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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Annie Barrows, Mary Ann Shaffer | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
9
8.0 (21 Ratings)
Book Rating
This will stay on my bookshelf!!
I normally give books away after I've read them unless I love them, and this book, well, I really did love it. Such a touching, funny, sad story. I loved how the story's told through a series of letters from the main character, Juliet, and some of the inhabitants of Guernsey. We get a glimpse of what life had been like under German occupation during World War II, and how the people of Guernsey rebuilt their lives after the end of the war. There's a tiny bit of romance too, but not too much. It's such a shame that this was the only book that Mary Ann Shaffer wrote, but I suppose it does prove the point that most people have a book in them to write!
  
Whichever Way The Road Leads (The Eastman Saga #1)
Whichever Way The Road Leads (The Eastman Saga #1)
J. A. Boulet | 2024 | Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
loved them both, together and apart!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

I should say, I'm UK based, so the 1812 war between Canada and the US is not really one I know anything about. Therefore, I cannot comment on the accuracy of the details in this book.

What I can comment on, though, is the story between Zee and Jesse and their struggle to cope during this war. I loved them both, together and apart. They are both strong people, emotionally, do deal with such a difficult time, and to come out the other side.

It's beautifully written, from both Zee and Jesse's POV. There are wonderful descriptions of the scenery in that part of the world. I really enjoyed trying to picture them.

It has some lighter moments, but some darker ones too. There was much that made me cry.

I haven't read anything by this author before, A quick look shows her books seem to be about couples in settings with a war backdrop. I'd like to read more from this author.

4 very good stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
1944 | Classics, Comedy, Romance
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"This is a wild farce, it’s shocking that he got away with it in the middle of World War II. Betty Hutton gets drunk saying goodbye to soldiers going off to fight, and she gets knocked up. You never know what happened but everyone says let’s get married, because she’s pregnant. She has no idea who the father is. How he got away with this in the middle of the production code in the middle of World War II, I have no idea. Eddie Bracken plays a guy who’s so madly in love with her, he agrees to be the father. It’s a great comedy, really a farce."

Source
  
40x40

Greg Mottola recommended Naked (1993) in Movies (curated)

 
Naked (1993)
Naked (1993)
1993 | Drama
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I love Mike Leigh, and this is one of his best. A brutal character study, it’s a journey into the psyche of a man at war with himself and the world. Bleak, hilarious, and uncompromising. Also, the DVD includes Mike Leigh’s wonderful, demented short film The Short and Curlies (featuring another great performance by David Thewlis)."

Source
  
1917 (2020)
1917 (2020)
2020 | Drama, War
The visuals (1 more)
The representation of the war
The War (0 more)
The War Within The War
1917- is a excellent, phenomenal, epic, fantastic visuals, a remarkable/extraordinary journey that is sad to watch, because it takes place within the war, so people get wounded/injured, people get killed, people go through hell in war just to live to see the next day. People get hungry, tired, dont get to see their family, their have to survive, survival is the only key. And 1917 shows that, 1917 shows the representation of the war, 1917 shows all of that and more. Sam Mendes shows the representation, the struggle, the journey, no man's land and so much more of the war. As to appear as one continuous shot. Which was excellent/phemomenal.

The Plot: During World War I, two British soldiers -- Lance Cpl. Schofield and Lance Cpl. Blake -- receive seemingly impossible orders. In a race against time, they must cross over into enemy territory to deliver a message that could potentially save 1,600 of their fellow comrades -- including Blake's own brother.

A must, a very must watch film. If you havent seen 1917 than go out and see it. Cause this movie will win best picture.
  
40x40

James Koppert (2698 KP) Jan 20, 2020

Loved it

SM
So Much Life Left Over
Louis de Bernieres | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The aftermath of World War 1 in true de Bernieres style.
Louis de Bernieres has been one of my favourite authors ever since I stumbled across The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts in 1990. As soon as I see that he has a book coming out, I avidly wait until I can buy it, trying to get as much information about the subject matter as I can (yes, I'm a fan-girl). This novel has not disappointed me.
So Much Life Left Over takes us back in to the lives of Rosie and Daniel Pitt after the First World War has come to an end. We go as far as Ceylon, back to London and to Germany in the 1930's. We catch up with all of the characters that we first encountered in The Dust That Falls From Dreams (and if you haven't read that yet, you're seriously missing out), and learn about what happens to Rosie's sisters, parents and those that they have met along the way.
I love the dialogue in this book: it's punchy, quick-witted and emotional. The first of Oily Wragge's chapters (each chapter, when about a different person, is written from their perspective, sometimes in first person, sometimes in third person - but I like this. It seems so personal) haunting, terribly sad and filled with the violence and horror of war and being a prisoner of war.
Daniel and Wragge go to work in Germany, and set up a business with the two fighter pilots that Daniel captured in the war. Here we get a look at the Germany of the early 1930's: the poverty, deprivation, and Hitlers rise to power. Daniel correctly predicts another war.
However, the truly heart wrenching events happen in the last thirty pages or so. I strongly suggest you get your handkerchief ready. The emotion in these last pages is what really makes this a truly stand out book for me (if the rest of the book hadn't already been enough to do that!). The sensitivity in the way that the subject matter is handled, and the emotions that this invokes in the reader is so well done.
I would thoroughly recommend this novel, I so enjoyed it, and I will be looking forward to the last part of this story.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.