I have just had the marvelous opportunity to read 2 wonderful books over the past couple of weeks. It started with my Book Club assignment, "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". It was such a great book, written in letters between Islanders of Guernsey about their WWII experiences under Nazi invasion and the main character, a writer in London.
If you love the old fashioned idea of writing letters and loved waiting by the mailbox for a response then you will love this book.
First, I knew Guernsey and Jersey were Islands somewhere off the coast of England and that the inhabitants were British, but I never realized that they were actually just off the coast of France-hence, the Nazi invasion.
Second, I am really drawn to the dry British humor and their ability to laugh at themselves and their situations.
Reader Warning: This book is not easy to find-I originally ordered it from Amazon. It came during the move and of course got lost in the USPS system of forwarded addresses, so I had to go to B&N because it was the Saturday before BC and I had to get a copy in my hands. Needless to say, it took calls to 3 different B&N stores in the southeast valley to find a copy!!!!! Oh, and the Library only had a downloadable copy. So if you can find it, or want to borrow mine, read it and enjoy.
The second book I just read this morning is a result of reading the above. I had seen the movie starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. "84 Charing Cross Road" is a small book full of delightful correspondences between a New York writer and a charming used book firm in London starting right after the end of WWII. I recommend both the book and the movie
Do you suppose that since we no longer write long or short letters to each other (or does anyone even have an address book - just mailing addresses) anymore, that we will lose an artform that was gone before we missed it? Will the internet become our new Master of Communication? Well, I hereby declare that in memory of the lost art of letter writing, all my future posts will be in letter form!
Love always, Jan
1 comment:
We have actually talked about this at work--that people don't seem to be able to write letters or professional papers like they used to. They use :) and lol even in papers they are turning into their professors. So you are right, it is a lost art.
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