Ashley's Perfect Book

Well - by the subject anyway. It took me just one day to finish my latest read - The Guersney Literary and Potato Peel Society - everything I was looking for in a book yesterday. A touch of easy island life, war history, the Holocaust, a reading club with fabulous characters, and of course, a love story. Now normally, I am not one for a book of letters (which this is) the flow of the book always seems way to choppy. But the correspondance between different people gives you a sense of the 40s, and as the storylines intermingle with each other, I found myself wondering when the characters had time do anything else but write.

Ahhh, island lifestyle.

There were numerous great quotes in this book worth sharing:

The first - so true for me right now:

"Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books."

From one of the characters:

"At first, I did not want to go to any book meetings. My farm is a lot of work, and I did not want to spend my time reading about people who never was, doing things they never did." - Definitely a fresh perspective.

From one best friend to another about her love life:

"Now, about Markham V. Reynolds (Junior). Your questions regarding that gentleman are very delicate, very subtle, very much like being smacked in the head with a mallet. Am I in love with hime? What kind of question is that? It's a tuba among the flutes, and I expect better of you. The first rule of snooping is to come at it sideways". - Freaking hilarious sarcasm.

"hale" - my new favorite word (healthy, strong).
"henbane": (an herb/noxious weed)

"dolmens": A Neolithic tomb of flat rocks:

"I had a small supper party for him - cooked b me alone, and edible, too. Will Thisbee gave me 'The Beginner's Cook-Book for Girl Guides'. It was j".ust the thing; the writer assumes you know nothing about cookery and writes useful hints - 'When adding eggs, break the shells first.'"

"Isola doesn't approve of small talk and believes in breaking the ice by stomping on it."

"Mrs. Winslow Daubbs read a chapter from her autobiography, The Life and Loves of Delilah Daubbs. Audience attentive - but silent afterwards. Except for Winslow, who wants a divorce".

"Also, contrary to what Sidney thinks, she isn't an angel straight from Heaven, she's from an employment agency."

Overall a bloody fantastic read for a lazy August day - I couldn't put it down to even go the libary.

Up next: Orange is the New Black.