The Street of Crocodiles is a novella by a Polish writer who was killed by the Nazis during WWII. If you're a fan of Calvino or Garcia Marquez, if you like your stories Kafkaesque, if you're in the mood for something poetic and odd, then this one should appeal. I've wanted to read it since Nicole Krauss referenced it in The History of Love last year.
First paragraph:
In July my father went to take the waters and left me, with my mother and elder brother, a prey to the blinding white heat of the summer days. Dizzy with light, we dipped into that enormous book of holidays, its pages blazing with sunshine and scented with the sweet melting pulp of golden pears.
Cool. I'll look around for a copy right now.
ReplyDeleteHooray! I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for presenting us with such interesting options. Once again a discerning litblogger broadens my reading horizons...
ReplyDeleteI'm hooked by that first paragraph. Will be searching for it at the library, keeping my fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to this one. What day in late January are we looking at for discussion?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about skipping this one, since I have no faith I'll be able to find a copy, but then you had to go post the first paragraph. Now I'll have to hunt for it.
ReplyDeleteyea! I will start looking for it now so I can join in this time. It looks like such a good story.
ReplyDeleteYay! I've already put it on my Christmas wishlist, and am hoping to read it in Polish.
ReplyDeleteLet's try for the last day of the month. I'm THRILLED that so many people are interested in reading the book.
ReplyDeleteIsabella, how many languages do you speak? I'm very impressed that you can read Polish.
Sound very interesting. I will have to watch for this book.
ReplyDeleteSusan: I was raised speaking Polish, otherwise I don't think I'd be able to learn it to any level of fluency, and I've lost a lot of it, but every few years I make a concerted effort to improve/practice. French I learned at school, and I'm only now passable in it, but only for the happy accident of living in a bilingual environment.
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