Potato Peel Pie?

Thank goodness, the book doesn't dwell on the pie but on the Society members. I never would have picked up this book to read based on the cutesy title alone. But again thank goodness, whoever the October Book Club hostess is, she chose it for this Friday's meeting. It's one of the best books I've read this year.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, is an "epistolary" novel, consisting entirely of letters from and to the protagonist, author Juliet Ashton. It concerns the WWII German invasion and occupation of England's channel islands, specifically the isle of Guernsey. Even more vividly than Ursula Heigi's Stones From the River, it underscores the existence of that era's bad Germans and good Germans. The book is full of humor and romance, as well as tragedy, and is a thoroughly delightful reading experience.

I feel blessed lately with an abundance of good books to read. In addition to the Guernsey..., Anya Seton's The Turquoise, William Barrett's The Shape of Illusion, and The Red Tree by Caitlin Kiernan; all are worth rereading someday when one doesn't have anything new to read.

Heavenly Powers by Neil Silberman is fascinating, and for some reason also disturbing. Others may disagree, but I don't recommend it, as it tends to disarrange some aspects of the mind if one doesn't concentrate on a fixed object. I shake my head.