Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope everyone is having a great midweek. Wednesdays also mean WWW Wednesday update. WWW Wednesday is a bookish meme originally hosted by SAM@TAKING ON A WORLD OF WORDS. The mechanics for WWW Wednesday is quite simple, you just have to answer three questions:
- What are you currently reading?
- What have you finished reading?
- What will you read next?
What are you currently reading?
I am making a great progress with my March African Literature Month. After Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, I am back again in Nigeria with Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood. Until last year, I have never heard of Emecheta nor have I encountered any of her works. Nevertheless, I was stoked when I gained a copy of this book through an online bookseller. The Joys of Motherhood charts the story of Nnu Ego, the daughter of an influential Igbo tribesman, Nwokocha Agbadi. Her first marriage with her childhood sweetheart, Amatokwu, ended with Nnu Ego getting returned to her father. She was then remarried, now to a man named Nnaife who was living and working in Lagos. The novel is a portrayal of the the struggles of women in a highly patriarchal society where tribesmen, and men in general, can have as many wives as they can. Despite this, Nnu Ego loved her children and was proud of them. I am nearly done with the novel and I hope it would give me further insights into Nigerian society and culture.
What have you finished reading?
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has won me over with her evocative retelling of the Biafran war in her seminal novel, Half of a Yellow Sun. This experience made me look forward to her other works, leading me to perhaps her most popular novel, Americanah. Americanah chronicles the story of young lovers Ifemelu and Obinze. During the tumultuous period following the uprising of university students against the government, Ifemelu chose to migrate to the United States and join her Aunt Uju. What she found in the United States shocked her beyond belief as it was not the picture she had in her head. Adichie did a commendable job of capturing the struggles one experiences in a new environment – the culture shock, the discrimination, and the sideward or pitying glances one elicits in public. Despite the palpable dichotomies between Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah, I love both novels equally. My pleasant experience with both books makes me look forward to more of Adichie’s prose.
What will you read next?
I am hoping to indulge in the works of two Nobel Laureates in Literature. It has also been over four years since I last read my first Naguib Mahfouz novel, Miramar. I am still not delving into the Cairo Trilogy for I am one book short (the last book). However, I have a standalone book that I hope would remind me of Mahfouz’s narrative. I am kind of expecting some political undertones in the novel. Nigerian Wole Soyinkan was the first African laureate when he was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, although I never knew of this until last year I believe. His memoir, Aké: The Years of Childhood, will be the first nonfiction in nearly two years.
Thus concludes another WWW Wednesday update! I hope everyone is having a great midweek! Do keep safe and as always, enjoy reading!
The Pine-Scented Chronicles 