Small Island but not a small book
Small Island is a very worthy winner of the Whitbread Prize. I read it over the summer. Congratulations to Andrea Levy. When I get time I will post a bit more about real books of the year (i.e. books people might actually read, unlike some of the lists in the broadsheets at Christmas and in the summer).
The Guardian has a good piece on the book today. It quotes Andrea Levy herself:
It marks a long hoped-for watershed in which, as she said in a recent Guardian article, "some of the bestselling books in this country have come from authors who would once have been seen as 'minority interest' and have now become publishing gold".
When her win was announced late last night, she said, in a reference to the Tory politician Enoch Powell's notorious "rivers of blood" speech in the late 1960s: "Most of all I would like to thank all those people in Britain who work hard to make sure the rivers in this country never run with blood, only with water."
It's a witty -often funny, in fact -, well-researched and imaginative novel.
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2 comments:
A comment on your poll: Do you think that smoking should…
This poll, like every other poll before it, fails to mention smoking in public near children. For children tobacco is a banned substance yet smoking parents and other smokers openly smoke is parks, play areas, outside schools and near other places where children congregate. I would, if it were possible, support a smoking ban that targeted smoking in these areas.
-Tav.-
Interesting point and thanks for commenting. I will think more about this and discuss the point with colleagues.
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