The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This book is a series of letters written by Juliet the writer to her publisher, best friend, and a group of people on Guernsey Island which is one of the English Channel Islands. At first I found the letters amusing as Juliet searches for the topic for her next book. Her letters are bright and clipped and witty, particularly to Sidney her publisher and Mark her American pursuer. She uncovers a fellow named Dawson on Guernsey Island who shares the life of the islanders and their literary society born out of an excuse to foil some Nazis who found them breaking curfew. Juliet goes to the island and discovers much more. All the islanders love her. She learns about the brave Elizabeth who dies in a Nazi prison and leaves a young daughter on the island. Alas this all ends up with too many coincidences and a too happy an ending for my liking. Half way through the book, I was done. My mother in law liked this as I knew she would! Of interest is that the niece Annie Barrows edited and finished the book for her aunt who was dying of cancer (and it was the aunt's first book)

The Other by David Guterson

This book has a lot of familiar Northwest woods and Seattle scenes in it. It is the tale of two boys who become friends at a track meet. Their friendship evolves over the years with one of the boys who comes from a wealthy family becoming a hermit on the Olympic peninsula. While at times it is not totally believable, I liked the faithfulness of the friend who continues to visit his hermit as the years go by and in the end receives a surprising bequest some 29 years later. Guterson is a poetic writer and this book evokes the foggy damp green of the woods well. Here is one of my favorite images "... the express (train) had just gone through at high speed a minute or so before and the passengers in it flashing past like kings, queens, and jacks in a thumbed deck of cards, ephemeral as thoughts" p. 47

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

I liked this book which I think is semi-autobiographical of Sherman Alexie. Junior decides to switch from his rez school in Wellpinit to Reardon an all white kids' high school. He writes about the challenges of being Indian and deserting his tribe to go to the white school. He leaves because he opens up a math book and sees his mom's name in it from 30 years ago and realizes that the rez school will always have the worst textbooks, teachers, etc. He loves to read and play basketball. He talks about getting erections, crushes on girls, friends, getting beat up, being scared, his parents, sister, and grandmother and what it feels like to be Indian. He knows he has to leave the rez to live-- many of his family members die due to drinking themselves or someone who is drunk does something harmful to them.

Halsey's Typhoon by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

So why was I reading a book about the US Navy Admiral Halsey during WW II? I was at Barnes and Noble looking for a Father's day book for my 91 year old dad. He loved the Navy and I like to find him good Navy books. It is amazing that new ones keep popping up-- most of the folks who served in WWII are no longer living-- where is the audience for these books? I should also say that I did have a particular affinity for WW II things in the 1950s-- I watched Gallant Men and Hogans Heros religiously with my parents and yes I liked the movie South Pacific, which may explain why I decided to read the book before sending it to my dad. OK so Admiral Halsey was another one of those ego maniac guys who follows the rules even in the face of a typhoon coming. While he is charged with giving General McArthur cover as he "retakes" the Philippines, a big storm whips up. Halsey does not clear out his Blue Blanket Naval fleet of destroyers who get tossed around like balls on a blanket as the typhoon grows to a very scary size. The main interest in the book is how the captains and their shipmates handle the storm- some are complete Captain Queeg nut cases and others are heros. Ships go down (3 of them) and about 800 men are lost. Somehow Halsey never gets really blamed for his dumb decision to make them all stay in the path of the storm instead of getting away. I was surprised to learn that some of the men who were interviewed for the book had never told their families about what happened to them- those who were rescued from sea where sharks and the blistering hot sun literally ate away at them. In the end I decided the book was a little too junky. I found another one called the Cobra Strikes -- which was also written about the typhoon and what happened to Halsey's fleet.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

This book was a big hit in France. A 12 year old suicidal girl Paloma and the concierge Renee in her apartment building share similar passions- observing life with "deep philosophical thoughts" and hiding their inner lives from others. At the end they learn to reach out beyond themselves and make friendships and realize they can be appreciated for who they are. A little trite. The first half of the book was very slow...the second half perked up with Mon Ozu a rich Japanese chap with a singing toilet joins the inhabitants of the apartment house. This was Nora's choice for book club. She loved it ...perhaps her thoughts are deeper and more philosophical than mine! She teaches high school German.