Summer Book Club (for one!)

Below is my summer reading list.  My book club for one.  After 3 years of graduate studies (which should be done ANY day now!) I am so looking forward to reading books of my choosing, not one that illustrates or illuminates my research topic.  

photo via my iphone & Instagram

So, after a long morning spent researching on Amazon and then updating my hold account at my local library, I waited.  Thinking that the books might already be on hold (considering some of them are fairly new and popular) I expected to get a book a week or so.  But then, they all came in at once!  So, here is my hoard of books.  The tower of literature beside my bed, on my nightstand.  For a few nights, my husband kept willing that tower to collapse.  Jokes on him, I know how to stack a book or fourteen.  You can't see all the books, so I'll list them here:

Things Fall Apart: Chinua Achebe

(Photo credit: Craig Ruttle/AP via Guardian)

Listening to the drone of news this morning, regurgitating  some highlights and lowlights of our Federal budget, the only real story that made my ears perk was the announcement that Chinua Achebe had died at the age of 82.

What does the death of an octogenarian Nigerian author mean to me?  Well, I’ve indirectly been influenced by Achebe for years.

Achebe is best known for his book, Things Fall Apart, and while for years I’ve meant to pick it up, I never actually got around to reading it.

The first time this sentence entered my realm of consciousness I was a 17 year old buying her first hip hop CD.  The Roots Things Fall Apart.  (ok that's not true.  I had actually bought the Ma$e CD in the 8th grade...)

And with that began my forever love of The Roots...

The next time I heard of Achebe was nearly 6 years later.  Even throughout the completion of my Bachelor's degree in International Relations, I still never picked up Achebe's novel.  

But then someone introduced my to the writings of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi and I became a superfan.  There are some writers that you read once, and you know you'll read everything they ever publish for the rest of your life, or theirs, whichever lasts longer.  My list isn't long, but includes Margaret Atwood, Bill Bryson (weird I know), Zadie Smith, Joseph Boyden and Chimamanda Ngoza Adichi.  

I quickly read everything by Adichi that I could get my hands on, and Half of a Yellow Sun remains one of my favourite books ever (for-ever, ever?).

(photo credit: Amazon)

Adichi references Achebe throughout that book, and I've read articles where she has discussed the influence that Achebe has had not just on Nigerian writing, but on African writing on the whole.  

Now, Adichi's writing about Nigeria opened my eyes to the Biafran Nation, something I knew nothing about.  In fact, I had only heard the word Biafra once before, as the last name of Jello Biafra, the lead singer of the 80's punk band the Dead Kennedy's.  All of a sudden this entire new nation unfolded before my eyes, page by page.  And the it collapsed.  And while at a nation-state level it was likely inevitable, reading about it for the first time through the humanistic writing of Adichi made me so sad for it, so sad for the Biafran's, and for everyone starved, killed and injured in that pursuit.

Since then, I've kept Nigeria in my heart and in my mind.  I love to listen to both Fela and Femi Kuti, and was lucky enough to catch Femi Kuti in concert in Vancouver in 2007.  I follow Nigerian current events on international news, and I hope to visit the country one day.  

And I think that if it weren't for Achebe, I and a million non-Nigerians the world over who have become transfixed with the country, and who maybe even feel invested in it, even in some.tiny.way would be left perhaps never having been introduced to this country.  I think this a very big public service that Achebe provided for his nation.  

So, here's to you Chinua Achebe.  Thank you for opening up the world to me and to millions of others.   

On My Nightstand: (actually on my e-reader)

We head out on vacation tomorrow, so in preparation I have been downloading the latest Sesame Street podcasts for Hazey,  as well as downloading a few books to my e-reader.


Normally I'm into fairly literary reads, and lately I've been stuck in the world of academic articles, but for some reason, vacation seems like an appropriate time for my brain to go on hiatus and read some interesting, funny, easy words on paper.


Also, I have major flying anxiety that I am definitely trying to work through, so I thought positive uplifting reads were the way to go for tomorrow's 3 hour flight and 4.5 hour car ride.  Ugh, just writing that is making me feel queasy.

(www.amazon.ca)

Mindy Kaling is funny.  She's funny like I like people to be funny.  She doesn't do the stereotype thing, and I like that.  I'm looking forward to this one.  I hope to laugh my way through the air.  (Have I mentioned I hate flying?)

(www.amazon.ca)

Happiness is close to positiveness, and I am a glass half full and then some kind of person.  But not in an overbearing way.  So I'm down to learn about the happiness project.  Plus, I'm intrigued by anyone who can stick with something for an entire year.

(www.amazon.ca)

Ok.  There is a short window of interest for anyone who will read this book.  You will likely not read this book if your children are 12.  Mine are 3 and 6 months.  If there is anything to be gleaned from this book, I am there to extract it.  Caveat: I also totally read the Tiger Mother book and thought, "yeah, so?  Look how well her daughters turned out?!"  So, I know that people get really up in arms about these books, but I find them interesting and I don't really form much of an opinion one way or another.  So yeah, I'm looking forward to reading this one too.  

All in all, lighthearted reading for a light, relaxed vacation with more flying than I would like, but whatever, I can't really control that, can I?  I'm dealing with my anxiety naturally, trust me.

Any book suggestions out there?  Anyone??  Bueller?!?

On My Nightstand

I am a total libriophile.  Maybe I made that word up, maybe I didn't.  Regardless, I love libraries.  I should make a tote like that.  A tote to carry my library books.  Digressing...my point is, I love libraries, I love my local public library, and I can be found there AT LEAST once a week either to check out new releases (which come out on Tuesday) or to take Hazey to storytime.  We're a cable-free household, so our tv is really only for watching DVD's, which are in abundant supply at our library.  We're currently watching the first season of Treme on loan from our library, and it is every kind of awesome.  I also love to borrow the back copies of Conde Nast Traveler so I can plan fantasy travels while watching Hazey play in her bubble baths.


But the most important part of a library are the books it contains.  I love when Hazey runs to the kid's section and picks out her own books.  I always wonder what she sees in the books she picks.  For myself, I always go to the New Release section first, mainly because hardly anyone ever borrows the new releases!  Crazy, I'm telling you!  You can rest assured that these books have never been flagged!  I also like to check the non-fiction and the cookbooks/food section. 


So, what am I reading right now?  Currently on my nightstand:

(photo: Penguin Books)

I've read nothing but good things about this book, its been reviewed everywhere, and seems like a great book by a young, female writer.  I'm a few chapters in, and it is hard to put down (sleep deprivation caused by a 3 month old makes it slightly easier to put away, though).

(photo: HarperCollins)

What is it about Anthony Bourdain?  This guy is great!  I love to watch his travel show (caveat: I've only ever seen it on airplanes, so maybe its just the recycled air and crappy plane food that make it seem great) and my husband and I both loved his book Kitchen Confidential, so this is one that we'll both be reading.  My husband is a major foodie and loves to cook (although I do all the weekday cheffing at the mo').  I spent too many years waitressing to ever get really excited about eating in restaurants, so I love his sordid tales of kitchen life.  I'm like, "preaching to the choir, Tony!".  I'm especially looking forward to what he has to say about the Top Chef phenomenon, or the local/100 mile movement.

(photo: Gladwell dot com)

I know this isn't a new release, but I still haven't read The Tipping Point, so I thought I'd grab it.  I find Malcolm Gladwell to be an interesting person to listen to.  I saw a program with him and Peter Mansbridge ahead of the New Year discussing plenty of topics, and most of what he says makes a lot of sense.  For instance, the trouble with the way the NHL is run.  Food for thought.  So I thought I'd feed my brain. Nom nom nom, brain.

Are there any other good books that I should be looking out for on my library's shelves?