I have actively postponed writing this piece until it is the only option left. I do want to share what I read but it hurts knowing that I cannot read as much this year. Actually, I am reading more this year just towards the academic side. 2020 was great fodder for books. I thought I would make it to 40 books but I went slightly over 30. By end of January, I was already 6 books in unlike now when I only manage one book a month.
My notable reads of 2020 in no particular order are: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman, Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta, the Letters of Vincent van Gogh and Girl, Woman Other by Bernardine Evaristo.
I would highly recommend each of the above books if taste was not a limiting factor. I know of people who read Big Magic at the beginning of every year for that creative push. My podcast book club; bad on paper had it as the January read this year.
Eleanor Oliphant is not completely fine. She is very reserved, lonely I would say; hardly has any friends, drinks so as not to think or feel, she is literally a passerby in the world. The book was very well written. It was a page turner of sorts. Plenty of vocabulary considering Eleanor does crossword everyday. I adopted this habit for about a month after finishing the book. I used to do it in High school but now having several entertainment options, the habit quickly dwindled.
Second Class Citizen was a one night stand; fast, pleasurable, met expectations, and left a lingering taste. It is set up in Nigeria and the UK during the colonial times. It describes in great detail the life then, the hurdles and how the characters transformed. It is very much character driven and fast paced.
Hardly is an African man portrayed as lazy but this one really held the forte. To some extent, the man feared success! He did not strive for it, he did not welcome it, he was too comfortable being average and fortunately, the wife had enough ambition for the both of them.
I am so passionate about the story that I have to restrain myself from giving too much detail. Did I mention that the book has my lucky star, humour!! There is lots of it and it is very relatable on an African perspective. This book really depicts hard work, a mother’s sacrifice for her kin and navigating the African home. There is this incident in the book when the woman (I forget her name) was going to give birth. She chose the midwife option because it was less costly and the Government gave stipends to those who chose that method and as such, she could better manage the family’s scarce resources.
Fortunately, the circumstances would not allow her to go through with it and the opportunity was a blessing in disguise. She got well looked after in the maternity ward, got to see other couple’s interaction and how different the situation was for her. It made her strive for better and the next opportunity she had, she did not wait for the best to be done because she knew it would not be done given the man she married. Nonetheless, she did it for herself and quite crafty!
I am inclined to think men are the ones who chase women because females can easily adapt. The males present us with an offer and we choose whether to take it or leave. Most of the time women compromise and decide to simply get by. Reminds me of this meme that stated:
if all the men your girlfriend loved were on a lineup and she was asked to pick the love of her life, would she pick you? Better yet, would you be in the lineup?
Men always go for women out of their league but most women accept men far below their league. This is exactly what was portrayed in the book and what I see in everyday life. To curb this, my mantra this year is:
show me how you love yourself and I will decide if that is how I want to be loved.
Two places I will try not to go is back and forth or out of my way. The woman in the book really paced around but as all other females, once she was done, she was DONE!!!! I know I have given away too much but you should really read the book.
My interest in reading Letters of Vincent Van Gogh was piqued after watching a documentary about his life. Ever since, I have been talking about him and giving his life experiences, one would think in another life we were buddies and I got to experience him firsthand. The book really instills the importance of loving and to be loved; I dare say it is the greatest thing one can achieve, it will fulfill you and shows in all other areas of your life. Van Gogh had a rough time attaining that and he advised, that one should love many things at least then, one of the many will not disappoint.
Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood deserves a mention. This was the saddest book I have ever read. Suicide seems to be theme; characters are perpetually sad and they commit suicide. There should be a disclaimer before picking up the book that you need to be in a better place in your life otherwise their sadness will engulf you. Funny enough I enjoyed reading the book. It had weird characters and I loved that. Their everyday lives were just that; everyday lives. The book was well written and I loved the discussion I had in my book club about the book.
Girl, woman, other is a special book
the writing is similar to what I have going on in this paragraph
commas and full stops are a myth and it seems like the author had a long list of names that she was dying to feature and decided to use all of them in that book at once
you will have one sentence or even a word appearing in a page then the book goes back and forth ties the begining to the end and you were somehow lost in between
most people struggle through it and I am one of those but once the book gets to you it is a fast page turner
my first attempt with it only got me through the 1st chapter of character 1 not of the book I attended a book club discussion on it and resolved to make another attempt because those who went through it had so much to say and I could not be left out
Well, which of the 6 have you been convinced to pick up?
Dimples Migraines and Aahs 