we're reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer! https://i.postimg.cc/L6KV4Bnn/banner.jpg Age Rating | Sa13+ Let's go over some ground rules...
There's more? There is! While we're reading and discussing The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, there are other related things that you can get involved with.
If you have issues or queries, contact Harron Peasley or natekka – and don't forget to nominate books for future Book of the Months! Ready, Set, Read! :read: |
!!!!!!!!!! SPOILER!!: Don't think these are too spoilery but still |
SPOILER!!: I don't want to spoil anything but just incase |
I am so excited we're reading this book! I love it so much, and I'd love to have a watch party at the end of the month and watch the movie together on Netflix because it is extremely well done. Ironically (coincidentally?), there was an article about this book in a back issue of my university alumni magazine that I found over the weekend. The author was an alumni at the same school that I went to, and I thought the article was really interesting. Mary Ann Shaffer visited Guernsey and was so taken by the place and their history during WWII, that this story just percolated in her for years and years. Her friends finally told her to WRITE IT DOWN or stop talking about it, so she did. EVERY SINGLE publishing house that Shaffer sent the story to accepted it. Sadly, she died before the book was finally published, and the co-author listed on the book was brought in to do the edits and re-writes necessary for publication. TL;DR - we all have a story in us, and I hope you all get to share yours someday. Also this book is super. |
OH! I read this book recently! It's amazing! I can't wait to start discussions on it! Ern I love the idea of doing a watch party!!!!! That would be so much fun! I have watched the movie on Netflix idk how many times now but I will watch it over and over because it is so well done! |
I started this book on the 30th of December and finished it yesterday. I loved it, easily one of the best stand alone (non-series) books I've read recently. I have watched the first hour of the movie so I'll stop and watch it with everyone at the end of the month. :loved: |
I just checked the e-book out on my Libby app! I'm excited to read it, especially after reading this excellent backstory... Quote:
Also, I'm totally down for a watch party. I watched this once when it was new to Netflix, so I'm eager to see how it compares after I read the book. Update: I'm a third of the way into the novel and while I love letters, I'm just wondering if the entire book is epistolary? :lol: |
So... I started the audiobook yesterday during my commute to work. And I'm nearly at the halfway point. While it definitely has its charm and I find parts of it rather cute, I'm starting to get bored. And with it as highly rated as it is on goodreads, I feel like I'm missing something hmm. Maybe it will pick up? |
SPOILER!!: Just my opinion on the book without any spoilers |
It's my new years resolution to try and read more. Especially books that I wouldn't normally tend to pick out mysef, yk?? And historical fiction isn't something I'd usually go for so I was keen to give this a bash. I started a couple of days ago but I just can't seem to get into it??? It's not the story, I think it's the style with the letters. I haven't got the best attention span and I keep finding myself having to track back to remind myself of who is who. I'm definitely eager to keep going though so we'll see! |
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I think I might have felt like that if I'd read it... but as I had the audio book, the voices helped to distinguish who was who? And the emotion etc was palpable and audible.. but audiobooks are very much a new thing for me, so the fact I listened to the first half on a round trip to work etc... well, by the time the story progressed I was enamoured and definitely wanted to know what else was going to happen. |
Letter type stories are always hard for me to get into as well, but once it got further into the meat of the story it didn't feel like letters anymore. Just keep reading! |
I do remember that it was a little slow to warm up, but I appreciated the unique setting and I fell for the characters eventually. But my experience with the books we've read in book club so far has been that nothing will be universally liked. That's why we're reading such a variety of books and discussing with people who have a variety of interests! |
I can't wait to discuss this with you guys! I just finished it late last night/very early this morning. I'll post my Goodreads review below in a spoiler tag (though there's nothing very spoiler-y in it). ^_^ SPOILER!!: 5/5 Stars |
AHHHHHH there's already so much hype and discussion, I love it! I'm almost half way through myself and, I must say, I'm really enjoying it! It's not the most exciting story ever but it's so wholesome that I don't mind. :loved: Quote:
#BookSeekersPenPalProject anyone? :eyebrows: Quote:
@ everyone: I am 100% behind us having a watch party at the end of the month! We should organised a date and time (or multiple for those in different TZs) to watch it. :loveskip: Quote:
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I am loving this book. I actually got it as audio so I could listen while I'm getting miles in for my walking challenge. I don't know if that's why I fell in love with the story because of the different voices being used for the characters or if I just was drawn to the WWII material, but I think it is such a fun story. I just started it a few days ago so I haven't gotten too far in, but I'm already wanting to get back on the treadmill to listen to more. BanabatGirl- Your goodreads review was amazing and I just adored reading it. Quote:
Cassirin- I am in for the watch party. |
I just finished reading it!!!! What a wholesome book. :wibbleface: I loved it, honestly! SPOILER!!: some spoilery thoughts I can't wait until we can dive into the discussion properly! |
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I would love to do a pen pall thing! It would be so much fun! Fair warning...I have terrible handwriting! :lol: Roro: I loved your goodreads review! It's perfect and I wholeheartedly agree! Natalie: If you haven't seen the movie, it wraps up nicely ;) I agree about the multiple time zones thing for the movie, that way people aren't having to get up super early or stay up super late! |
I hope everybody is enjoying reading this book! 'Cause I finished, I couldn't stop myself from watching the film (even if we are going to do a watch party towards the end of the month lol), and then I couldn't stop myself from making a grab bag! Who's surprised? Not me. :lmao: Anyway... HERE YOU GO. I hope you like them. Maybe wear one if you do. ^_^ |
EEEE I finally finished it last night! I agree with some of you that it was kind of slow to get in to - the letters format really threw me at first for some reason - but once I got about half way in to it, it really got going and I couldn't put it down! I loved how it ended, I didn't see the end coming at ALL TBH and I was super thrilled with it when I realized where it was going and I am SO DOWN for a movie watch of this! |
Hello, hello, hello! It's time to discuss The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society more, with any and ALL THE SPOILERS! So, if you haven't yet finished reading, you might want to avoid this thread until you have. :kissesforu: I want to start with a few simple questions:
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So, I ended up liking it pretty well, even after I said I was getting bored with it lol. I ended up giving it 4 stars, did not love it enough to give it 5 (but I've said before I'm kind of selective with those). The letter format was interesting and I wasn't sure I'd like it the entire way through, but it ended up working alright for me. I think the letters were descriptive enough that the story was able to be told well. I don't have any favorite quotes because I am almost never able to commit that type of thing to memory, especially reading the audio version... and idk that I really had any favorite characters? They were all charming in their own way but none exactly stood out to me. A couple issues I had though - it felt to me like Juliet was so idealized, like everyone fell in love with her right after meeting her and she was just so wonderful. I get that she was the heroine of the story, the protagonist, but it felt like just a little much to me. (Of course, some of my favorite stories are anti-hero as protagonist, so I'm maybe not the most reliable judge here) Really the only person that seemed to have any issue with her was the one lady who wrote a couple times against the literary society (forget her name, sorry), and I REALLY wanted to hear a scathing response from Juliet lol. Also! The ending... It seemed fairly obvious to me from an early point that Juliet and Dawsey were going to end up together. And tbh there was no build-up of that romance once she actually got to Guernsey, or at least that was how it felt to me, so when it was revealed at the end that they were together, I was just kind of like yeah okay but where was the build up to lead to that? Surely they had a developing relationship before they got engaged? There just seemed to be more to them BEFORE Juliet got to Guernsey than when she was actually there with him. But overall, I did enjoy it. It was a pretty lovely story with a lot of charming characters. |
Yeah, I enjoyed it too. I've seen a lot of people describe it as charming and that pretty much sums it up. It's sweet. Quote:
As for the letters, it took me a while to get into the swing of it but the format did add to the overall charm. My main issue here was, remembering what character was writing the letter? Everyone had the same voice, the same style of writing and at times it was hard to distinguish who was who. The setting being the occupation of the island during WWII is mostly what kept me wanting to read on. The tales of daily struggles but resilience of the residents were the highlights for me. I had to keep going because I wanted to know what happened to Elizabeth! Also, this is a classic tale of 'don't judge a book by it's cover' because with a title like this I probably wouldn't have given it the time of day usually so thank you Book Seekers! |
I’m not one who over analyses anything and I’ve never really been part of a book club before but here we go… I did enjoy it but I just kind of felt it was lacking a little something. The ending wasn’t exactly a surprise but at the same time, I kind of found my self wanting that to happen so I guess I shouldn’t complain. It did take me a while to get into the letter style format of things, having only read ‘The Perks of being a Wallflower’ which is a little similar to the letter style in that he writes in a diary so that didn’t throw me off too much when I eventually got into the book. I really enjoyed learning about WWI and WWII in school so it really was that that kept my interest in this book because I’d honestly never considered what happened to the Chanel Islands in both wars because they don’t generally teach you about it in school. Maybe I’ll have to when this topic comes up in my class now? I wouldn't have read this book though if it hadn't been for the book seekers though so I am glad I joined! I've already purchased next months book! |
This is my first actual review/talk with the book club, I am so excited I finally forced myself to get time to read a book with all of you, well maybe not read since I listened to the audiobook, but you get my point. The book: I am so glad I did this with the audiobook and if you didn't I do recommend it, especially if the letters started to mesh together. The audio had different voices for each character and I think that helped me stay focused on who was who. I'm awful exact quotes because I can never remember that specific on things so I don't have a quote, but I just adored this book. It had a Bridget Jones feel to me at first, I don't know why, but it was the first thing I thought of. I feel like sometimes you just need a light-hearted upbeat story and that is exactly what this was. Just a very cute, light story. It was pretty predictable that Juliet and Dawsey, but there were things that happened throughout that I guess I didn't expect so it helped. Maybe it was listening to it or maybe it was just my take on the book but some characters I so wished there weren't letters to hear more of their backstory and thoughts. Like Dawsey, I wanted to know more about him or if it was an event in the letter I wish we could have read the actual playout of it not just what was in the letter. I really was said about Elizabeth. I was falling for that character as much as wanting to know more about her. I enjoy having one of the letters go against her and make her not the hero everyone else was. It made her more real that some didn't feel she did well. Her story with the German officer was a great twist as well. Having WWII information really connected me to it. I like studying that war since my grandfather was part of it and I found myself thinking about where he was during the years they spoke of. Overall, obviously you can already tell, I truly enjoyed this book and I'm so glad I got to participate. |
<3 I'm with Ali, I think the audiobook really helped me to differentiate between who was writing the letters... ^_^ the voices, accents etc helped. In regards to everyone liking Juliet so quickly, I think that this was an issue because 90% of the book was written from her point of view? (especially when in regards to Guernsey itself). Part of me assumes that if we had seen letters early on from the others, or conversations etc that there would have been at least some sort of headbutting or arguments? I love that Elizabeth found the best in a German soldier, saved her daughter, tried to help others and helped to save the boy -- and then went to Camp for said boy too. Even learning of the camp from Remy and finding out about the end of her life had me in tears. :imok::imok: |
I think it's okay that not everyone LOVES the books we read, and I appreciate that people felt comfortable enough to share what they didn't like. It's exciting to me that we're having good conversation in here! I really enjoy this book, and it was nice to re-read it. In my mind, the book started to re-shape like the movie, and I had forgotten that the 'what happened to Elizabeth' wasn't really the driving force of the book as it was in the movie. Elizabeth is easily one of my favorite characters, and I adore Isola. And Eben and Booker and even old Adelaide. Also I feel like Kit is my soul friend, the little weird baby. I get what's being said about Juliet being a little Mary Sue, but because she was the narrator (sort of), it felt to me that she was purposefully 'neutral' so we could experience the story through her. One of the things I enjoy about this book is that the author really REALLY loved books and loved Guernsey. I appreciate that you can feel her love, because it makes Guernsey a living character in the story... and really, books are sort of a character too. They're the center of conversation and conviction through the book; it isn't hard to believe that there are books that can shine a light into the dark spots in people's lives and can build communities out of people who feel isolated. As for the format, I love epistolary structure in stories. I'd love suggestions on other books written like this. |
It isn't in letter form, but have you looked at "The Curious Incident of hte Dog in the Nighttime" ?? It's in a diary format and it blew my mind when I read it the first time through. The play is a work of art too. ^_^ Also, I agree that Guernsey and Books were characters in TGL&PPPS. It reminded me a little bit of when when authors use quotes from other books as chapter titles and you gleam some advance warning about what is coming. I love that ^_^ |
I really did enjoy the book to be fair. Like a lot of you have said, the author’s fondness of Guernsey really adds to the book. I feel like it gives Juliet a little bit more authenticity and the twist with Elizabeth and the German soldier really was a nice little twist which kept me interested. One thing I did like about the letter style of this book is that we got to find out different people’s perspectives about some of the same incidents. Imagine if we had the Harry Potter books from Ron, Hermione or Dumbledore’s perspective? They might not be amazing but it would be interesting. |
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I'm wondering if Juliet comes off as a bit of a Mary Sue simply because most of the book is written from her perspective? So of course we hear mostly good things about her as most of the letters are written BY her or about her. As for the villagers who were so eager to get to know her, I saw it less because she was a perfect person everyone wanted to know, but more because she was an author who was going to write about them. I figure if that happened in real life, EVERYONE would be wanting to get on that person's good side, right? To create better exposure? I do think they genuinely like her at the end but unlike say, Twilight, where Bella was just LOVED simply because she was new, I saw more motivation behind the islanders wanting to get to know her and possibly be featured in her book. Isola ended up growing on me sooo much. Dawsey I loved right off the bat - and am I the only one who didn't see their romance coming? Maybe I've been reading too many apocalyptic science fiction novels where the love interest is obvious right away so I didn't see it coming this time around :lol: |
I'm away this weekend but I will reply to you all individually when I'm back <3 For now...
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I haven't seen the film nope. Well. That's a lie. I haven't seen the whole film... I watched about the first .... thirty/forty minutes then got distracted and I haven't gone back to it since we said we were going to read it, I wanted to do that before I went back to finish it. It doesn't always work, but I try to read books before I watch their film/tv counterpart. In regards to books, I can either get into them (and devour them) or I can't (and can't read it even if I try). I really really struggle to read a book I don't like... and I wish I could persevere but it doesn't seem to be something I can do >.> Though I love books I fall into. |
As for the second set of questions....
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