Either way, this novel found me during a fairly bad reading slump. One morning, sitting in a coffee shop, desperate to distract myself from my inability to make it through 1984 (sorry, George; it was me, not you), I fished out the only other book in my purse: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I was enthralled immediately. I knew, as soon as I got to this passage, that this novel was going to become a favorite: I was right. I’ve fallen into the habit of rereading it every year. It’s taken me some time to pinpoint what exactly I find so captivating about this story. It’s not perfect – even before getting into the Good Nazi™ subplot. But still, amidst all the tragedy and the grief within its pages, it makes me happy. I love the epistolary format, I love the theme of Reading Keeps You From Going Gaga (Really. That’s an actual quote.), and most of all, I love the beauty of the connections between Juliet, Dawsey, and the rest of the gang. It’s a story of hope, of finding joy and friendship even in the midst of horror. These are themes I will always gravitate towards. So I began looking for books like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I seek books with similar themes and formats. And with the same effervescent wit. Now, I have found very few books that merge all of these, but quite a few have at least two of these three qualities. Would you like to read more epistolary novels? What about more World War II fiction? Unlike TGLAPPS, however, this isn’t a novel: it’s the collection of real letters between an American writer and an English bookseller. Add in a mysterious letter, a cruel employer, and a notorious criminal, and you’ve got more complications than anyone should have to handle. Upset by her boss’s refusal to answer letters from anyone with actual problems, Emmy secretly replies to one. And then another. And one more. Soon, she’s in too deep to stop. Will her actions jeopardize her job?
