"Traditional without seeming stale, and romantic without being naive . . . It's tempting to throw around terms like 'gem' when reading a book like this. But Guernsey is not precious . . . This is a book for firesides or long train rides. It's as charming and timeless as the novels for which its characters profess their love." --San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Favorite Lines
"Traditional without seeming stale, and romantic without being naive . . . It's tempting to throw around terms like 'gem' when reading a book like this. But Guernsey is not precious . . . This is a book for firesides or long train rides. It's as charming and timeless as the novels for which its characters profess their love." --San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
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"Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books." (Isola, p. 53)
ReplyDelete". . . and I realized that my heart was galloping. As much as I tried to persuade myself it was because of the scenery, I knew better. All those people I've come to know and even love a little, waiting to see--me. And I, without any paper to hide behind. Sidney, in these past two or three years, I've become better at writing than living--and think what you do to my writing. On the page, I'm perfectly charming, but that's just a trick I learned. It has nothing to do with me. At least, that's what I was thinking as the mail boat came to the pier. I had a cowardly impulse to throw my red cape overboard and pretend I was someone else." (Juliet arriving at Guernsey, p.159-60)
ReplyDelete"When Wordsworth chided him for not caring enough about nature, Charles wrote, 'I have no passion for groves and valleys. The rooms where I was born, the furniture which has been before my eyes all my life, A BOOK CASE WHICH HAS FOLLOWED ME ABOUT LIKE A FAITHFUL DOG WHEREVER I HAVE MOVED--old chairs, old streets, squares where I have sunned myself, my old school--have I not enough, without your Mountains? I do not envy you. I should pity you, did I not know, that the Mind will make friends of any thing.' A Mind that can make friends of any thing--I thought of that often during the war." (Juliet, p. 115-6, emphasis added on my favorite line)
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited about this one. Can't wait to discuss it with everyone! Thanks for the choice Rahni!
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