book clubs

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Posted on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 by Peg in book clubs, book review, England, historical fiction, letters

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
This charming book is told entirely through correspondence to an author Juliet Ashton. At the end of the Second World War the residents of England are still reeling. Juliet, who wrote a humorous column for a national newspaper during the war, finds herself in need of new material. She strikes up a friendship with islanders who formed a book club while Guernsey was occupied by German soldiers. I was able to gain a real sense of character from the letters and was rooting for the main character to find a connection that might allow her to make Guernsey her home.
I have a confession to make. I borrowed the print version and had a little trouble getting into it. It was a short loan and there were others waiting for it. Wanting to finish the book, I downloaded a copy from Overdrive and loaded it onto my little MP3 player. I thoroughly enjoyed the charming accents of the narrators and had to prolong my drive so I could finish this lovely story. I highly recommend this book for book clubs!

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

Posted on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 by Peg in adult nonfiction, book clubs, book review, cultures, Iran

Author Azar Nafisi tells her story by recounting the books she shared with her students. A gifted teacher, Nafisi, grows up in a liberated Iran, only to have the reign of Ayatollah Khomeini reverse any gains women in Iran had made towards independence and personal freedom. After being "expelled" from the University where she taught, the author decides to start a book club for a select group of women who meet in her home, free from censors and the eyes of men.

"Again and again as we discussed Lolita in that class, our discussions were colored by my student's hidden personal sorrows and joys. Like tearstains on a letter, these forays into the hidden and the personal shaded all our discussions of Nabakov (Lolita). And more and more I thought of that butterfly;what linked us so closely was this perverse intimacy of victim and jailer."

"Curiously the novels we escaped into led us finally to question and prod our own realities, about which we felt so utterly speechless."

Reading Lolita in Tehran has not only given me a greater understanding of the classics (an education I seemed to have missed when studying literature in high school or undergraduate school), but a real appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy as women in the United States. This book was not an easy read (and I admit I took a few breaks to digest and escape into other books)but well worth the journey.