New Reads:

Up next we're reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. A woman at work recommended it to me, saying it was so good she didn't want to finish it. And since live for that kind of connection with a story, I immediately picked up a copy.

Here's the basic description:

"January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she'd never met, a native of Guernsey, the British island once occupied by the Nazis. He'd come across her name on the flyleaf of a secondhand volume by Charles Lamb. Perhaps she could tell him where he might find more books by this author.

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, she is drawn into the world of this man and his friends, all members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a unique book club formed in a unique, spur-of-the-moment way: as an alibi to protect its members from arrest by the Germans.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the Society's charming, deeply human members, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Through their letters she learns about their island, their taste in books, and the powerful, transformative impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey and what she finds there will change her forever."

This story has many elements that make me think I'm really going to love it, including:

1. written in letter format
2. Nazi occupied Europe during WWII
3. classic love stories
4. people who love books
5. 1940's/1950's 

If you're keeping up with my 56 book challenge, this will be my eighth book so far. The list reads as follows:

1. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
2. Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned From Judy Blume
3. The Sweet Far Thing
4. Interview with a Vampire
5. The Tales of Beedle the Bard
6. Spud
7. The Secret History

I figure when I reach the halfway mark this summer, I'll do a recap of the books I've read thus far, including which ones I have loved the most and why. But let me just say right now, The Secret History is leading the pack. Read it. It's fantastic.