The Little World of Don Camillo (No. 1 in the Don Camillo series)

These are beautiful beautiful stories.They tell of life in an Italian village on the banks of the River Po, coping with grinding poverty in the aftermath of the Second World War. The two main protagonists are deadly political enemies, the Communist mayor and the parish priest. Both characters are strong and admirable, but magnificently flawed. They are built like tanks, squabble and abuse each other, sometimes physically, but - here's the key - they love each other to bits, though neither would dream of admitting it. The reader isn't expected to take sides - moral victory can go either way.The stories are short, perfect for bedtime, told in economical prose that is so skilfully written that you don't notice how good it is. There is love hate fear and death, but above all wonderful quiet humour. After each one, even when you have read them all a dozen times, you will either wipe a tear from your eye or chuckle yourself to sleep.There are stories in this book never before translated to English - which is why I bought it. The translation is new, and (to an afficionado) a bit like the NIV Bible after the King James version. I prefer the old version, but there, I've been reading these stories for 50 years.(Added later) On more reading I have to say that this translation is pretty clunky. Get the original version if you can.

A long time ago a large body of Giovannino Guareschi's Don Camillo stories were translated and published by Gollancz in the UK in conjunction with a TV series produced by the BBC and Italian national TV. I watched the series and bought the book and loved both. I still have the book but it is somewhat aged and dogeared now. I was therefore delighted to see the stories available for my kindle. This is not the entire collection of stories or even the subset published by Gollancz but it is a substantive body of the authors work and an excellent start on translating these stories. The publishers propose to translate and publish more of the stories in the future.The stories revolve around the life of a small Italian village in the period following the second world war and centre on the interactions of two key personalities. Don Camillo is the villages somewhat unorthodox and turbulent priest. Pippone, his opposite is a former resistance fighter and the communist mayor of the village. Although the world view of these two characters is diametrically opposed the stories frequently unite these two unlikely allies as they both in their own ways strive for the good of the village and its inhabitants.The stories are full of life, laughter and a smattering of Italian sunshine. They are a tonic after our foul winter and as relevant today as when they were penned about 50 years ago.

I would say it was hysterical (as it says on the cover), but there are a few laugh out loud moments.

In the 1960's Brian Blessed played the role of Pepponi, the communist town mayor in a TV adaption of Guareschi's Little World of Don Camillo. I didn't come across a book until the 1980's and enjoyed it so much that wherever we went I trawled through book stores looking for Don Camillo.With the advent of the world wide web I managed to get copies of the whole Don Camillo series via sellers in America and across the UK. The Little World is set in a community of Northern Italy by the River Po.There are 2 pratagonists; Don Camillo the fist-swinging Catholic Priest and his nemesis, Pepponi the town's communist mayor.The stories are funny, sometimes poignant; but always uplifting

The first of the series of lovely Don Camillo books. The delightful humour remains undated and still funny despite the passage of years.

I read these stories about Don Camillo when I was in my early twenties and found them very amusing and loved reading them. Now nearly forty years on I have re-visited this book and can only say that all the humour and intrigue between Don Camillo (priest), Peppone (the Communist Mayor) and Jesus has not lost any of its appeal. Each chapter is a different story set at the end of the second world war in Italy and they're told with a lightness of touch and humour that you would not expect from such a subject matter. I find myself laughing out loud at times at the outrageous antics of both Don Camillo and Peppone, who are constantly at war with each other, but occasionally they find themselves reluctantly on the same side, but only temporarily.I highly recommend reading these stories, you will hopefully be surprised at how much you enjoy them.

I read these stories years ago and then lost my copy. I have been looking for a new copy off and on over the years and was delighted to find this new issue on Kindle...can't wait for the other books!The stories are beautifully created and very evocative of both the era and the location and the main characters are tremendously interesting.These stories were broadcast on BBC radio several years ago and have recently been repeated on BBC radio4 extra with the marvelous voice of Joss Ackland as God ( Don Camillo's conscience ). Catch them if you can.

These are charming short stories of life in an Italian village, where the communist mayor and village priest wage daily ideological battle. Somehow they manage to resolve problems with a touch of humanity while preserving but bending their respective dogmas.The narrative is episodic, so is a little frustrating, to be read in short doses. The grand theme is the daily compromises which help a community get along with each other, solve problems, and achieve improvements. This is a mix of cunning tricks combined with gaining understanding of each other's background.

This is a wonderful book. The stories touched my soul at times and at other times had me laughing out loud. The characters are great and very interesting. I read this book in Spanish many years ago. My mother also laughed out loud and reading it again brought me close to my beautiful Mom.

My favorite book series. Read first when I found it in the school library and then to my joy, found some second copies on ebay. Now really excited that I found the whole series on kindle! Basically that's how much I love it

I remember reading about Don Camillo and Peppone when I was a child, loved it and when I saw it again, well I didn't just buy "The Complete Little World of Don Camillo", I bought the five other books to! I highly recommend these books telling tales of these two Po Valley gentlemen's verbal and not so verbal sparring! The books also give us an insight into history of Italy just after WWII. I can guarantee that my copies will not just sit on the shelf!

My mother used to read Don Camillo to me when I was a child and 50 years on, it's still as fresh and charming as it was then. Simply wonderful!

It is a book and I have finished reading it already,