Callaloo Soup

Of Books and Literature

The recent news about the passing of Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart , put me right back into my secondary school days, as this was one of the books I studied for my English Literature O'Level examinations.

One of the things I am truly grateful for in my education is how, starting at around age 13, we got to study books written by West Indian, North American, African and European authors.

The one that stands out most in my mind is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, but Things Fall Apart is also up there. I had an excellent literature teacher, one of those teachers that stands out in your mind over 20 years later (we are even friends on Facebook now!), and that, plus my love of reading meant that literature was my favourite subject at school (so how did I end up in Engineering? That's a story for another day).

This year I am doing the reading challenge on Goodreads, and my goal is 52 books (I'm already 13 books in!). I think I am going to work on rereading those books from school that I remember the most. The two above plus these

Brother Man  by Roger Mais

Christopher by Geoffrey Drayton

We also did various Shakespeare texts of course, but I think I will save those for my reading list for next year!

Do you have any favourite books from your past that you would consider rereading as an adult? I am interested to see how reading these books now will change my perspective of them (or not).

Related articles

Achebe the great Iroko.

RIP Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe memorable lines in Things Fall Apart

Prof Chinua Achebe is dead

I Don't Watch the News

Or listen to it on the radio, or read it online. I have yet to see one image of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. And it's not because I don't care about what's going on in the world. In fact I think it's because I care too much. I was in the US on September 11th, and it's possible that that was the turning point. I watched the towers fall live on TV and it traumatized me for months, just as I am sure it did most of us. Simply thinking about it almost 10 years later is enough to make me tear up.

My policy is that if it's bad enough, someone will tell me what's going on. And between Twitter, Facebook and my husband who would die if he didn't listen to the news all.the.time, that's exactly what happens.

So I knew about the terrible devastation going on. I chose not to click on the links I came across, because just the poster's horror was enough for me. I didn't need the visual to back it up. Do you ever feel like sometimes we are too connected? That's the feeling I get when there is a disaster these days, like there are too many ways we can learn about horror, too soon after it happens.

Don't get me wrong, I see the upside of all this. That instantaneous connection no doubt plays a huge part in information getting to where it needs to be, and people getting the help they need when they need it. And this is where I start to appreciate the connectedness. When I start seeing the links about donating and sending help. Those? I click the heck out of.