Books for the islands
Hello everyone! My girlfriend has been posting on here for a while and said it was a very, very cool and helpful board. After reading a bunch of the topics, I agree with her, so I thought I'd post too 🙂 Her and I are moving to St. Thomas for 6 months (at least that's the plan, I don't think either of us would fight the never ending vacation though), and are both avid readers. Would anyone like to suggest some good books to read while in the Caribbean, I've done a web search, but would love to hear from people who live there. Poetry suggestions would be great too! Thanx, -Ben
Start off with Don't Stop the Carnival by Herman Wouk. It's a classic on island life! It was written in the 50's. I first read it in 1970 as a teenager-- got such a kick out of how accurate it was and how funny that I re-read it in 2004 after I'd been off the island for several years and was amazed at how relevant to today it is! We may change, but the island life doesn't (much) and it's a very fun read.
I agree about "Don't Stop the Carnival." Also, "An Embarrassment of Mangoes."
A Trip to the Beach by Melinda and Robert Blanchard, although about Anguilla, relates so well to so many of the problems here, especially in opening a business.
Ben: If you and she are avid readers, you will probably find Dockside Book Shop within the first 5 minutes of your arrival. They have a Caribbean section with lots of interesting finds. A couple of my favorites, not already mentioned, include: "Night of the Silent Drums," by John Lorenzo Anderson about the 1733 St John slave rebellion and "Sonny Jim of Sandy Point," by S.B. Jones-Hendrickson about growing up in St Kitts in the 60s. There are also Caribbean Writer quarterlies, Caribbean and VI histories, etc.
There are "leave a book-take a book" libraries around, too.
Caribbean by James Michener.
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