Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

"Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father".

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a classic of world literature.  Since it's publication in 1958 this critically acclaimed novel has been translated into 50 languages, been read by millions and is taught in high schools and colleges worldwide.   The book is set in Nigeria during the late 19th century in the years just prior to the arrival of the missionaries and colonialism which would end the culture and customs of the Igbo community.

Chinua Achebe has said that in writing Things Fall Apart he was partly responding to novels like Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.  Achebe wanted people to know that there was a vibrant and worthwhile culture in rural villages like Umuofia.  He does this beautifully in Things Fall Apart.  

But Achebe doesn't sugar coat life in Umuofia.  Some of the customs can be quite violent and women are definitely second class citizens.  The central character in Things Fall Apart is Okonkwo.  He is a leader in the village, admired for his strength and courage.  Okonkwo's life has been determined by his intense desire not to be like his father, a man he regards as weak and idle.  Okonkwo is a man with a fierce temper.  His wives and children are afraid of him.  But change is coming to Umuofia and Okonkwo is powerless to stop it.

"There were many men and women in Umuofia who did not feel as strongly as Okonkwo about the new dispensation. The white man had indeed brought a lunatic religion, but he had also built a trading store and for the first time palm-oil and kernel became things of great price, and much money flowed into Umuofia.  And even in the matter of religion there was a growing feeling that there might be something in it after all, something vaguely akin to method in the overwhelming madness"

It can be hard to convey in a review how brilliant this novel is, except to say that from the very first page I knew I was holding something special in my hands and that feeling carried through right up till the end of the book.  I highly recommend Things Fall Apart.

The Ray Bradbury Challenge

"I'll give you a program to follow every night, a very simple program…one poem a night, one short story a night, one essay a night, for the next 1,000 nights. From various fields: archaeology, zoology, biology, all the great philosophers of time, comparing them…But that means that every night then, before you go to bed, you’re stuffing your head with one poem, one short story, one essay—at the end of a thousand nights you’ll be full of stuff, won’t you?” - Ray Bradbury

So I have decided to take the Ray Bradbury Challenge.  Not for a thousand nights but from now till the end of the year.  I started yesterday and it's amazing what you learn even in two days from taking this challenge.  And the best part is that poems, essays, short stories are easily available online at no cost and even better if you have a Kindle unlimited subscription.

Here are the choices I made yesterday, Jan 31, 2023, and my thoughts on what I read:

Poem: Lament for the Makaris by William Dunbar (1460 -1530) - recommended by Harold Bloom in his book Great Poems of the English Language.  It's a powerful poem but you have to have a modern translation because it's written in an Old English style which I found very hard to decipher.

Essay: On The Morning After the Sixties by Joan Didion (1934 - 2021)  This essay published in 1970 is included in Didion's collection of Essays The White Album.  It's my first time reading Joan Didion and what a marvelous writer she is .  

Short Story:  The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) This is considered a classic short story by Ambrose Bierce, often taught in schools and available free online.  It's a very creepy tale, reminiscent of Poe, and should be included in the horror genre. 

I am also keeping a journal so that I will remember the poem, short story and essay I read for each day throughout 2023.  For example, in today's challenge I have decided to go with:  

Poem: They Flee From Me by Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503- 1542)  Essay: Beware of Feminist Lite by Chimamanda Ngozi (born 1977)  The Fly by Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)  

It's my first time reading Wyatt, Ngozi and Mansfield and I have found out some interesting things.  Sir Thomas Wyatt was a great poet but also an Ambassador in the Tudor Court during the reign of Henry VIII and he was close to Anne Boleyn.  How close is up for debate but when Anne Boleyn was arrested, Thomas Wyatt was also thrown into the Tower of London.  Fortunately, Wyatt had connections and so was released from prison.  Here is a passage from They Flee From Me which is frank in terms of Wyatt's relations with women but also the turmoil that must have been going on at the Tudor Court:

"They flee from me, that sometime did me seek,

With naked foot stalking in my chamber.

I have seen them, gentle, tame, and meek,

That now are wild, and do not remember

That sometime they put themselves in danger

To take bread at my hand; and now they range,

Busily seeking with a continual change"

And so thank you Ray Bradbury and when in the days, weeks and months ahead a poem, essay or short story really grabs me I will be sure to discuss it here at Reading Matters.

It's Not All Downhill From Here by Terry McMillan

This review will contain spoilers.

It's Not All Downhill From Here by Terry McMillan published 2020 is a novel about female friendship, aging, children, husbands, finances and how life doesn't have to be over when we reach our senior years. The four friends at the center of this novel: Loretha, Korynthia, Lucky and Sadie are in their late 60's.  They live in Pasadena and have known each other since high school.  A fifth friend, Pookie, lives out of state but joins the group via zoom when the friends have their monthly dinner to catch up and offer each other advise and support.

One of the friends, Loretha, narrates the novel and when we meet Loretha her life is going well.  She and her husband Carl have a great marriage. They are financially secure.  No serious health issues.  Things are not perfect of course.  Loretha worries about her daughter's drinking but for the most part Loretha's life is in a good place

And then while they are on vacation Carl dies suddenly from a heart attack.  Loretha is devastated and a few months later she learns she has diabetes.  Her friends' lives have hit a rough patch as well.   Lucky's husband wants a divorce. Korynthia has a son who is hooked on opiods. Sadie is involved with the married pastor at her church and Pookie has been hiding the truth about her cancer diagnosis.

But the title of the book It's Not All Downhill From Here assures us that happy endings are coming, maybe not sadly for Pookie but certainly for Lucky, Loretha, Sadie and Korynthia.  And I guess that's why I had a problem with the book which is humorous and touching but for me unrealistic.  Take Loretha for example, it's not just that as the novel progresses she begins to get her diabetes under control by sensible eating and that her daughter decides to go into rehab and deal with her depression.  These two changes in Loretha life are realistic and inspiring.

But the good fortune doesn't end there.  Loretha by the time the novel ends has also opened up a new beauty shop that becomes the hit of the neighborhood.  She reunites with her sister who she has been estranged from for years.  Her son, his wife and their children decide to move back to Pasadena from Japan where they were living so the family can all be together.  And, you guessed it, a handsome man in Loretha's exercise class asks her out for coffee.  Now, I believe at any age people can turn their life around but to this extent?  And the lives of Loretha's friends are also going swimmingly by the time the novel comes to a close.

Terry McMillan is a talented writer.  I loved Waiting To Exhale which was a huge bestseller in the 1990's.  But It's Not All Downhill From Here for me was a letdown.  That said this book did receive a starred review from Publisher's Weekly and thousands of positive reviews at Amazon.com so you might want to give the book a try and judge for yourself.

The New Year

We all make New Year's Resolutions but in past years my resolutions have always fallen by the wayside.  So this year I am sharing my plan.  I have come up with 5 rules to be done daily throughout 2023.  I know that sounds daunting but actually these are simple rules that I should be following daily but don't.  And so, my New Year's  resolutions for 2023 are: 

1.  Take my medication and Vitamin D daily

2.  Read a passage from the Bible each night

3.  No book or journal buying in 2023 - I know this is going to be a tough one but I already have enough reading matter for several years and there is always the library.

4.  Housework Monday - Friday - If we do about a half hour of cleaning Monday through Friday it doesn't build up and become so overwhelming.

5.  No eating after 8:00 pm except tea or coffee

To remember to do these rules each day I have started a journal in which each morning I will write down the 5 rules with a little box next to each.  Then in the evening I will put a check mark next to each of the 5 rules I followed.  I will also write about how the day went and did I follow the 5 rules and if I didn't follow a particular rule, why not?   It's a to do list when you think about it and a day planner will work as well.  But it's a way each day for me to hold myself accountable.  

I wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson

Murder on Astor Place is the first book in Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mystery series. The setting is NYC, the year is 1895 and when the novel begins we are introduced to Sarah Brandt, a young widow and nurse/midwife who lives in Lower Manhattan.  Sarah grew up in a wealthy high society family who she has been estranged from for the past few years.  We are also introduced to Frank Malloy who will become Sarah's detective partner in this 25 book series.  Frank is a police officer with the NYPD.  He is a gruff man made weary by life and, like Sarah, his spouse died a few years back.

Sarah and Frank first meet when a young woman, Alicia Van Damm, is found murdered in a boarding house on Astor Place.  Alicia was pregnant at the time of the murder and that she would wind up dead in a boarding house is puzzling because she is the daughter of the wealthy Van Damm family.  They are not eager to solve their daughter's murder, not wanting the scandal.

Sarah and Frank are not thrilled with each other.  He sees her as a too sure of herself suffragette type.  She sees him as a rude and coarse NYC cop who is probably on the take.  Nevertheless, Sarah and Frank are angry that no one seems to care about poor Alicia and so they decide to work together to find her killer.  

I found Murder on Astor Place to be a really fine start to what I predict will be a well worth one's time historical mystery series.  The author has done a very good job researching the time period of what 1890's NYC was like.  Sarah Brandt and Frank Malloy are an engaging duo that the reader will want to invest in and if my TBR list wasn't so long I would be up to tackling this 25 book series.  That said, I plan to at least give the second novel in the series, Murder on St Mark's Place, a try.

2022 Back to the Classics Wrap Up

For this year's 2022 Back to the Classics Challenge I didn't make it to all 12 categories.  So here is a recap of the 9 classics I did read: 

Choose a 19th Century Classic:  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley -  My favorite book from this year's classic's challenge.  A wonderfully written gothic masterpiece.  It's also a novel of ideas in which the author takes on the 18th Century Age of Enlightment and Scientific Progress by creating a doctor, Victor Frankenstein, who decides he can create the perfect man with tragic results.

Choose a 20th Century Classic: Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier - The writing was excellent but I did not care for the heroine, the second Mrs. DeWinter.  Beneath her timidity and shyness I found her to be snobby in many ways, inwardly cringing at  those she considers forward and low class.  Where Mrs DeWinter's judgment fails her is with her husband Maxim DeWinter.  Once he reveals his secret she is more okay with it then she should have been in my opinion.

Classic by a Woman Author:  Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - No book will equal Pride and Prejudice for me but Sense and Sensibility I really enjoyed.  Persuasion is probably the better book but I was somewhat bored.  Next year on to Emma!

Choose a Classic Mystery or Crime Novel:  Laura by Vera Caspary - A classic crime noir novel from the 1940's.  I enjoyed it and it's rare to find a mid-twentieth century crime noir novel written by a woman.

Choose a Classic Written before 1800: Coquette by Hannah Webster Foster - One of the earliest American novels to be published and based loosely on a true story.  It's interesting from a historical perspective.

Choose a Classic from a Place You Would Like to Visit: Breakfast at Tiffany's  by Truman Capote - People who have seen the film and Audrey Hepburn's charming and quirky performance as Holly Golightly are going to be suprised by Truman Capote's book.  The Holly in the novel has a much harder edge than the screen version and of the two I prefer the screen version.

Choose a Classic Short Story Collection: Hungry Hearts by Anzia Yezierska - Published in 1920 Hungry Hearts is a collection of short stories set on the Lower East Side of NYC in the early 1900's focusing on immigrant Jewish American women and girls trying to build a better life despite the sweatshops, poverty and heartbreak.  It's a moving collection of stories about how though the dreams one started out with may not match the reality, with hope and determination, new dreams are possible.

Choose a Non-Fiction Classic: Walking by Henry David Thoreau - I have been meaning to read Thoreau for years and Walking is a very short book about walking, the natural world and humanity's place in it.  It's a good introduction to Thoreau although the classic he is known for is Walden.  

Choose a Wild Card Classic:  Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe - Published 1958, the year I was born, a classic of mid-twentieth century British fiction.  This novel was one of the most prominent works to come out of the Angry Young Man movement dealing with the lives of the working class in Britain in the years after World War II.  This novel is realistic, gritty, very disturbing in certain parts but also the writing is first rate.

If Karen at Books and Choclate decides to host the Classics Challenge next year I'm up for it.  I owe this challenge so much because most of the classics I have read since taking the challenge 5 years ago I would probably never have gotten around to reading.

Walking by Henry David Thoreau

For the 2022 Back to the Classics category- choose a nonfiction classic I decided to go with Walking by Henry David Thoreau (1851).  At only forty pages, its a nice introduction to Thoreau's writing, his views about the natural world and humanity's place in it and the importance of walking.  Here is Thoreau on these subjects: 

"We should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance, in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return—prepared to send back our embalmed hearts only as relics to our desolate kingdoms. If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them again—if you have paid your debts, and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man—then you are ready for a walk.       

"I love even to see the domestic animals reassert their native rights—any evidence that they have not wholly lost their original wild habits and vigor; as when my neighbor's cow breaks out of her pasture early in the spring and boldly swims the river, a cold, gray tide, twenty-five or thirty rods wide, swollen by the melted snow. It is the buffalo crossing the Mississippi".

"At present, in this vicinity, the best part of the land is not private property; the landscape is not owned, and the walker enjoys comparative freedom. But possibly the day will come when it will be partitioned off into so-called pleasure-grounds, in which a few will take a narrow and exclusive pleasure only—when fences shall be multiplied, and man-traps and other engines invented to confine men to the PUBLIC road, and walking over the surfarce of God's earth shall be construed to mean trespassing on some gentleman's grounds".

I enjoyed Walking and underlined quite a few passages as I read through the book.  Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) is remarkably relevant today.  He was a writer, an abolitionist, a naturalist, a philosopher and as has been pointed out his one room cabin on Walden Pond could be considered the forerunner of the tiny house movement.  I recommend Walking and I am definitely planning to give Thoreau's great classic Walden a try.