The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

This novel is a collaborative effort between Mary Ann Shaffer, a debut novelist who passed away earlier this year, and her niece, children's author Annie Barrows (who helped complete the book when Shaffer’s health turned for the worse).

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a heartwarming, bittersweet novel written in an epistolary style, between  writer Juliet Ashton and her best friend from childhood Sophie Strachan and her brother Sidney Stark (who also happens to be her publisher). 

It all started in January of 1946 when London was recovering from the shocks of war. While Juliet Ashton was looking for a new project to embark on, she receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.  Her pen pals will soon include some folks from Guernsey.

Through these missives, Juliet learns of Guernsey and its deprivations during the war, as well as the astonishing spirit of the people who live there. She eventually becomes more and more intrigued with the stories of the people who survived the occupation; leading her to decide to write a book based on their experiences. To do so effectively, Juliet moves temporarily to the island and soon finds herself immersed in its captivating culture.

Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands, nominally part of Great Britain but located in the English Channel, close enough to see mainland Europe with the naked eye. And, as the residents of Guernsey discover during World War II, close enough for the Germans to occupy. What started out as a layover -- during an intended full-out invasion of the British Isles -- resulted in a five-year occupation that changed the lives of these quiet, simple people forever.

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Read Part One of the novel here.

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I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Firstly, the only reason I bought this book was because I thought I had already missed the movie; that it had been shown in the cinemas here in Bohol before the holiday season.  It was only recently when I realized I was mistaken.  While in Island City Mall, I saw this huge poster (see below image) that says the movie is coming soon.

Secondly, I was glad I made that erroneous assumption; had I not, I most definitely would have just waited for the movie to be released locally, and not be bothered buying and reading the book.  Its 644 pages seemed a daunting read.  But I was wrong again at that.  This thriller turned out to be an absorbing, believable story, and reading it was rather addictive.  I have never read any of Stieg Larsson’s novels before and was pleasantly surprised to discover the riveting clarity and simplicity of his narrative style.  I’ll probably still go and see the movie just for the heck of it.

Anyway, the story revolves around the scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, Harriet Vanger, who mysteriously disappeared over forty years ago.  Her aging uncle, however, spent all those years seeking the truth.  He finally hires Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist recently convicted of libel and was heading to prison for a couple of months.  His task was to investigate and possibly pinpoint which member of the Vanger clan might have murdered Harriet.  For a research assistant he got Lisbeth Salander, a pierced and tattoed punk prodigy – the girl with the dragon tattoo.  That is all I’m going to reveal.

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“Compelling …. Combine the chilly Swedish backdrop

And moody psychodrama of a Bergman movie with the

grisly pyrotechnics of a serial-killer thriller, then add an

angry punk heroine and a down-on-his-luck investigative

journalist, and you have the ingredients of Stieg Larsson’s

first novel.”

--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

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 Film version of ‘Girl with Dragon Tattoo’ stays true to novel of grit

Movie review by Eldric Paul Paredo

Philippine Daily Inquirer

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Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Seth Grahame-Smith's premise: between 1607 and 1865, for over 250 years, vampires thrived in the shadows of America, but few believed in them; Abraham Lincoln was one of the gifted vampire hunters of his day, and kept a secret journal about his lifelong war against them; and that rumors of the journal's existence have long been a favorite topic among historians and Lincoln biographers, most dismiss it as myth.

The author goes on to assert that Lincoln eventually learns the cause of his mother's death as having been instigated by a supernatural predator -- a vampire -- and this sets out the young Lincoln to a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.  

For almost two hundred years, Lincoln's personal crusade against these predators has remained in the shadows until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln.  Using the journal as a guide, the author then reconstructs the true life story of America's greatest president and reveals the role vampires played in the birth, growth and near-death of the nation.

By revising history and infusing it with horror, Grahame-Smith, has created a surprisingly engrossing and flawlessly clever story. Also, the strong link he has created between vampirism and slavery was quite astonishing.  This is undoubtedly one quick, fun read.  I highly recommend it.

The Los Angeles Times gave this book a positive review, noting that "a writer who can transform the greatest figure from 19th century American history into the star of an original vampire tale with humor, heart and bite is a rare find indeed.

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Related link:

A poignant letter from a freed Negro slave to his master

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Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

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