And now for something completely different

Why a mouthful of a name for a book club? Why a novel made up entirely of letters? There are reasons, good reasons. Let me count them.

1) This book club was born (of scary, hasty necessity) as the Guernsey Literary Society. Then, insisting on refreshments at book club meetings, a book club member "concocted a potato peel pie: mashed potatoes for filling, strained beets for sweetness, and potato peelings for crust." (Shaffer and Barrows 51) Thus--the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Fair enough (as my trainer might say) but why a potato peel pie in the first place? This brings me to--
2) Very importantly, this novel is set on the English island of Guernsey during German occupation in World War II. No doubt because of the occupation, butter, flour and sugar--the usual ingredients for a pie--were scarce, and so this book club member, Will Thisbee, made do with beets, potatoes, and potato peelings. Thus was necessity the mother of invention, of a potato peel pie.
Actually, a similar necessity gives birth to the invention of the book club at all. German patrol officers are about to arrest Amelia Maugery and friends for breaking curfew, when one of Mrs. Maugery's friends, Elizabeth McKenna, claims that "we had been attending a meeting of the Guernsey Literary Society, and the evening's discussion of Elizabeth and her German Garden had been so delightful that we had all lost track of time." (29) Necessarily fast thinking brings about the invention of a literary society.
3) This entirely epistolary novel--a form of novel I associate with the 18th century--makes possible a focus on significant anecdotes, like the anecdote about the creation of the Guernsey Literary Society, an anecdote demonstrating the bravery of Elizabeth McKenna, an aspect of her character that is demonstrated in other anecdotes in other letters throughout the novel. Interestingly, at one point, the book publisher for the protagonist, Juliet Ashton, tells her, "Strings of anecdotes don't make a book" (200), and yet anecdotes do make this book.
There are many anecdotes about the German occupation of Guernsey in World War II, in which it is shown that necessity is the mother of invention, in grave--and less grave--circumstances. A couple such anecdotes inform us about making soap from pig's fat (80) and a way to stalk German soldiers with intermittent whistling (172). There are anecdotes about the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, an especially memorable anecdote having to do with Isola Pribby's determination to read head bumps (224). Then there are letters in which the letter-writer's choice of anecdote tellingly reveals the character of the letter-writer: letters of recommendation (or not) for Juliet Ashton, from Lady Bella Taunton and Reverend Simon Simpless, and letters from Guernsey resident Adelaide Addison, warning Juliet away from the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. (Adelaide Addison--who signs off with the absurd "Yours in Christian Consternation and Concern" (67)--reminds me of the persistently proselytizing Miss Clack in The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins. Miss Clack, however, is a more fully realized, and therefore more sympathetic, character than Adelaide Addison, who is only, briefly, a thorn in the side.)

In the same letter in which he declares that strings of anecdotes don't make a book, book publisher Sidney Stark tells Juliet Ashton that the core of her book is Elizabeth McKenna. He writes--

I'm sending back the ms and your letters to me--read them again and see how often Elizabeth is spoken of. Ask yourself why. Talk to Dawsey and Eben. Talk to Isola and Amelia. Talk to Mr. Dilwyn.... (201)

I see Sidney's point (Mary Ann Shaffer's point?), and yet, once again, I do not agree with him (Mary Ann Shaffer?). I came to dread yet another story about the spirited Elizabeth. She is as un-believably heroic as Little Dorrit (in Little Dorrit, by Charles Dickens) is un-believably saintly.
It seems to me, the core of this book is the importance of reading. Early on, Juliet makes clear to Sidney "my interest in their interest in reading" (93), an interest that has a significant impact on the lives of the members of the literary society. For instance, an interest in Thomas Carlyle brings about a new friendship, while an interest in Marcus Aurelius nearly ends an old friendship. Reading is not an incidental thing to do for these Guernsey residents.
In sum--although the voice of the protagonist, Juliet Ashton, can veer towards perkiness-overload, Juliet's focus on the act of reading (and writing, and story-telling), explicit and implicit throughout, is wonderfully obdurate in the era of the iPhone and Windows 7.