Browsers Book Evenings

The September, October & November book evenings are now finalised, and tickets (£4 each including wine) are now on sale.

Wednesday September 19  - 7.30 

Imran Ahmad: Unimagined - A Muslim Boy Meets the West

Part "White Teeth", part "Adrian Mole", "Unimagined" is the captivating memoir of a Muslim boy born in Pakistan, who moves to London aged one and grows up torn between his Islamic identity and his desire to embrace the West. The narrator recalls his childhood in a series of vivid snapshots: outrage as deserved victory is snatched away from him in the Karachi Bonnie Baby contest; bitterness as he is tricked out of his collection of Tarzan bubble-gum cards by junior con artists; the heady taste of success in the Metropolitan Police schools quiz; joy at passing the entrance exam to the local grammar school; uncertainty as he seeks to become a doctor (like all good Asian boys); and shock at experiencing racist abuse from pupils, neighbours and strangers. Imran's response is a determined quest to become the quintessential English gentleman: tie perfectly knotted, shirt pristinely ironed, hair neatly combed;like most boys, he has a parallel obsession with cars and girls: he yearns to emulate his hero, Simon Templar in The Saint, by driving off into the distance in a Jaguar XJS and encountering danger, adventure - and a vivacious young woman (preferably brunette, but any kind considered). "Unimagined" is amusing, touching and uplifting.

Wednesday October 17 - 7.30 

Chris Smith: Why Don't You Fly?- Back Door to Beijing by Bicycle

Chris Smith left his Worcestershire home, but instead of cycling the routine twelve miles to work, he kept on pedalling. 13 months later he arrived in Beijing. This is his account of an epic quest to rediscover a misplaced sense of identity in which exhilaration and exhaustion trade positions against a backdrop of prodigious physical endeavour.

Chris will illustrate his talk with slides (& a bicycle!)

Wednesday November 21 - 7.30 

Rosie Whitehouse: Are We There Yet?- Travels with my Frontline Family

I'll quote from Rosie's blog:
This is a family travel book with a difference. I am the wife of frontline reporter Tim Judah. Together we have criss-crossed Europe with our five children as revolution and war have erupted around us. I have queued for food in post-revolutionary Romania and in '92 I heard the first shots of the conflict in Bosnia before being with two kids in a darkened plane on the last flight out of Sarajevo, as the war broke out . I have interrailed with my children up to the Artic Circle where we met Father Christmas and encountered sun, sand and anti-semitism in the South of France. What has been fascinating is watching how my children have put together their identities as they have been confronted with harsh politics and hard history.

The BBC World Service asked Rosie to send a message to Alan Johnston while he was imprisoned in Gaza- you can see the letter at http://travelswithmyfrontlinefamily.blogspot.com/