For those readers who have already experienced The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Saratoga Reads! recommends the following books as additional reading which thematically or stylistically complement this year’s book.
Corelli’s Mandolinby Louis de Bernieres
Like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Corelli’s Mandolin deals with the wartime occupation of an isolated island, and the wide-reaching effects that the war has on the residents of the island. The island is Cephallonia, located off the western coast of Greece, and many of the residents of Cephallonia play important roles as partial narrators of the book. Anecdotes and recollections of small-town life, ranging from daily gossip at the communal well to descriptions of yearly festivals, are interspersed with interludes written from the perspective of Italian soldiers fighting in World War II. De Bernières also attempts to justify the multiple occupations of the island by writing, briefly, from the perspective of the Greek Premiere. While the book describes the atrocities of the war with acute and occasionally alarming detail, the underlying love story is wonderfully written and wholly engaging. The author has a gift for character development; subsequently the reader feels a real connection with the characters and their experiences. While some critics might deem Corelli’s Mandolin too verbose and dense for the casual reader, the reader who is able to look past the author’s vocabulary will be rewarded by a beautiful, enduring love story and picturesque descriptions of life on an exotic, isolated island.
84, Charing Cross Roadby Helene Hanff
Unfolding in epistolary format, the 20-year friendship of an unknown New York City author and a London book dealer is a quiet, charming read with all of the intimacy that letter writing provides. Beginning in 1949, Helene Hanff writes to a London bookshop at 84, Charing Cross Road, in a post-war city London to inquire after rare editions on of books. Her unwitting pen-pal is Frank Doel and the two exchange letters for the next twenty years on topics including politics, baseball, rationing, and family. As the reader Hanff shares the intimate details of her letter which show an her old-fashioned, quaint relationship which grows and evolves over time. While similar to Guernsey in format, 84, Charing Cross possesses the authenticity of a “true story” without the convenience of created letters to advance a plot. The true beauty of this short book is its truth without pretense – and its ending is anything but convenient.
Saratoga Reads! C/O Skidmore College Box 2481 Saratoga Springs, New York 12866
518.580.8008 info@saratogareads.org
