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Don camillo and the prodigal son

 Of  late my reading has got restricted to sub-titles of HBO movies and star world serials. Why? aren't they in English, you may wonder. Yes they are in English, but ahmmerikan eenglish, which we puvar Indians can not grasp. So I read the sub-titles.  You may say I will understand their pronounciation once I get used to it,. No, I don't think so
    .So reading this book was like rain on a sunny day.
     I like to read humour. (so that I can momentarily forget all the woes of my life :-( ) But I do not see many humorous books around. How long can you read Wodehouse. I have been reading them like hundred years. And I read,  re-read, re-re-re-read "Three men in a boat" million times. So most of the times, I console myself with ppj from the net. (Well I did like Saki's books)
   So I was so overwhelmed with joy when I found this book Don comillo and the prodigal son.
It is hilarious. The story is about a priest and his communist mayor opponent at the time of cold war. Both are good at heart. But  are always at conflict with each other because of different ideals.  You find yourself sympathising with the priest even when he is slightly non-priestly ( all for a good cause, of course) And the humour is tongue in cheek.
    Another good thing is unlike Wodehouses, the theme is not completely trivial.
         And the book is quite old, more than half a century. But you do not feel it is outdated. Instead you enter that place and time and experience all those events. Is it the sign of a great work?

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