I had a student once who would buy a cookbook as a souvenir from every country she visited. I loved this creative idea. I decided to adopt it and make it mine...but I gave it a Tasci twist.
I began buying famous authors translated into English from each country I traveled to. It gave me a great chance to have an insight into the culture, give me some familiarity with the local concerns and read some books I'd have never found otherwise.
In Krakow I picked up Mercedes-Benz by Pawel Huelle. I sought out the English bookstore Massolit Books and Cafe (www.massolit.com). I had stopped by this amazing two-room collection stuffed and overflowing with books books and books last time I was in Krakow, and left a little piece of my heart there.
I asked the shop assistant to recommend a Polish author that was well-liked and respected among Poles, and who could give me a nice insight into Polish culture. He offered me several books by Pawel Huelle. It struck me as just the thing I was looking for. The novel is based loosely on the author's own family story and background.
A young man is taking driving lessons in Gdansk after the fall of the Communist government. As a way to entertain his pretty driving instructor, he tells her tales of his grandfather's Mercedes-Benz.
One of the most surprising, and serendipitous, details of the novel is that it opens with a sentence written in Czech. This is because the novel is written as a letter to the Czech author Bohumil Hrabal. Mercedes-Benz gives a unique glimpse into a pre-war Poland where people moved freely and expected much. And it ties together a Central European history that is deep and heart-breaking and human.
Buy at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mercedes-Benz-Pawel-Huelle/dp/1852428694
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