My reading this year has taken a hit. There was a time I felt saturated with books and I could take in no more. My reading culture has been hanging by the thread of bookclub and this was our October book of the month.
We were sold on a romance book. We had just read Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, a science fiction and we wanted something light. The member who recommended this book had read 3 more by the author and she spoke highly of the writing style. I went in expecting my romance story and my description of this book would not feature romance much as there was a love story. It is more of historical fiction.
Elif takes us to Cyprus. I knew nothing about Cyprus when I picked this book. It’s inhabited by Greeks, Turks and few English people. The story is told by a Fig tree which narrates the ordeals of humans, animals, birds and nature at a time of war. The prose is highly descriptive and it reminded me of a literature tool we learnt of called personification.
Majority of the book club members loved this book and Elif’s writing style. One member hated that about the book but I think mostly so because he consumed the audio version. I had both love and hate. Love that the writing style was not the ordinary. Loved that we got to read about plants, animals and now I can bury and unbury a fig tree. Disliked the overly descriptive text. Disliked personification as it was unrealistic. I could not pin point a specific theme the book was bringing about but during the book club discussion, much came to light.
This writing is not for a surface level reader. A literature student would very much appreciate the text. I struggled reading to the end and I actually finished the book after the discussion. There is not much to write home about the book but I feel I must mention that it pointed out two things for me: Wherever you go, there you are and humans give differential treatment based on appearance.
I plan to give Elif’s writing a second chance but in the meantime, I would be careful recommending anyone to read this book. I look forward to the next book club meeting as I am now pinned to task in reading Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth.
If you are on the verge of a rut, do not pick this up.
The biggest challenge every writer faces is writing the first word, the first sentence, that first paragraph. This is the foundation and it has to be solid otherwise everything else topples. For one to write, you have to read. You spend days reading different authors, taking walks, looking for inspiration at 3 am and nothing!! Nothing that you consider worthy to be put down on paper especially because it can be traced back to you. As a writer you expose yourself, your intricate thoughts, your life, your dreams everything and anything and still the constant fear that it may not be good enough is ever present.
I no longer read books, I read authors. I read about their childhood, their education, their career path, their lives. Everything and anything including watching their interviews. I want to understand the person behind the words, I want to know them, think of their thought process and identify with their reality. My interest in knowing the person behind the writing was piqued by one of colleen Hoover’s books. By knowing the writer I not only mean authors; script writers, poets, musicians everyone and anyone involved in the writing process at whatever stage.
I would be intrigued by anyone who can decipher the different author’s I’ll pick on by description and bonus points for the book in mind.
We often assume that one must have gone through some pain in order to write about it so deeply in a way that evokes our empathy. In the same vein, we assume that if an author writes something so dark they must be going through some difficult moment in their life. Both scenarios are not necessarily true. In fact, an author revealed that when writing one of the darkest books I have read to date they first had the original story as it had occurred then using antagonistic journaling turned it into the thriller it became. This technique involves writing the opposite of what happens in the original story thus making it easy for a writer to pretend to be someone they aren’t.
Often, it is easy for writers to separate reality from fiction in a way that they live in both worlds though at different times. When a writer’s world becomes dark, they can retrieve to a happier fictional place or even write about a darker world than the one they are living just to make their reality feel a lot better. In another book that literally drove me to tears, I was shocked to learn that the events described had not taken place as narrated but were actually fiction imagined after the writer saw a picture from a newspaper clipping.
It reminds me of a book that drove millions into anger after learning that the story depicted was not a memoir by the author as it was categorized to be. The book won several awards, it was on the bestseller list for months and even featured in the famous book club’s read for the month. Thinking back, perhaps the book sold because people could put a face on the character. The author’s face, as the troubled person who eventually overcame. Given the era the book was published, overcoming that incident was a major milestone. Fortunately, by the time this knowledge became public, the book had sold several copies and even brought the author to limelight. Thanks to this controversy, I enjoyed a different book by the author who was not deterred by the angry fans and put more content for those who could look past the incident to relish.
It’s a jungle out here! Somehow writers still find their way given the numerous material being published. Some readers also have an epiphany. Going through the reviews of a book I had just put down, a reader was generous enough to share her mind blowing discovery. The entire book was a tribute to a famous musician who had died a couple of years back. The writer was alluding to one of the singer’s greatest hit songs and even named a character after the album tittle. In the book, one of the characters had this journaling lifestyle and he would name his journals. The particular journal we get to see him write was named after the singer’s hit song. The entire plot is based on the singer and how he eventually died. I would never have joined the dots but following the trail blew my mind.
Some writers are all together just lucky. First time writing about their experiences, their lessons, their truth and they spring to limelight. The trouble is, after such a huge success, writing the next book is hard. Their readers have identified with the story, they want more but the writer gave their all to the first book. There are only so many times you can re create your life story eh.. if only writers were cats! This particular book surpasses the writers wildest imaginations and got signed for a movie adaptation. Despite the odds, the writer manages to publish not one, not two but several books. In fact, I am yet to read my best work from the author and between me and you, Its either that first book was overrated or the movie was downplayed. I have enjoyed the 2nd book that the writer had difficulty writing but this is what drew me. The one that I claim is the writer’s best work and I am yet to read has already been published. Every time I am about to get hold of it literally the person ahead of me picks it up and it is always the last copy. That is why I consider it the best work.
If anything, this article should motivate you to put out your work. I hope these techniques help cure that writer’s block and give you ideas of how to write. Luckily for me it has given me what to write. I can’t end this piece without mentioning the author who doubled the words I have searched for in a single reading. I have really tried throwing in one or two here but the nature of my writing renders it otiose. I was taken aback to learn that it was the writer’s first. Well, the story was neither here nor there but its rattling nature would make you keep an eye out for the next book.
2019 plummeted my reading culture. Without realizing, I preferred travelling with a book in hand. It enabled me to withstand traffic and made waiting for people who don’t keep time bearable. Slowly I developed a culture and quickly joined a community of people who love reading. I go for book club meetings once a month, I subscribe to a podcast that has monthly book discussions and several book suggestions, I devote an entire board on my Pinterest to book titles I have to read and lastly I share my thoughts on books I have read and insist that my friends and family read the same.
By the 31st of December 2019 I had finished reading around 35 books. The figure is not exact because I was simply reading for the fun of it and only made a count of those I could remember after getting to know that people had set reading targets for the year. I beat myself up because there are some books I out rightly refused to set my eyes on and others I consider nuanced like the classics but still struggled reading. Thanks to a comment on the bookclub podcast I tune to ‘any reading is good reading‘; It validated my choices and made me more comfortable sharing them.
One book I reread to refresh my memory as it became a book club read later in the year ( It endswith us by Colleen Hoover), four I reread because I enjoyed the story so much and wanted to relieve the feeling the writing had evoked in me at a past time( What the future holds by Sarah Mkhonza, Memories of midnight by Sidney Sheldon, the Other side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon, and Rage of Angels by Sidney Sheldon).
If it isn’t evident thus far, Sidney Sheldon is my all time favorite author. I have read all his books even the ones Co- Authored by Tilly Bagshawe. Rage of Angels holds a special place in my heart. I prefer the books solely written by him to the co-authored ones. Nevertheless, I am grateful that Tilly Bagshawe brings to life his unfinished manuscripts.
If I had my passport stamped for every place I have traveled to in books, I would have been to Nigeria thrice, France, the US more than 10 times, Greece, Norway, Poland, Thailand, Somalia, Brazil and Switzerland. These are among the notable countries I remember due to their vivid description. Katerina by James Frey took me to Paris, France. I landed at Charles de Gaulle and really explored the streets of Paris. I dined at a local Cafe, had a local bar that I frequented, spent days at the Louvre admiring striking pieces of Art and had conversations next to the Seine.
The genres I read were diverse. The Tattooist of Aushwitz a historical Fiction by Heather Morris made me experience Hitler’s ruling. The fact that I was reading this book while on a luxury vacation heightened the pain felt by those in concentration camps. I remember finishing the last sentence while at Border Control getting my Passport stamped and I shed a tear.
2019 was my first audio book listening experience. There is this podcast called nipe story hosted by a Kenyan, Kevin Mwachiro that gives voice to a compilation of African short story fiction, Kenyan stories. The story that got me looped is The Prostitute and heartbreak by Michael Ochoki. You have to listen to this. The story telling is just amazing and credit should also go to the story itself but the narrator, my oh my! Here’s a link https://podtail.com/en/podcast/nipe-story/the-prostitute-and-heartbreak-by-michael-ochoki/
Eleven minutes by Paulo Coelho is a book that should be read. I had a wild guess on what the tittle would be alluding but the discovery I made in the pages of the book was not one that crossed my mind. Three women by Lisa Taddeo gave me a list of vocabulary as well as a different challenge in life. When I think of a breakdown in a relationship, I tend to focus on the wrong things either party did. What of the things neither party did?
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire was a totally pointless read. I finished the book simply to voice my disappointment at my book club meeting. The only silver lining the book had were the life lessons ‘quotes’ that i’ll share. ” Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer would end in a downpour.” I do relate to this. “Maybe we just lived between hurting and healing” this is food for thought. “I got to thinking that poems were like people. Some people you got right off the bat. Some people you just didn’t get- and never would get” I almost conquer with John Green when he says that our favourite quotations reveal more about us than the authors who wrote them.
A girl walks into a bar by Paige Helena was a first read of its kind. It is a book where you get to choose what happens to the character and therefore determine your ending. I enjoyed reading it so much that even after having my ending, I went back to look at what the outcome would have been if I had made a different choice. Don’t we all want this? This reminds me of Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. It brings out the existence of a parallel universe and there being different versions of us living the life of the path we did not take when we were at crossroads.
Hidden in Plain sightby Nurrudin Farah is one of those books I am pleased I got to lay my hands on. It is based in Nairobi, Kenya and Somalia. Reading about the streets you know, places you frequent resonates with you. Given that the theme of the book is terrorism, I cried uncontrollably when reading it despite the fact that I was on public transport which raised an alarm from the concerned driver whom I sat next to.
The Blessed girl by Angela makholwa is another notable read. It brings to light challenges faced by young girls and is very realistic.
My author of the year has to be Colleen Hoover. I have read five of her books and enjoyed each one of them. I think she first has a theme then writes around it. Each of the five books has addressed a particular issue. Hopeless is on defilement and its effect, Without Merit is on Mental Health, It ends with us is on physical abuse in a relationship, All your perfects is on infertility and Verity is just twisted. This is the book that introduced me to the author and i’m still intrigued by it. I have questions that only Colleen can address.
Alafair Burke is an author whose books I will read more of in 2020. The two I read this year have been thrilling( The wife, and The Ex). Given the background of the Author, hers is a mind I would love to pick. The Book club podcast I have been referring to is called bad on paper. I got to learn about it sometime in November in time to join them for their December read which I really enjoyed and helped get me in the Christmas mood. The book is titled One day in December by Josie Silver . Three Women by Lisa Taddeo was also a podcast bookclub read and they brought the author in for a discussion which is a rare opportunity.
2019 in books has been an opportunity to live vicariously and I hope you too decide to enjoy life as a different character all through the 365 days.
Dimples Migraines and Aahs 