Here's what we do - at the start of the month, we pick a book. As we read it, we post whether to recommend or to avoid.
Then book for May is Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka:
"An idyll of the English countryside: a beautiful summer's evening in a Kent field, and around their two caravans a little group of strawberry pickers is getting ready to celebrate a birthday.
"But who picks our strawberries these days? The Ukrainians: Irina, just off the coach from Kiev, and eager to improve her excellent English and find true love with a romantic Englishman; Andriy, the miner's son from the other Ukraine; the Poles: Bob Dylan fan, Tomasz, (whose smelly trainers will soon punish those in the men's caravan), Yola, the petite, voluptuous gangmistress and her religious niece Marta, who finds the wild mushrooms to cook with the sliced loaf; then there is Vitaly, king of the new mobilfon world of the shiny new Eastern Europe; two Chinese girls; Emanuel, the round eyed eighteen-year-old from Malawi, come to England to look for his sister. And although he can't exactly help pick strawberries, there's also the Dog...
"But these are a group leading dangerous lives - exploitative employers, British regulations and gang masters with guns will all threaten their existence as they take to the caravan road until each of them peels off to find their destiny.
"Hilarious, gritty, moving, and slapstick by turns Two Caravans has every bit of the extraordinary distinctiveness and wit and heart that made A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian so successful."
First reports coming soon.
If you don't want to buy it - join your local library.
Claudio - you forgot to mention that we then discuss the book and what we think of it. Do we have to give a date by when people will have read the book so we don't give the plot away?
How random! I've JUST finished reading A short history of ukrainian tractors by the same woman which I borrowed off my colleague - and she now has this book as well! I might borrow it off her if I can or get it from the library.
Not sure I want to read another book by her but if that;s what is chosen I guess I will...
How random! I've JUST finished reading A short history of ukrainian tractors by the same woman which I borrowed off my colleague - and she now has this book as well! I might borrow it off her if I can or get it from the library.
Not sure I want to read another book by her but if that;s what is chosen I guess I will...
will call in at Borders later and see if they have the aforementioned tome.. Sounds interesting and I was only thinking yesterday I needed some new reading material...
As for Mr Will's desire for a bit of la-di-dah mansized culture, I think that's a good idea.. Perhaps a general arts thread could be created to encompass all things from the world of arts, literature, film, theatre, architecture, media and music.
