When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello by Anura.This book title caught my eye coz I quite like all things Italian. It's one of the three travelogues I borrowed from the library 3 weeks ago. It's an enjoyable, humorous read of Anura's stint in Italy, where he worked as an English teacher, in a rundown language school. Anura is of Sri Lankan descent but had lived in New York most of his life. The story is filled with characters of all sorts; the character i liked the most was his last gf from I think mm Bulgaria, Czech, oh whatever. As mentioned in the book, this is his first and last book! Which I find a real pity coz his writing is witty and he has a sardonic sense of humor, which I enjoyed tremendously. Definitely a worthwhile read to lighten up a gloomy day.
Another travelogue. This one has none of the light-heartedness or humor found in Limoncello or 12,000 miles. In fact, I found the story and the author really dark and depressing. it was disconcerting to find a 16-year old, brave and independent enough to travel alone to unfamiliar places. The author, an American, left school to travel to Beijing, Hong Kong, Nepal, Amsterdam, england, Italy. The travelling was done in the 1980s, when China was still quite "conservative", I would say. Foreigners were probably not as commonly seen then, as compared to now. Her travel through these places was quite an adventure, she was a tutor in China, a smuggler, a prostitute at one time, a beggar, actress, etc. The things people do to survive. Subsequently she met a guy in Amsterdam, who would become her abusive bf, and father of her child. She was pregnant at the grand old age of 19! I dont know how to put it, it's like her life has been put on the fast track, squeezing what people would have experienced in decades into the three years of her teenage life. A very interesting read.
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ReplyDeleteI bought a copy of When life gives you lemons make limoncello at the Barefoot bookshop and art gallery in Colombo and the manager told me that it was the most popular book in the country. I found it an easy read and very very funny. I read it in about 3 days sitting on the beach and my gf read it on the flight back home and she too thought it was hilarious. I find it a shame this book is not available in America because I think there will be thousands of people who will find this book extremely interesting and funny. Perhaps he should find a publisher and get it out there as I believe light travel books like this has a huge audience. I personally found this book a lot more interesting and funnier than Eat Drink Pray. It's a pity that really good foreign writers like Anura don't get published in America or England as they are so much fun to read.
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