Literary love

I'm going to pause all the wedding updating excitement to talk about this amazing book I just finished reading, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. My mom read it and loved it so much that she sent it my way for Christmas this year and I'm so glad she did! It's one of those fairly quick reads (it's not very long) but you really don't want to put it down. Most of the book I read in one day. It's a story of a young authoress in 1946 London who receives a letter from a stranger on Guernsey Island (part of the Channel Islands) thus starting a relationship between her and several people on the island. The story is told through correspondence (all letters and telegrams), a style which I love because I have a secret passion for letters (I've always desperately wanted to be a pen pal to a dozen people around the world) and because it seems to take out a lot of that "filler" stuff other authors feel the need to put into their books thinking it makes them more complete.

Right from the beginning, the book reminded me of another story I adore (this time a film, I have not yet read the book), 84 Charing Cross Road. This story also follows an authoress and starts in 1949 New York. She's a poor writer who loves antiquarian books but most of what she's looking for is out of print and too expensive for her to find in New York. She sees an ad in the Saturday Literary Review for a bookseller in London and thus starts a correspondence relationship with one of the booksellers.

Other than being about authoresses and their correspondence relationships, these two stories really have nothing in common. That said, both are absolutely wonderful. You should rush to your nearest library or bookstore to find Guernsey and look on Netflix for Charing Cross Road. And if you also have a love for writing real letters and have always wanted a pen pal, keep me in mind. I might be slow about it, but I will write to you. :)