being british

all week i've been listening to the audio version of mary ann shafer's "guernsey literary potato peel pie society" while i was spinning and knitting. i finished it yesterday. while i was listening, i realized how at home i feel with british literature. as a child, my mother came to canada from scotland. aside from my nana, all the relatives on her side were still "in the old country" so our upbringing was very british. our childhood books were rupert and noddy and the secret garden (there were no canadian children's books in the '50's and very few american). as a young teen i devoured agatha christie. and then the classics - jane austin and the brontes. and for more contemporary it was orwell and isherwood.
i absolutely loved this book. yes - the setting (london and guernsey island just after the war). yes - the historical information (what it was like for the islanders being invaded and occupied for 5 years by the nazis). but mostly it was the words. her intelligent and soft humour that kept me captivated.
i thought it would be hard to get into another book after reading dickens but this one didn't disappoint.