Group Reads -> March 2020 -> Nomination thread (Immigrants and immigration won by Small Island by Andrea Levy)

[Nigeyb]

I'm posting the March 2020 nomination thread a bit earlier as many of us will be celebrating Xmas later in the month and may therefore be distracted.

Our March 2020 group reads theme is...

Immigrants and immigration

...so that's fiction or non fiction written by, or about, immigrants or immigration

Please nominate any book you believe would stimulate an interesting discussion. Please tell us a bit about the book and why you'd like to read it.

[Nigeyb]

As mentioned over at The Midnight Bell thread, I read have and enjoyed....


The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon

...which would make a great choice, however my nomination is the follow up book....

* Moses Ascending by Sam Selvon *

There is no need to have read The Lonely Londoners prior to reading Moses Ascending.

The Lonely Londoners beautifully evokes immigrant life in 1950s London for various characters who have come to London from the West Indies for work and opportunity.

Moses Ascending moves the narrative forward to the 1970s....

Moses thinks he's got it made. Originally a poor Caribbean immigrant, he is now the proud landlord of a ramshackle house in Shepherd's Bush, London. He has visions of being master of his own domain, writing memoirs while his trusty sidekick and handyman, Bob, does all the work.

But Moses's problems are far from over.... Soon a Black Power group take over the basement, headed by inodmitable - but very sexy - Brenda and an illegal people-smuggling ring is discovered upstairs. Not to mention harrassment by racist police, sheep slaughtering in the back yard and a Black Panther (human kind) on the loose.

Will Moses' elaborately constructed castle in the air be demolished by these unruly forces?

Following the fortunes of the characters from Selvon's The Lonely Londoners, Moses Ascending is a hilarious and telling depiction of 1970s Britain.

[Clare]

I nominate Small Island by Andrea Levy which focuses on the period just after WWII. Here’s the blurb:

‘It is 1948, and England is recovering from a war. But at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun. Queenie Bligh's neighbours do not approve when she agrees to take in Jamaican lodgers, but Queenie doesn't know when her husband will return, or if he will come back at all. What else can she do? Gilbert Joseph was one of the several thousand Jamaican men who joined the RAF to fight against Hitler. Returning to England as a civilian he finds himself treated very differently. It's desperation that makes him remember a wartime friendship with Queenie and knock at her door. Gilbert's wife Hortense, too, had longed to leave Jamaica and start a better life in England. But when she joins him she is shocked to find London shabby, decrepit, and far from the golden city of her dreams. Even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was...’

[Nigeyb]

Thanks Clare - a wonderful nomination

[Roman Clodia]

I'd also like to read Brooklyn and The Road Home as mentioned on the other thread (I've somehow never read Rose Tremain).

But I shall nominate Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov: I haven't read it, here's the blurb:

Professor Timofey Pnin, late of Tsarist Russia, is now precariously perched at the heart of an American campus. Battling with American life and language, Pnin must face great hazards in this new world: the ruination of his beautiful lumber-room-as-office; the removal of his teeth and the fitting of new ones; the search for a suitable boarding house; and the trials of taking the wrong train to deliver a lecture in a language he has yet to master.

Wry, intelligent and moving, Pnin reveals the absurd and affecting story of one man in exile.

It's supposed to be one of Nabokov's most accessible novels - and it's under 200 pages!

[Susan]

I love Nabokov, RC. Sounds wonderful.

[Nigeyb]

Thanks RC, another very tempting selection.


Nabokov-wise, I have only read Lolita, which was memorable, and Speak, Memory which was OK. Anyway, long and short, I'd be interested to read another well regarded title by Vladimir Nabokov.


Back to the March 2020 theme....

....Who else is nominating? Or thinking about it?


Nominations so far.....

Nigeyb: Moses Ascending by Sam Selvon
Clare: Small Island by Andrea Levy
Roman Clodia: Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov

[Nigeyb]

Who else is nominating? Or thinking about it?

[Susan]

I don't think I will nominate this month. Some interesting choices, and reads, already, for the coming year.

[Nigeyb]

Thanks Susan.


Three nominations is sufficient - and they all look like interesting books.

I just want to make sure everyone who wants to nominate has their opportunity.

[Susan]

Yes, thanks, Nigeyb. I can't believe this year is almost over and we are on a nomination for next Spring!

[Val]

Several I thought of are 21st century, but this one was published in 1990 and set in the 1970s:

The Buddha Of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi.

It is about a mixed-race teenager called Karim, who is desperate to escape suburban South London and to have new experiences in central London. It won the Whitbread (now Costa) Award for the best first novel and is partly autobiographical. It is very funny in places, but also contains some darker incidents.

This description from London Fictions is good:
https://www.londonfictions.com/hanif-...

[Nigeyb]

Val wrote: "Several I thought of are 21st century, but this one was published in 1990 and set in the 1970s:
The Buddha Of Suburbia"

Thanks Val

I love The Buddha Of Suburbia.

I haven't read it since it came out.

The BBC television adaptation was great too.

Another splendid nomination.

Nominations so far.....

Nigeyb: Moses Ascending by Sam Selvon
Clare: Small Island by Andrea Levy
Roman Clodia: Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
Val: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi

[Roman Clodia]

Isn't the language around this topic interesting? I've seen blurbs and reviews where to be an émigré, exile or ex-pat is somehow glamorous and/or tragic, whereas to be an immigrant or refugee is loaded with all kinds of negative rhetoric, especially in Trump/Brexit-world.

[Nigeyb]

Yes, good point Roman Clodia - it's all to with economic status

[Val]

It depends whether they are associated with the country they are coming from (émigré, exile or ex-pat, seen as positive) or the country they are going to, or attempting to get to, (immigrant, refugee or asylum seeker, seen as negative in some quarters).

[Nigeyb]

So I'm guessing we've got all the nominations we're going to get for March 2020


I'll leave it for another 24 hours or so before creating the poll, so this is the last call for nominations

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Val wrote: "immigrant, refugee or asylum seeker"

I see the connotations as different. An immigrant is someone coming to a country for their own reasons, and would choose to immigrate at any time. A refugee or asylum seeker are going from their country under adverse conditions and less of their own free will.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I will not be nominating - one choice above for me and am glad of it. (And one I've read already, which I would not read again.)

[Nigeyb]

Thanks for the clarification Elizabeth

[Judy]

Please can we avoid getting into a discussion of immigration laws, and get back to suggesting books about immigration and the immigrant experience.

Please do not respond to this post. Thank you, everyone.

[Nigeyb]

The poll is up....


Click here to vote

It's another very tough choice and I think I could happily read and discuss any of our nominations this month

Nominations .....

Nigeyb: Moses Ascending by Sam Selvon
Clare: Small Island by Andrea Levy
Roman Clodia: Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
Val: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi

[Susan]

As Judy has already posted about this matter, please can we not post/reply to inflammatory posts. I am removing any posts regarding this matter, including responses and I would please ask members to keep the conversation about books and not politics/race, outside of nominations.

This is simply so the matter is not inflamed further and we would ask that all members keep political comments general. Although we do not wish to shut down discussions, we did take a similar step in the British Politics thread, when a discussion about Brexit got a little heated!

[Nigeyb]

Exciting news (and thanks to Mark for the tip off).....


Penguin are republishing another Sam Selvon on 14 January 2020.

The Housing Lark

The humorous yet poignant novel of West Indian migrant life in London that adds an iconic voice to the growing Caribbean canon

A Penguin Classic

Set in London in the 1960’s, when the UK encouraged its Commonwealth citizens to emigrate as a result of the post-war labor shortage, The Housing Lark explores the Caribbean migrant experience in the “Mother Country” by following a group of friends as they attempt to buy a home together. Despite encountering a racist and predatory rental market, the friends scheme, often comically, to find a literal and figurative place of their own. Will these motley folks, male and female, Black and Indian, from Trinidad and Jamaica, dreamers, hustlers, and artists, be able to achieve this milestone of upward mobility? Unique and wonderful, comic and serious, cynical and tenderhearted, The Housing Lark poses the question of whether their “lark,” or quixotic idea of finding a home, can ever become a reality. Kittitian-British novelist and playwright Caryl Phillips contributes a foreword, while postcolonial literature scholar Dohra Ahmad provides a contextual introduction.

[Susan]

Always good to see books back in print, Nigeyb.

[Nigeyb]

Poll watch....


Small Island - 4 votes, 40.0%
Pnin - 3 votes, 30.0%
Moses Ascending - 2 votes, 20%
The Buddha of Suburbia - 1 vote, 10%


* Click here to vote *

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Perhaps it has been mentioned elsewhere that Andrea Levy, author of Small Island (currently leading the poll), died earlier this year at the age of 62. There is an excellent obituary on the BBC website, complete with pictures of the ship that carried her father from Jamaica to Britain in 1948 - and others. I think it provides an excellent backdrop for reading Small Island.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainmen...

[Susan]

Thanks for posting, Elizabeth. I wasn't aware of that, but I have never read anything by her before.

[Nigeyb]

Poll watch....


Small Island - 5 votes, 41.7%
Pnin - 3 votes, 25.0%
Moses Ascending - 3 votes, 25.0%
The Buddha of Suburbia - 1 vote, 8.3%


* Click here to vote *

[Nigeyb]

It looks as though we might have had all the votes we're going to get, as it's been no change for over 24 hours now, however there's still time to vote/change your vote

Poll watch

Small Island - 5 votes, 41.7%
Pnin - 3 votes, 25.0%
Moses Ascending - 3 votes, 25.0%
The Buddha of Suburbia - 1 vote, 8.3%

* Click here to vote *

[Nigeyb]

Two days running now and still no change in the poll.


I've made myself a hostage to fortune by setting up a thread for Small Island despite there still being a day left before the poll actually closes.

The Mod read to accompany Small Island in March 2020 will be....

The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon

Thanks to Clare for nominating Small Island

Thanks to everyone who got involved in the nomination process.

See you in March 2020.

[Nigeyb]

Clare wrote: "I nominate Small Island by Andrea Levy which focuses on the period just after WWII"

And the winner of the poll

Thanks Clare

Here's to a wonderful discussion about Small Island in March 2020

See you then

[Roisin]

Look forward to reading both books.