Good Book

This was the book of the week on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour. It is wonderful. It really contrasts the difference between two cultures as they clash head on at the level of the individual. There's a listen again facility on the Woman's Hour website.


"A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers by Xiaolu Guo


A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers is a funny and poignant romance about love and the search for a common language, adapted from one of last year’s shortlisted novels for the Orange Broadband Prize. It began life as the author’s diary when she herself first came to London, and tells the story of a young Chinese woman studying English in London, whose bemused encounters with waiters, taxi drivers, hostel managers and language teachers leave her longing for a friendly face. When she falls head over heels in love with an Englishman, her English starts to improve dramatically. But an expanding vocabulary and the discovery of the delights of sex and freedom bring the realisation that the word ‘love’ doesn’t always mean the same in different cultures. "