I'm going to briefly review two books which I have read recently. The first is “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie
Society” by Mary Ann Schaefer and the second is “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
by Paul Torday. These are both books which were recommended to me and, if I’m
honest, I probably wouldn’t have read otherwise. I generally stick to authors I
know and styles I enjoy. But these books are written in a very different style.
“The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society” is written in the form of
letters between a London-based author, Juliet, and various members of the
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. It’s 1946 and letters fly back and
forth with stories of life in Guernsey under the German Occupation. The tone of
the book is light-hearted, but it doesn’t shy away from the more difficult
aspects of life in and just after the war. I love visiting Guernsey and have enjoyed seeing the island in a different light through this book.
My second book, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” is written in the form of
diary extracts, email correspondence, letters, press comments and interviews!
Initially I found it slightly bizarre as I am used to a straight-forward story,
but as I got into the story I really enjoyed the use of different means of
communication to convey the story. The basic plot of the story follows Dr
Alfred Jones, a fisheries scientist, who feels that something is missing in his
life. He is asked to help to create a salmon river in the highlands of Yemen –
so he has to figure out how to fly ten thousand salmon to a desert country and
persuade them to fish there! The story flows along in a predictive way, until
the end where there is an unexpected twist in the story!
Go and have a read and let me know what you think! (Comments always welcome...)
