Arlington Reads 2015: Jesmyn Ward and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Super excited that these two authors are visiting Arlington, Virginia very soon....

Here are links to books by Jesmyn Ward that I have reviewed:

Where the Lines Bleed
Salvage the Bones

And, here are links to books by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that I have reviewed:

Purple Hibiscus
Americanah
Half of a Yellow Sun

Consider reading something by these ladies and meeting me at Central Library in Arlington, Virginia.

Writer's Rock!!

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I would recommend that a person read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Acheba and follow it up with this novel, Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie, which are two novels that are set in Nigeria and are written by Nigerian writers.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel that is set in the late 1800s early 1900s in eastern Nigeria. The novel does a great job of explaining the Igbo tribe and their traditions. It also does a great job of explaining what happened when the British started to bring Christianity to Nigeria. Purple Hibiscus is set during a time when quite a few people in Nigeria had converted to Christianity, about one hundred years after Things Fall Apart. This novel shows the struggle between the traditional and Christian beliefs in a Nigerian culture and shows what may have happened in Nigeria after many of the people adopted Christianity. I am not sure if this novel is meant to a sequel to Things Fall Apart, but it sure reads like one.

Chimamanda tells, Purple Hibiscus, from the perspective of Kambili Achike, a young girl who lives with her brother, father, and mother. Her father, Eugene Achike, is a strict Catholic and has adopted the Christian belief totally. His beliefs causes him to be quite severe with his children and his wife, and it causes him to turn his back on his father who was a traditionalist.

Kambili and her brother, Jaja, have a loving yet fearful relationship with their father. He punishes them severely if they were not top of their class and when they did things that went against his beliefs and Christian beliefs. Eventually, the father has a tragic ending that tremendously impacts his family.

Reading this novel I thought a lot about the idea that we MUST include diverse literature in our classrooms if we want a world where people are culturally sensitive. Things Fall Apart and Purple Hibiscus gives the reader insight into Nigeria in a manner that is both informative and captivating. We need more books like this to dispel myths that we may have about other cultures and to possibly create a culturally sensitive society.

This is the third book that I have read by Chimamanda, and her books should be read in classrooms around the world. The other two books that I have read by her are Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah.

Read Chimamanda's books and learn and grow!

Happy Saturday...It's Race Day!

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

One of the many joys of Spring Break is being able to get up and read a book and drink a cup of coffee with absolutely no place to go....

So, with this time to read, I finished reading Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie!

I was first introduced to Chimamanda through her Ted talk, and then I read her novel Half of a Yellow Sun. I was completely captivated by both, and I knew that I wanted to read more things that were written by Chimamanda. Check out the blog post and Ted Talk here!

Americanah is a novel about a Nigerian girl, Ifemelu, who moves to American to attend college. She finishes college, has two good relationship, and writes a blog that earns her lots of money and makes her well-known. However, after much thought, Ifemelu decides to move back to Nigeria.

Chimamanda tells a great story, and she touches on many things such as hair braiding shops, immigration, the desire to fit into a new culture, the election of President Barack Obama, how Africans feel about African Americans, love, class within Nigeria, the complexity of moving back to ones native country and so on....At times, I felt that there was an overkill of topics that did not necessary take away from the story line but did not exactly add to the story line either.

Reading this book, I thought a lot about taking a journey, and this theme has come up quite often in a lot of the readings that I have been doing this school year. And, like many other characters in literature, Ifemelu was forced to take a journey in order to grow.

I wonder if God is trying to send me some kind of message....Hmmmmmm

This is a book that I think you should add to your listing if for no other reason besides the fact that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a hot topic right now.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

My next read is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.. Consider joining me!