ImageNations

G.B. Trudeau's That's Doctor Sinatra, You Little Bimbo! (Henry Holt and Company, 1985) is the second Graphic Novel I have read, or remember reading. Trudeau covers several issues with interlinking stories. The issues he broaches are those ironies that exist in democratic countries, in this case America. He covers almost every sphere of life: economics, politics, culture, social issues, and others. For instance, with illustrations, Trudeau punches or makes fun at the emergence of TV series, tanning, and the abortion-pro-life debate. In the latter, he satirises how the president's - perhaps Reagan's - role in a propagandist documentary that favoured the pro-lifers. In one of the skits he laughed at medical colleges at universities producing drugs under the guise of research and the FDAs banning drugs with potential psychiatric value. Trudeau also covers politics - both international and internal. Internally, issues such as racism and apartheid were discussed. Intern...

A popular man arouses the jealousy of the powerful. [4] Once men turned their thinking over to mechanics in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them. [11] A world is supported by four things...the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing...without a ruler who knows the art of ruling. [30] A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join and flow with it. [32] The whole theory of warfare is calculated risk...but when it comes to risking your own family, the elements of calculation gets submerged in...other things. [82] When strangers meet, great allowance should be made for differences of custom and training. [144] Failure was, by definition, expendable. The whole universe sat there, open to the man who could make the right decisions. [175] ...

No Sweetness Here  (1970; 2013 reprinting by IBSS; 157) by Ama Ata Aidoo is a collection of eleven short stories. Though the title is familiar I have always thought of it as a novel. The short story genre had been used by some writers mostly to fill the interregnum between novels. However, I am pretty sure this was not its purpose in Aidoo's case. The stories in here are quintessential Aidoo, though I have read just a few of her works; they are realistic and examine our daily lives in such a way as to prove, irrefutably, that nothing much has changed; that modernity only adds gadgets and equipment without changing the basic behaviour of humans. If anything at all, we move in circles and in cycles, repeating events and attitudes. For instance, if you thought that power and promiscuity, or power and domination - specifically, the unconscious repression and discrimination that makes the power-bearer superior to all others, are today's problems then you definitely have to think ag...

When a black man is with his wife who cooks and chores for him, he is a man. When he is with white folk whom he cooks and chores, he is a woman. Dear Lord, what then is a black man who cooks and chores for black men? [ For Whom Things Did not Change ; 20] It should be possible that if one can see several miles out in front, into the distance, one should also be able to see into time. All this breeze. These clear skies. Fresh breezes should blow the nonsense from our souls, the stupidities from our minds and lift the veils off our eyes. But it's not like that. It's never been like that. There are as many cramped souls around here as there, among dwellers down there. In the thick woods and on the beaches. Like everyone else, those poets were wrong. [ For Whom Things Did not Change ; 24] Scrappy nurse-under-training, Jessy Treeson, second-generation-Cape-Coaster-her-grandmother-still-remembered-at-Egya No. 7 said, 'As for these villagers,' and giggled. [ The Mes...

Binwell Sinyangwe's A Cowrie of Hope  (Heinemann AWS, 2000; 152) is the first novel by a Zambian I have read. The whole of their literary landscape is closed to me and with the exception of a few short stories in anthologies and Dambisa Moyo 's Dead Aid , it is one of the countries whose writing still remains hidden to me.  A Cowrie of Hope  is set in the early nineties, a period that was, across the continent, marked by economic reforms and structural adjustments; changes in government or democratisation; and the discovery and spread of the HIV/AIDS disease. To these add, and as part of the setting, drought. Thus, these were the nineties  became the singular refrain in this novel, an indication of the importance of such a decade. It is the turning point in the politico-economic structure of most African countries with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) adding as a condition, political and economic reforms, to aid. As an aside: it is important to note how som...

Chinua Achebe and C. L. Innes edited two collections of short stories - African Short Stories (AWS, 1985; 159) and Contemporary African Short Stories . What makes these collections unique and much different from other anthologies - limiting it to those I have read - is the extent of its coverage. These anthologies cover Africa geographically and politically. Most often, writers from North African countries are hardly included in such anthologies and so too are Francophone or Lusophone Africa. Translations are hardly considered. Even in this collection, whereas West Africa has five entries; East Africa, five; and Southern Africa, seven; Northern Africa has only three entries. Regardless, this is an attempt at covering every part of the continent.  This review will be in four parts; each part dedicated to one region. The collection addresses several subjects: from politics to religion; poverty to civil war; WEST AFRICA The False Prophet by Sembene Ousmane: This story w...

An animal cannot live at man's expense when man is a nomad. Like clings to like, it is said. [2; The False Prophet by Sembene Ousmane] If the setting sun brings a stranger, don't look for him at sunrise. [4; The False Prophet by Sembene Ousmane] Make sure of your money first. It's easier to pray when you're sure of having a full belly. [6; The False Prophet by Sembene Ousmane] Pregnancy and birth and death and pain; and death again... when there are no more pregnancies, there are no more births, and therefore, no more deaths. But there is only one death and only one pain. [8; Certain Winds from the South by Ama Ata Aidoo] Show me a fresh corpse, my sister, so I can weep you old tears. [8; Certain Winds from the South by Ama Ata Aidoo] In the old days, how time goes, and how quickly age comes. But then does one expect to grow younger when one starts getting grandchildren? [9; Certain Winds from the South by Ama Ata Aidoo] Every calling has its ...

Unlike previous years in which my readings have followed, but not dictated by, certain objectives, this year is to be a year of free reading. By 'free reading', I mean it would be challenge-free, direction-free, and anything free. Almost. I am sorry, but almost. A reader has to read.  Reading Target.  I have discovered that setting yearly reading targets have improved my reading tremendously. In 2012, I set a target of 70 books and read two more books; in 2013 60 but read 3 more (albeit more pages than in 2012). In both of these years, I have been spurred on by a determination to not disappoint myself. Thus, I feel that I should once again set a target towards which my reading will be directed. Though not in the current year, it is my life-long dream to read a 100 books in one particular year. And with this fantasy away let's get back to reality; I hope that even together with the necessity to write more this year I will be able to read 60 books. I will aspire but shou...