book love: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
October 9th, 2008

Recently I finished reading EAT PRAY LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert and found that I did not want to just dive right in to another book. You know that feeling after a particularly good read when you just sort of want to let it resinate a little, to stew a bit longer? Well, I was so touched by Gilbert’s book I really did have trouble finding what to read next. I felt like, I couldn’t pick a similar type of book, because it would fall terribly flat next to EAT PRAY LOVE, but I didn’t want to switch gears wildly either, as I feared it would quell the flow of inspiration I gleaned from Gilbert’s book…. conundrum.
…Until… One day last week, while doing my daily blog reading, Pia Jane Bijkerk’s blog talked about a great book that she had just begun reading…this is what she wrote:
“First up is this book that I have begun reading. It is called The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society and is written by the unfortunately recently deceased Mary Ann Shaffer. I had no prior knowledge of this book or the author as it was given to me as a gift, and this offering is testament that books are the best gifts of all. So I am not going to tell you anything about it in the hope that you might just buy it blindly and enjoy it as I am. I will just tell you this: it is, without a doubt, the most inspiring piece of literature I have read this year.”
Loving this blog, I decided to heed this advice and immediately, blindly, bought the book. I received it yesterday and I was so excited to climb into bed last night with my new book….that i knew virtually NOTHING about…so I commenced reading the jacket and the reviews…and there it was, on the back of the book, one big review: ” …..treat yourself to this book, please - I can’t recommend it highly enough.” and who is this urgent encouragement from? none other than Elizabeth Gilbert, author of EAT, PRAY, LOVE….now, if that isn’t a sign that I found the right book to get me out of this weird book purgatory, then I don’t what would be.
At page 11, I looked to R.L. and said…this is one of my all-time favorite books.







