Library Additions
Over the past two weeks, I have added some books to my library.
William Golding's Lord of the Flies
The copy I have has a bright yellow cover with red fonts. The backs covers says it is was published for educational purposes. The printing is so bad that I suspect, and judging from where I bought it I might be right, that it is an 'un-original' copy. I don't want to say what I am thinking. Yes, we need these books and if the demand is there and the mainstream publishers aren't satisfying it, others would.
Ola Rotimi's Our Husband has gone Mad again
I usually do not read plays. The only one I have read is Shakespeare's Macbeth. However, if I am to fulfill my Top 100 reading resolution and keep up with African writers I must develop the love for this genre and no other way to develop love for a genre than to start with the famous and well-loved ones. Ola Rotimi is also the author of 'The Gods are not to Blame'. It was this latter book, which I have not read but whose story was told to me by a room-mate way back at Secondary School that inspired my interest in African literature. It is therefore fair that I read him at some point. Again, the copy I got is a low quality one and I suspect it is from a dubious source.
Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel
One cannot read Soyinka without reading his plays, after all he has only three novels to his credits. I have set out to read him and even though The Lion and the Jewel is not on my list of TBRs I bought a copy as I came upon it. In fact I bought this together with the two above in a day and as the saying goes, a bird of a feather... it is also of low quality.
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Beloved is her book I have on my TBR. I have only heard good reviews about that book and it is almost present on every book list. As a Nobel Laureate, and one of the few women to have won that award, why should I pass by this book even though it isn't on my TBR? I cannot and everyone who love books would tell you that this is almost impossible. It would be ignorance.
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
I discovered a local used-books dealer. Unfortunately, the novel section is filled with Danielle Steel, Sydney Sheldon, John Grisham, Stephen King that there was no room for the authors I have on my list. Yet, there was no way I could just have left a BOOKSHOP without purchasing any book. So I was this one, typed his name into my 'dilapidated' Nokia N95. What came out was somehow okay so I bought this book together with Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and The Best American Short Stories for 2004 in one day.
The Best American Short Stories for 2004 Edited by Lorrie Moore
I added this to my library because I am learning this genre. Simple! Nothing more, nothing less. I hope I learn a lot from it as it contains a lot of short stories.
The Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks
Thinking that the local bookshop has obtained 'new' stocks of used books, I went there again and to my disgust they have not. So I scanned through the books again, hoping to catch a book wrongly listed, knowing that Songs of Solomon was listed as motivational and religious book. But this time round I was disappointed so I settled on this novel, which was written to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ian Flemming the creator of James Bond.
Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter
So I bought The Devil May Care and this one. They were both hardcover. I bought this because I wanted to buy something and I was also curious to know what the former president of America is talking about. I guess they almost always write a memoir. Besides, I have read Obama's Dreams from My Father and have witnessed the bittersweet, topsy-turvy receipt of Blair's My Journey. Also, I think any conversation on moral values is of interest to me. How, one can talk of morals and participate in things that kill innocents, is still beyond my comprehension.
So these are the books that have found their way into my shelves over the past two weeks. Only one, William Golding's, is on my TBR 100 and three (those by the African writers) would be reviewed on this blog.
What a wide selection of books! Too bad about the quality of the first ones, but hopefully you will be able to read it without it falling apart at least :) I hope you learn to love plays, and short stories!
ReplyDelete@Amy... I hope so. And I said 'three' would be reviewed. It should be 'two' instead.
ReplyDeleteNana, I think I have partly realized one big reason why there are these un-original copies of books everywhere in Ghana. It's simple! Publishers complain of a small readership market. It is so they say but...
ReplyDeleteI am happy to see your buy of Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. Almost every colleaque I meet tells that it's a great book. I am yet to read it though. Great book! Great buy!
ReplyDelete@Geosi... but is the West African market small? I think advantage has not yet been taken. The number of people who love books and who would want to read are large except that people have cultivated the perception that we don't read. Well, until someone actually conducts a survey and come up with a correct results the argument wouldn't end. It's like the chicken and egg problem. How do you read when there are no books to read?
ReplyDeleteActually, there are some who consider Song of Solomon a better book than Beloved. In any event, you will not go wrong with a Morrison book. I love Lord of the Flies. Nice selection of books.
ReplyDeleteLord of the Flies is a classic book as is the play. But you're trying sha. Good work Nana...
ReplyDelete