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

Review by Shwetha H S

Imprint: Dial Press
ISBN: 1984801813
Genre: Historical, Drama, Fiction, Humour

The late author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer, passed away due to cancer a few months before the book was released. Her niece and co-author, Annie Barrows, stepped into her shoes to complete the book and make it see the light of the day. I am glad it happened. If not, I would have missed one witty book by female authors.

Juliet Ashton is a writer with few books to her name. She is not the typical girl of the WW2 era. Not coy, not timid. She is a person of her own mind and that mind of hers makes her pursue things that lead to her betterment. Wow. I love her. I see myself in her. I would totally do whatever she did in the situations she faced in the book. Getting back on track, she is an orphan but has close friends to call family, Sophie and Sidney. Under certain circumstances, she befriends the members of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on the island of Guernsey under the nationality of England. When she gets to know the problems they faced during German occupation of the island and more intriguing facts about a few people, she decides to go to the island herself leaving behind a suitor, Mark, and her book publicity tour. There she finally meets her pen pals with whom she had developed a bonding over the letters. Amelia, Isola, Eben, Dawsey, Elizabeth, her daughter Kit, and Will are the prominent characters from the island. They all are present in person except Elizabeth who is in all the narrations of others. What happens between all these characters is the rest of the story. Each character in the story is different, but I kind of didn’t gel well with Isola. She was too much for me. If she were real, I would not have tolerated her bubbly nature.

I have personally never liked the epistolary format of books. Robinson Crusoe, Frankenstein, Swiss Family Robinson, they all bored me to death and I came alive by finishing them with audiobooks. But The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is different. I fell in love with the way letters are written. The narration is witty. So humorous that I want to wake Mary from her grave and kiss her and surrender to Annie for the prowess they exhibit in this book. Chuck the movie. Read the book. The movie does zero justice to the story and doesn’t even follow the same storyline completely.

A Pelican at Blandings by P G Wodehouse

Review by Shwetha H S

Genre: Humour, Fiction
Imprint: Penguin Books
ISBN: 0-14-005033-7

English humour with a heavy dose of sarcasm is what makes P G Wodehouse a favourite among readers when they want to stay away from the daily humdrum and escape the reality. Best known as the creator of Jeeves, P G Wodehouse also wrote the Blandings Castle series. He not only makes you laugh and sit back relaxing in your couch, but also makes you sit straight with surprise. P G Wodehouse was, and is, the man who tickles readers, generation after generation.

Clarence Threepwood, the ninth Earl of the Emsworth, who lives in Blandings Castle, is shocked by his sister, Lady Constance’s surprise visit. For an Earl, who prefers to be in his pajamas than uptight in suits all the time, the arrival of his sister, who insists on dressing up even for dinner, is a pain in the neck. But he is afraid of her and goes dumber than he already is whenever she is around. On top of it, Duke of Dunstable invites himself to Blandings Castle and Lady Constance is pleased. To avoid any kind of embarrassments and insults, the Earl seeks company and assistance of their brother, Galahad Threepwood a.k.a Gally. Lady Constance hates Gally. As the story takes turn, or turns, many other characters come into picture. Linda Gilpin, niece of the Duke, is in love with John Halliday, godson of Gally, but the Duke doesn’t approve of this due to selfish reasons. Vanessa Polk, a friend of Lady Constance, meets her ex-boyfriend Wilbur Trout, who is invited to the castle by the Duke. Howard Chesney, a shady young man, lurks among them. Where does the story lead the reader with half of the characters being eccentric?

Duke of Dunstable is more than enough to irk anyone. You will pity his niece, Linda Gilpin. Lady Constance and Clarence Threepwood, the Lord Emsworth are poles apart though they are siblings. Constantly pestered by others characters, Galahad Threepwood is not the man you want, but need on your side. Considering A Pelican at Blandings is the one before last in the Blandings Castle series, the reader might think that he or she might not understand anything of the story. But the genius P G Wodehouse is, he never makes the reader feel lost. There is enough explanation about each character to understand as much as required for the current story. It is difficult to put down the book unless it falls on your face when you have lost sleep trying to finish reading what P G Wodehouse has to offer.

This book is highly recommended for the sheer pleasure of humour. If you want to pick up sarcasm from this book, you have made the right choice.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Review by Shwetha H S

Genre: Nonfiction, Humour, Autobiography
Imprint: Ebury Press
ISBN: 978-0-09-195717-9

Mindy Kaling, the comedian and screen writer best known for the shows The Office and The Mindy Project, is the author of this book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns).

In this book, the author talks about her non-athletic, book nerdish childhood, her family and about being a Hindu, how she made friends, moving to New York, staying with best friends in a house, trying to find a show biz job, the crazy drama called Matt & Ben done along with her best friend Brenda, how The Office changed her life, concepts that she doesn’t understand and she loves, the way she looks and about how her funeral needs to be. There are few segments like Somewhere in Hollywood Someone Is Pitching This Movie and Revenge Fantasies While Jogging which are not that great. But there are also few segments that are exceptional like Men and Boys, and Married People Need to Step It Up, and everyone should read them. I give her points for writing as it is and without hesitating about anything, even about her lack of knowledge about certain things. An uninhibited account of her “concerns” in her world.

This book is totally hilarious and completely relatable. One-time read that won’t disappoint you.