The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

Lovely discussion tonight, any thoughts to add?

Choices for the September 7th discussion. Vote!

Books were selected by Pepper Elliot, who will lead the discussion on Sept. 7th.

West with the Night
by Beryl Markham

West with the Night is a memoir of Beryl Markham, horse trainer, bush pilot, and history making aviatrix. Beryl Markham grew up in the wilds of Africa where her father raised racehorses on their farm. Beryl followed in her father's footsteps by becoming the first woman in Africa to receive her horse-training license. Fascinated with the talents of her friend, Tom Black, Beryl learned to fly and went on to become the first person to fly east to west across the Atlantic from London to North America. Although her flight ended in Nova Scotia rather than the intended New York, Beryl will always be known for her courage and her groundbreaking talents.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Barbara Kingsolver

Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that's better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

The Stationmaster
Jiro Asada

As well as introducing North American fans to Japanese culture and animation through anime programs, VIZ now presents The Stationmaster, a collection of eight short stories by award-winning author Jiro Asada.

As an example of the types of stories contained in the book, the eponymous tale, the one that gives the book its name, concerns a railway man, Otomatsu, who waits at the end of the line each day to greet incoming trains. But after years of being filled with passengers, the trains now bring only one or two people, and sometimes come empty into the station. Otomatsu realizes that the station will soon close, and looks back over the tragedies he's experienced over the years. But suddenly the emptiness of his life changes, as a bright young girl wanders in. She has an uncanny resemblance to his own infant daughter who had died years before. What will this girl do, to return life and hope to this stationmaster?

Choices for the August 4th discussion. Vote!

Books were selected by Kim Hatch, who will be leading our discussion on the 4th.

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
by Alexandra Fuller

In Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller remembers her African childhood with candor and sensitivity. Though it is a diary of an unruly life in an often inhospitable place, it is suffused with Fuller’s endearing ability to find laughter, even when there is little to celebrate. Fuller’s debut is unsentimental and unflinching but always captivating. In wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she stares down disaster and looks back with rage and love at the life of an extraordinary family in an extraordinary time.

Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut

Cat's Cradle is a satirical science-fiction novel by American writer and novelist Kurt Vonnegut, originally published in 1963.

Planning to write a book about the bombing of Hiroshima, the book's narrator ("John") follows his research to the life and work of one Felix Hoenniker, a physicist who has created the world's most deadly substance, ice-nine (water that freezes at room temperature). However, the story ultimately takes him to the fictional Caribbean island of San Lorenzo, a failed utopia where the locals practice an outlawed religion that may hold the secret to the mystery of life's purpose.

The Woman in White
by Wilkie Collins

The story begins with an eerie midnight encounter between artist Walter Hartright and a ghostly woman dressed all in white who seems desperate to share a dark secret. The next day Hartright, engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie and her half sister, tells his pupils about the strange events of the previous evening. Determined to learn all they can about the mysterious woman in white, the three soon find themselves drawn into a chilling vortex of crime, poison, kidnapping, and international intrigue.
Masterfully constructed, The Woman in White is dominated by two of the finest creations in all Victorian fiction—Marion Halcombe, dark, mannish, yet irresistibly fascinating, and Count Fosco, the sinister and flamboyant “Napoleon of Crime.”

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

Meeting Tuesday June 30th, 7:30 p.m.

From the Jacket:

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, June 30th. Review your options and vote!

Remember that bit about dealing with exceptions to our schedule? Well the first one is here already. July is a busy month, and we thought it best to sneak in book club before the crazy 4th of July weekend. It's truly only 1 day off schedule, so you still have ample time to read. So we'll meet 4 weeks from now, June 30th.
The following meeting will be Tuesday, August 4th, and so forth on the first Tuesday from there.

Mary brought a tasty buffet of choices- don't worry, if the one you pick doesn't win this time, I'm sure a few will be on the lists of our next suggesters!

People of the Book
by Geraldine Brooks
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of March, the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war.
In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book’s journey from its salvation back to its creation.
In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city’s rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah’s extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna’s investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love.
Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is at once a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity, an ambitious, electrifying work by an acclaimed and beloved author.

West with the Night
by Beryl Markham
West with the Night is a memoir of Beryl Markham, horse trainer, bush pilot, and history making aviatrix. Beryl Markham grew up in the wilds of Africa where her father raised racehorses on their farm. Beryl followed in her father's footsteps by becoming the first woman in Africa to receive her horse-training license. Fascinated with the talents of her friend, Tom Black, Beryl learned to fly and went on to become the first person to fly east to west across the Atlantic from London to North America. Although her flight ended in Nova Scotia rather than the intended New York, Beryl will always be known for her courage and her groundbreaking talents.


The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins
Sixteen-year-old Katniss is smart, athletic, and fast. She can take down a rabbit with a bow and arrow, hitting it straight through the eye. Will these skills be enough to survive the Hunger Games?
Suzanne Collins, the author of the middle-grade fantasy series The Underland Chronicles begins anew, exploring a future landscape that will be familiar to devotees of science fiction's dystopic strain. In a nation called Panem, which occupies the landmass that is the present United States, a parasitical fascist Capitol dominates 12 conquered districts. There was a thirteenth district but it was obliterated during a rebellion. The totalitarian government keeps the subjected populations in line by threatened devastation, starvation, and brutality.

The Guernsy Literary and Potato Peel Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer
“ I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….
As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.
Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

The Woman in White
by Wilkie Collins
The story begins with an eerie midnight encounter between artist Walter Hartright and a ghostly woman dressed all in white who seems desperate to share a dark secret. The next day Hartright, engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie and her half sister, tells his pupils about the strange events of the previous evening. Determined to learn all they can about the mysterious woman in white, the three soon find themselves drawn into a chilling vortex of crime, poison, kidnapping, and international intrigue.
Masterfully constructed, The Woman in White is dominated by two of the finest creations in all Victorian fiction—Marion Halcombe, dark, mannish, yet irresistibly fascinating, and Count Fosco, the sinister and flamboyant “Napoleon of Crime.”

Discussion Recap: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The gals got together tonight and had a great discussion on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Everyone seemed pretty pleased with the read- I definitely don't recall anyone lamenting over the hours spent following Oskar around on his adventure. (Usually we are desperate for more reading time!) Give this one a go if you haven't yet had the chance.

Some aspects we discussed included 9/11, tragedy, reading from the perspective of a child, and coping mechanisms.
Here is a sampling of some questions we discussed (led by Pepper)-any thoughts or feedback?

-Did you like the writing style of the author? What did his writing style indicate?
-Do you think writing fictional about tragedies such as 9/11 is appropriate? Did the author do so with adequate respect?
-"Humor is the only way to tell a sad story". How do you feel about this? Was the novel comical? Appropriately so?
-Was Oskar believable? (his version of the events, etc)
-Any thoughts on the Grandfather's storyline? Did you enjoy the double narrative or have a preference for who was talking?
-How do we handle/observe/cope with tragedy?

Did anyone dislike the book?