Pigeon English | 
pickYou could tell what was going to happen from the beginning, but that tragic inevitability and the way the violence insidiously permeated the life of this lovely boy still shook me. He was a great kid, playing detective with his friend, and the everyday, almost banal acceptance of the gang violence in the community contraindicated the person he should have been.People just kill people as if it's ok, and that's the way it is - asweh, can we stop it?
I posted last week about unreliable narrators and it got me thinking about other memorable narrators. The one that has really stuck in my memory is Harri from Pigeon English. The pigeon is excellent as well of course but it's Harri that I can still 'hear' to this day. His turns of phrase, his tone, all still as fresh and sparky in my mind now 5 or 6 years since reading it.
I have many other favourites but Harri stands out. He's unforgettable.
pickMixed litsy rating but I‘d urge you to try it! 11yo boy moves from Ghana and makes sense of London, his housing estate, and a murder the police don‘t care about. This is one of few books that does a child‘s narration in an adult book well, with some magic realism elements that some found odd but I was very here for. The slang could be a barrier to immersion but it works great on audio.
#wintergames #tbrread #merryreaders @Clwojick @StayCurious
Read this book for a book club, and devoured it! I did enjoy the style and the characters, but the ending was just so shocking and sudden! Then I saw the references to Damilola Taylor and it made sense. I‘m so glad they didn‘t put those references in the cover as it would have ruined the story. I really want there to be a sequel told from his sister‘s perspective.
pickA tale telling the story of a eleven year old boy from Ghana in England, Harrison Opoku runs around town finding things to do. When one of his friends is murdered, Harrison decides to do something about it, while escaping a gang of older boys in school.
pickRe-reading this brilliant book. I find Kelman's ability to write with child-like wonder and innocence quite beautiful. I wonder if black Ghanaian migrants to London would find it too innacurate or find fault in him writing something so very different to his own lived experience but I hope not. I find this book very moving.
pickA great book, that looks into the mind of an eleven year old boy, and his journey to solve a murder, to define love and to choose between friends.👍 Great book and i loved every single part of it.
I'm having a book funk, they didn't have enough copies of small island that I wanted to read for my pick for bookclub and so they sent this instead and I'm sure it's good but it's not what I'd have picked if given a choice for an alternative and I'm slightly miffed tbh. And I don't want to read it.
This combined with 2 bails so far this month has left me not knowing what I want to read. Any ideas in how to get out of this bad book mood?
pickHarri (11) is a boy from Ghana who immigrates to a tough London neighbourhood. After the murder of an older boy, Harri and a friend turn amateur detectives, looking for clues everywhere. Kelman's ability to write from an 11-year-old's perspective is incredible, he creates such a sweet, naïf boy, who manages to stand strong in an environment of junkies and gangs. All the love for this book except for the pigeon, that added nothing at all #manbooker
@Balibee146 hi hope you are well any idea when you will be able send my book back to me. I would really like to go through some passages of it with my students before their GCSE exams at the end of May.
pickWonderful close to our first round of #lmpbc #groupX
Thank you for choosing the wonderful, important, heartbreaking novel @samharnold
Thank you all for a fab time.... Hope you are still up for another round in reverse order? ☺️ @jhod @DivaDiane
#read2018
I don't have a lot of #BorrowedBooks just now.... But I have these for postal bookclubs from other littens 😀
#marchinbooks @maich
Congratulations @Cathythoughts on 30k Litfluence!! That‘s amazing!
So, #onebookoneword huh? The tagged book was the book I finished most recently and it is “heartbreaking”.
Thanks for doing this giveaway!!
pickWhat a beautiful book. Sad and heartbreaking though. Told in first person by an 11 year old immigrant from Ghana living in council housing in London. His whole environment is ominous and yet he sees beauty and things to love everywhere. He is telling his feelings and experiences to a Pigeon he has “adopted”. The Pigeon might be his guardian angel. Not sure. I won‘t say more...
Thank you @samharnold for choosing for #LMPBC #groupX
1. Anywhere! I always have a book with me and am always pulling it out.
2. Mostly a movie/theater/event ticket or something like that but increasingly actual bookmarks!
3. I can stop anytime (necessity) but prefer the end of a chapter.
4. Sometimes
5. Nope.
6. I used to be monogamous, but now I‘m definitely a book polygamist!
7. Everywhere
8. I do both. Read aloud to my son and husband and into a microphone.
9. Never
10. Neither
#humpdaypost @MinDea
1. Post a shelfie!
2-Beer wine or Liquor? - Wine!
3-History or Futuristic Fiction?I‘ve always preferred Historical and futuristic fiction to present day!
4-What color are your eyes? Blue/Gray
5-What are you reading? Pigeon English - love it so far.
So these are the books on my plate right now. There‘re 2 buddy reads, which count also for my #MountTBRchallenge (#OtherlandBuddyRead & #EpicBuddyRead #NameoftheWind). There‘re also 2 collections for the #PoetryChallenge2018 and the new book for #GroupX‘s #LPMBC, which I thought I should keep Secret! ThankS for sending it @jhod !
My boyf surprised me with New Year's in France! Which was lovely but I didn't manage to fit much reading in! Back on the Euro Tunnel now and hoping to finish this one off... Happy New Year!! 🎉🌟🎉🌟
Just got to my parents after a five hour trip from #london and there are freshly made biscuits on the table! My mum has made it look so Christmassy! These are the books I want to try and finish/read whilst I'm here! One each for #lmpbc and #whodunituk #bookandcookies
#dickensianlondon
@jenniferw88
#decktheshelves
@JoeStalksBeck @Tiffy_Reads
so-soTold from the point of view of an eleven-year-old boy, Pigeon English observes the harsh realities of the projects. Harrison has recently moved into the flats with his mom and sister. He spends half his time daydreaming about pigeons and the other half observing the local gang. The murder of a local boy inspires him to solve the mystery, facing the harsh realities of growing up in urban poverty.
#junebookbugs day 15 - #stripes
Sometimes, the title alone is enough to get you to buy a book. Went back and forth on this one for a while before finding this hardback copy in a used bookstore.
