A total charmer of a story, told through letters.
340375
I had heard people talking about this book ever since it was published--countless people I know had read it and loved it--so I bought it; but then I found myself passing it by on my TBR (to be read) shelf time and time again because I wasn't sure it was my cup of tea (as it turns out, I misunderstood what the book was about from the descriptions I was given). Then I met a new friend and neighbor and she kept at me about it, saying I must read it. FINALLY, after close to two years gathering dust on my shelf, I decided to read it. I am SO glad I did!

This is the story of a closeknit community of homey folks who live on Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands between England and France, and Juliet, an author from London, who becomes interested in the story of Guernsey's 5-year occupation by the Germans during World War II. The entire story is told through letters, notes and telegrams--from the Guernsey folks to Juliet and back and from Juliet to her friends and publisher and back.

Some of the Guernsey folks are eccentric, but they are all (save one) good-hearted, warm and welcoming people. They may not be sophisticated, but they are incredibly charming and genuine. The Society from the book's title is a book club they started during the war to keep them entertained, since they were denied any news from the mainland during the 5 years the Germans occupied their beloved island. (The Potato Peel Pie part of the title is a dish invented by one of the Society's members during the war, when food was scarce.)

The authors do a marvelous job of blending deeply tragic events that took place during the war (both on Guernsey and in concentration camps elsewhere) with the charm and humor of the Guernsey people. It is not a depressing war story, though it could have been in another author's hands. It is a story filled with folksy humor, tall tales and a community of loving people who are always there for one another, even in the hardest of times.

You will fall in love with these characters and this enchanted place they call home. Even the story of how the book was finished was so in keeping with spirit of the story itself. The original author, Mary Ann Shaffer, took ill and asked her niece, children's book author Annie Barrows, to finish to story. Ms. Shaffer died in 2008, the year the book was published in hardback. What a wonderful legacy Ms. Shaffer has left for her family...and for all of us.
2435233
A charming bear you can't help but love despite his foibles and penchant of getting into trouble

The beginning of the book felt like an uphill battle to read. Perhaps it was too much set up and not enough character? The character shines through more brightly later on in the stories toward the end. The opening was also a lot more initial set up and seemed to be a beginning of a larger plot which didn't turn into anything while the final chapters were more or less stand-alone vignettes with their own internal mini three act structures. I think I preferred these smaller self-standing stories to the beginning. In form and structure, the book was more like a collection of short stories about Paddington than it was a novel with its own three act structure, which is what I had expected. As a result of this, Im surprised that Paddington was made into a movie instead of a television show.

Paddington gets himself into the same types of trouble a typical 3-6 year old would in not understanding the culture, mores, and standards around him. In this sense the book falls into a category similar to Amelia Bedelia, who perennially doesnt understand colloquialisms and other homophones. The difference is that, because hes a cuddlier small bear, hes cuter and thereby one is prone to be more forgiving than they would be of a child or of a grown woman whos so dense that she apparently doesnt have any linguistic intelligence at all.

Because Paddington is a bear and not a young child, the family also allows him to do things by himself that no sane parent would allow a young child to do: go to the market by themselves, wander around in a crowded theater unattended, float out into the ocean without a keen eye being kept on them. Its this slight change which allows our young bear to get into far more trouble than a human youngster might.

Toward the end, I began to read using rapid serial visual presentation (with Spritz), and the language and quirks came through just as well as any other parts of the book. I did find myself picking up my Kindle Paperwhite to highlight a few choice passages and funny parts for later reflection though. There was a nice prologue with some interesting observations by the author several decades after he wrote the original. With a bit of thought, some of these make great advice for budding authors.

In sum, an entertaining an charming book whose self-contained chapters lend themselves well to bedtime stories.
3472560
At first I wasn't sure about the plot of a book revealed through  letters written to a stranger.  However,  the characters are unveiled with each new letter and you can feel them growing anew each time. I particularly liked the way events and characters flow easily in the letters, never making me feel anxious for some new detail to be exposed.  This book may sound some what whimsical, but don't let that cloud your vision for the difficult life Samatha Moore, main character and author of the letters, has experienced.  A very enjoyable book, one worthy of your summer read list.
2209190
This book is a total delight. Shortly after Isaac Asimov died his brother Stanley began sorting through his exorbitant amount of personal correspondence. Asimov had thousands upon thousands of letters he had donated to his archives at Boston University. Well it took Stanley nearly two years to read through them but he has produced some true gems for our personal enjoyment.

The book itself is divided into segments or headings, which contain letters dealing with the heading's subject. For instance, "Youth" would deal with letters from Asimov describing his youth and so forth. Some of the other headings are; Shakespeare, limericks, editors, publishers, celebrities, friends, fans. We are able to read Asimov's witty and sometimes highly humorous responses to all sorts of odd letters and flattering requests.

Personally I enjoyed this book because it's essentially a book written by Isaac himself. You sense his personal warmth, dedication to his writing, and honest nature more than anything. His honesty spills forth in his candid descriptions about death and his own mortality and also his forthright feelings about being an atheist. You feel as if you are reading letters from your surrogate Grandfather and you can't help but feel an emotional sense of compassion for the man who tried like no other to educate and make people feel good about themselves. Other aspects about this book I enjoyed are Asimov's descriptions of his personal idiosyncrasies such as his phobia about flying and traveling, his penchant for flirting with just about any woman he met, and his fastidiousness in paying debts. You'll definitely come away from this book feeling wiser and happier for having read it.
3885104
If you have not heard of this book, and you are a lover of fiction, I would like to encourage you to pick this up.

The story, if you haven't heard or read other reviews, is told in letters. Juliette is the central character - she is a writer who wrote a hugely successful column during World War II. The war is over, and she, by a strange set of coincidences, has begun a set of correspondences with people from the isle of Guernsey, which was occupied by the Germans for 5 years during the war.

I learned a great deal of World War II facts, and more than that... the feel of the war, and the after-life of it, from this book. I also grew to love almost all of the characters. I had sincere reservations - reading a book whose whole format was letters? - but it worked. It REALLY worked SO WELL that I wish it had never ended.

I don't know if there are comparisons to Austen out there; there are certainly enough allusions to dear Jane in the book. But if any modern books are the heir to the feel of Pride and Prejudice or Mansfield Park or Emma... this one suits the bill.

(*)>
4482697
This is a delightful little treat of a story, both well concieved and well written. In a small amount of words, the author does a fantastic job of giving you a sense of the charactor and setting. Truly, my only regret is that it wasn't about a thousand words longer.
1394867
This is a book of lettersa sweet, lightly written epistolary novel.

Thirty-eight-year-old orphan Bartholomew Neil, a developmentally stunted man (according to his grief counselor), writes letters to the Buddhist activist actor Richard Gere after he discovers a form letter from Gere in his dead mothers underwear drawer. They are sly lettersabsolutely sincere on Bartholomews ingenuous level, but socially sly from the all-knowing author and the readers point of view. For instance, Bartholomew mentions how interesting it is that an actor can be named in an article where the name of the President of the United States is omitted, how an actors dinner party can do more for Tibet than a monk burning himself alive, how it is okay to look at a man on fire on the Free Librarys Internet, but not two naked women licking each other. Who makes the rules? Death is okay. Sex is bad. Mothers must die. Cancer comes when you least expect it.

Ah, the twisted rules of a society of normal people and the unfairness of death.

Bartholomew writes about the pretending game we all playcertainly one of my own favorite subjects:
Life is s***, my young redheaded grief counselor Wendy says whenever we reach an impasse in our conversation.

It is her default platitude.

Her words of wisdom for me.

Life is s***.

When Wendy says that, its like shes pretending we are not bound together by her job, but really truly are friends. Its like were having a beer at the bar, like friends on TV do.

Life is s***.

She whispers it even. Like shes not supposed to say that to me, but wants me to know that her happy talk and positivity are part of her pretending game.

Other than noticing or playing the pretending game we humans play, Bartholomews other concern is finding where he belongshis flock. To help him navigate life, he has Richard Gere in his head and a reactive angry little man in his stomach. Bartholomew plus a motley crew of friendsa defrocked priest, a cat-loving movie ticket-taker, and a Girlbrarian who is recovering from an alien abductiongo on a pilgrimage of sorts.

The humor (from lampooning lingo-spouting therapists, grad student social workers, and other kinds of helpers to glorious mentions of Jungian and Buddhist wisdom), cadence, and obsessions about distinguishing who we are and maybe realizing (a.k.a. experiencing) the good luck of right now are so similar to my own obsessions and what I write that I sometimes had the weird feeling that I was reading something written by a middle-aged Buddhist Catholic male alter ego who favored light romantic stories.

Rather than Richard Gere, I had a little old lady in my head when I was a child; as I matured, she morphed into something I simply refer to as the Voice. I too have a bully voice (my fearful ego) punching me from the inside out. But the good part of this is that no matter how much pretending is going on, my body never lies to me about what Im really feeling (positive or negative), so I have a sense of my enduring flaws and what I don't know and my direction, even in the midst of abject confusionwhich is the unarticulated gift of truth that Bartholomew embodies for the reader.

Like Bartholomew, I too often long to find my flock. I sense Ive found part of it in this romantic little story of a pilgrimage. Im guessing author Matthew Quick found a flock by writing The Good Luck of Right Now.
4483677
Loved the book, both the letter writing technique - which enables the reader to learn about the various characters in small parcels, growing through the book.  The descriptions of Guernsey made be want to visit.
523629
What a great story. If you haven't already heard, the author's writing is purely sublime. I'm no literary expert or poet, but the way some things were written made even me smile and appreciate how smooth some of the sentences are- Descriptions unspooling like a strand of silk waving gently in the wind. That's kind of what it reminds me of. A story told from the perspective of the innocence of youth during a turbulent and not-so innocent time. Highly recommend.
1591321
Written and illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien, Letters From Father Christmas is a charming collection of personal letters that Tolkien send to his children under the guise of Father Christmas.  While they begin rather simply, over the span of 20 years a fascinating tale is spun; with Father Christmas getting into crazy antics with his best friend North Pole Bear and fending off invasions from goblin armies.  And the illustrations that are included are a lot of fun.  The lengths to which Tolkien goes to to create this elaborate fantasy for his children are really amazing.  Yet the letters tell an incomplete story, and are colored by outside influences that aren't always clear.  Still, Letters From Father Christmas is a remarkable book thats full of the wonder and magic of the season.
3174907
This is a book made up entirely of a series of letters either from Lady Susan or to Lady Susan from friends and family. Austen, as always, has a clear insight into the conceits of society and those with aspirations towards monetary gain. The letters reveal Lady Susan to be a person of little integrity, and with a razor sharp ability to manipulate men, in particular, to her own advantage. She treats her own daughter with disdain and uses her as a pawn in her societal games to her own benefit. While Lady Susan is revealed as a creature out only for her own gain, the letters are compelling as each one reveals yet another facet of her deception and conspiracy. Early Austen, and worth the read. Thumbs up!
1149044
The late Hugh Trevor-Roper (1914-2003; later Baron Dacre of Glanton) was everything you want in an Oxford don: deeply learned; possessed of a wicked sense of humor; extremely clever (in the British sense of the term); sporting a period of service in the Secret Intelligence Service during the war (out of which grew his "The Last Days of Hitler"); but above all one of the finest letter writers one is likely ever to encounter (on a par with Justice Holmes and Isaiah Berlin). This book consists of letters written by Trevor-Roper to the art expert and proprietor of I Tatti Bernard Berenson between 1947 and 1960.

 The letters are edited and introduced by Richard Davenport-Hines, and his substantial introduction to the volume is one of its finest features.  However, the meat of the matter are the letters themselves, skillfully annotated and accompanied by some wonderful photographs, and presented in pleasant format in this volume.  Also included as appendices are several letters that Trevor-Roper wrote to the American historian Wallace Notestein.  A couple points bear emphasis.  While there are no letters as such from Berenson, occasionally there are some excerpts included to set the stage for Trevor-Roper's letters to follow.  I was very surprised to see that Berenson was far more knowledgeable in fields outside art history than I had imagined; in fact, he was quite conversant with the main themes of European and American intellectual history.  Another point is that for those of us interested in (and puzzled by) the inner workings of the University of Oxford and its component colleges, these letters are a treasurehouse of information.  Trevor-Roper delighted in academic fisticuffs and delighted even more in explaining these strange rituals to outsiders such as Berenson.  However, not all the letters are fun and games; some show Trevor-Roper at work as an historian, including dispute with some major figures such as J. Hexter, Christopher Hill, Tawney, and above all Lawrence Stone. So, from every vantage point, just as enjoyable a collection of letters as one will ever happen upon.
2276474
A lovely enriched tapestry of a story whereby you can feel that you are there from the in depth descriptions.
1914335
Listen up, campers: this is one charming and completely original little book.  I've never run into anything like it.  Not only that, but it's delightful, imaginative and funny.  I could go on

A Knock at the Door is the story of five words and the letters that go into them.  NIGHT, HALF, QUIET, PIGEON and BODY.  Actually it's how they got to be the way they are, because they didn't used to look like that.

Like in The Story of Night, the first one:
 "The three letters [NIT] were good friends.  They went everywhere together, especially at NIT [pronounced nite].  But during the day, they lived in a little house in a lane."

One evening they had visitors, the letters G and H.  G and H were tired and needed a place to crash.  N, I and T were okay with this, but didn't know where to put them.  Putting them first---GHNIT---and last---NITGH---didn't really cut it, until T finally suggested putting them in the middle---NIGHT---and having them be silent!  G and H liked to sleep all the time anyway, so it was settled.

This is the bare bones of the story, and doesn't do justice to the rich and amusing narrative.  The other four chapters follow the same formula: the characters are letters that have various human traits.  Like T is brainy, I likes to worry, and N is kindhearted but impractical.  All of the plots are clever.  Some are quite involved.

The first page pulled me right in.  The book is meant for kids, and even though I haven't been one of those for sixty years, it didn't matter.  Lewis Carroll's stuff is like that.

Matteo Mazzacurati's ink drawings couldn't be improved upon.  They don't just illustrate the stories, they amplify them.

Okay, high-time to stop all this gushing.  It's not in my nature.  The book is supercool.  Period.  Full stop.  I've shown it around to my friends and even wish I'd written it!
453290
A woman who uses letters, foil and other small items to to converse with spacemen...a guy who adores desk fans that he actively hunts for and restores...a plant pathologist specializing in peanut diseases...a wildlife artist who specializes in birds...foresters and a couple retired teachers. These quirky characters (and more) inhabit the close-knit Southern community author Bailey White writes about in this delightful tale. It is a pleasure to see how the characters react to crises (real or imagined) and how they support each other in charming but simple acts of kindness that fit their own sub-set of peculiar interests. Their conversations are endearing and seem authentic.
583257
Loved this book! Simple and unadorned writing, very easy to read. Few characters to follow, with a very good plot that unravels in the end. I like a surprising twist and this book has it.

I love to read stories with newly found handwritten letters that reveal the lives of the writer and the recipients. and this was a lovely story to read.
4006314
An engrossing story worth every bit of the learning-to-read-all-over-again experience--in fact, it brings back the magic of reading.