In line with our aim of reading slightly off the beaten track and having books from a variety of periods, genres and countries, the Cornflower Book Group book for March will take us to India and the fictitious town of Malgudi. This is the creation of R.K. Narayan, one of India's greatest English language novelists and a major influence on the work of our own Alexander McCall Smith (as you'll see here).
The more I read about Narayan, the more I want to read him, and there are quite a number of novels and short story collections to choose from, but I've picked his 1976 book The Painter of Signs, "a comic, bittersweet story of love getting in the way of progress" about Raman, the eponymous sign-painter, and the high-minded, "thrillingly independent" Daisy.
I'll quote the reviewers to whet your appetite: "one of the most charming masters of twentieth century fiction", "manages simultaneously to be funny and desperate, topical and timeless, sardonic and fresh and as seemingly natural and uncomplicated as milking a goat ... the rope trick of irony, fun and feeling is beautifully adroit", "subtle, vivid ... extremely funny". Tempted? I hope so!
A week on Saturday (the 20th. of February) we'll be talking about John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, so let's put The Painter of Signs in the diary for four weeks after that, Saturday, 20th. March. The book should be easily available through libraries, shops and online (both Amazon US and UK have it), and if you can't get it locally The Book Depository can send it to you wherever you are with free worldwide delivery.
