Library Additions

Unexpectedly, and perhaps as a sign of appreciation - am I beating my own chest here? - of what I've been doing on this blog, several individuals - both far and near - have gifted me with books. I have already talked of those I received from Martin and Geosi. For me, as a reader, the best gift one can give me, and which I'm bound to always talk about, is books. I love them. My wife keeps saying that it seems my books come first, though it only SEEMS so. Okay, so I've received several books within the past month, which I want to share with you.

From Martin: Martin had already given me these books. He also left these books at our fortnightly meeting place for me to pick up:

• I Write What I like by Steve Biko. I had already purchased a copy of this book. However, his has a different foreword and clearly more spacious and well-trimmed texts that doesn't look like the ink soaked the paper. Steve Biko is a black South Africa political activist during the apartheid regime. He fought the government but was assassinated in a very crude manner at age 30. At 30 this man had done a lot for his name to remain permanently in history. It makes me wonder what I have done that will keep my name on the lips of people forever since I'm as old as he was, if not older, when he died.
• Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. This author is on the list of authors I want to read. I have glanced through the book and it looks it might be interesting. Besides, a random search on the net showed that this book is famous.

From Anonymous: I received an email from an anonymous reader asking me if she could send me a Morrison because she found out that I love Morrison and I enjoyed Beloved. What! Which bibliophile would say no to this! It's like offering sugared water to a child. So I jumped and she did send. I got more than a Morrison:

• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. I have read and loved and enjoyed and appreciated, the poetic language Morrison used in, Beloved and Song of Solomon. I have promised to read every Morrison I come across. Not only is she a Nobelist, which in itself speaks of nothing for there are several Nobelists who wrote averagely and whose works tapered into obscurity, but she's the only one who could breath life into words. Each word, each sentence, each paragraph seems different and independent of each other. Yet, together, they tell a story. And above all, she knows she's good. She has stretched the boundaries of the novel and this is what we need to do (not necessarily copying or imitating) in literature coming out of Africa. Gathering around a theme is not enough.
• Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. Who would reject a Faulkner. I will not though I have not read him before. This book is on the list of Top 100 books reading challenge. 
• The Best of Simple by Langston Hughes. This is a recommendation from the friend.

From Emmanuel Sigauke:

• Writing Free by Irene Staunton (Editor). This is a book I won from Wealth of Ideas. Entrants were to write about what they think of the topic 'Writing Free'. The book contains essays from fifteen Zimbabwean writers who were each asked "to describe how their story embraced the idea of writing free." This is the editor's remarks on the idea of writing free: "... words that perhaps offer a small provocation, a small change to writers to extend their boundaries, to think of something through from a lateral perspective, to approach to a topic differently, to turn a perspective inside out ..." This will be for the Non-Fiction reading challenge.

So these are the books I received freely from friends (seen and unseen). I thank you all for making my reading life enjoyable and successful.