Quotation of the Week (28/09)

That's what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you onto another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It's geometrically progressive - all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.
From The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Societyby Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This book, which I bought on Friday and also quoted from in this post (3 July 2009), turned out to be the kind that was hard to put down until I had finished it, which I did today. A book full of love and warmth but also sadness; and I learned things I never knew about the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II. The whole book is written in the form of letters exchanged between several people. This gives a personal tone, and at the same time the book tells a progressive story, in which you gradually get to know the characters as well as events in their past. I think it is a book I will want to return to, and - in accordance with the quotation above - also perhaps check out some of the references to other books and authors mentioned in it...

The Closest Book / Bookworm Award

I picked this up from Pan's Island and The Stair Landing. Taking my cue from them, I'm not passing it on to anyone in particular but leave it open for anyone to pick up if you feel you want to.

RULES:
Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following.



The book closest to me right now is one I bought today and just started reading. I actually didn't get to page 56 yet but looking ahead I found it to be a very good quote because it happens to explain the title. What an extraordinary coincidence!

The book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, written by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. And here is the quote from page 56, starting with the fifth sentence.

Other Islanders asked to join us, and our evenings together became bright, lively times - we could almost forget, now and then, the darkness outside. We still meet every fortnight. Will Thisbee was responsible for the inclusion of Potato Peel Pie in our society's name. Germans or no, he wasn't going to go to any meetings unless there were eats! So refreshments became part of our program. Since there was scant butter, less flour, and no sugar to spare on Guernsey then, Will concocted a potato peel pie: mashed potatoes for filling, strained beets for sweetness, and potato peelings for crust.