Here follows the wrap-up of the last five books I
read. I don’t know why I write this way. Anyway, here we go.
This is Adichie’s short story collection from 2009. It
was really, just so great. The stories are all set in either Nigeria, or with a
Nigerian expat, or a Nigerian person who has travelled somewhere. It’s very
much about identity and about cultural and regional identity. It’s also about
how it is just to be Nigerian either in Nigeria or outside Nigeria. And it
looks at the different ties you have to your family and your country. The
stories are beautiful, and they’re very different. It’s very interesting to see
the different ways people express their identity, and how they use their
cultural identity to express themselves. Adichie is a very talented writer, and
she’s beautiful and clever, and her writing is just so amazing.
This is a very short poetry collection by W.B. Yates.
I think it was like 38 pages. The poems were mainly very normal traditional
poems, and they were beautiful. The last poem was the Green Helmet, and it’s a
beautiful epic poem about warring brothers, and creepy dudes with helmets. It
was beautiful, and weird, and wonderful.
I’ve had this books for like ever. By forever I mean
four years. Anyway. I picked it up because I was doing the underhyped readathon
and this book had like fewer than 100 ratings on goodreads. This is a look at
how blues started, and a lot of the myths around blues. It’s also a look at the
myth of Robert Johnson, who is often seen as this pinnacle of blues, and maybe
that isn’t too accurate. It was really interesting. Blues is so steeped in myth
and nostalgia. The idea is that blues was music of suffering and it was very
connected to the music of slaves, and then the music of oppression. And while a
lot of blues music is about sad things it’s because it was popular music, and
popular music is often about common themes, and things that people think about.
It was essentially pop music, it was enjoyed by black and white fans. It was
especially popular among women. Quite often because the singers were
sharp-dressed, handsome men. A lot of the early blues singers were absolutely
badass dames, called blues queens, which I thought was cool. It was really
interesting, and I love blues music, so I read this while listening to some
excellent blues. Which was fun.
This is a standalone fantasy adventure story written
by a YouTuber named Paul Neafcy.
I should say, he didn’t get a book deal through YouTube. He’s a writer who has
a YouTube channel. The story is about a young woman named Katherine who is the
Princess. She lives in Elderhaime and she has just turned 18 and is engaged to
a man she’s never met, the King of the neighboring country. They’ve been at war
for a long time. The idea is that if they marry there will be peace again. On
her way to the wedding their carriage is attacked and Katherine’s father is
killed. Her Fool/Bodyguard promises to get her home, or get her to the King, to
help get her married, whatever she prefers. It’s fun, it’s exciting, there’s
running around. The language feels really natural. It’s told through different
perspectives and the voices feel very distinct. It was funny, and a nice romp.
The Fool was incredible, and I wanted to hang out with him. He’s a badass.
Miranda Hart is a comedienne from the UK. I have never used the word
comedienne before and I don’t know if I will again. She has her own sit-com,
called Miranda, and she was in Call the Midwife, which I haven’t seen, but it’s
meant to be great. Anyways. This is Miranda’s memoir. She wrote it when she was
38, and she sort of looks back on her life, her dreams and ideas from when she
was 18. She also asks the question “Is it just me?” in relation to odd things
she does. Like: Is it just me, or does everyone hate weddings? And a lot of
them are really weird, and silly, and I might be weird and silly, because many
of them were so relatable for me. I feel like Miranda Hart and I would be great
friends, ambling around being weird. I listened to the audiobook, and it’s read
by Miranda Hart. It’s also written in a way that her 18-year-old self comes
running in and interrupting when she realizes that “Big Miranda” isn’t living
the life that “Little Miranda” was imagining. So Miranda is 6 foot 1, and is
quite often mistaken for a man. She’s posh, and went to a posh boarding school,
where students were apparently called Biffo (although I think he went to the
boy’s school). And Little Miranda says things like “Marveloso” and “Hidiola”
and I love it so much. It was funny, and poignant, and Miranda Hart is so
enthusiastic, and doesn’t take herself seriously, and I just love her so much.
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Green Helmet and Other Poems by W.B. Yates
Escaping the Delta by Elijah Wald
This is a standalone fantasy adventure story written
by a YouTuber named Paul Neafcy.
I should say, he didn’t get a book deal through YouTube. He’s a writer who has
a YouTube channel. The story is about a young woman named Katherine who is the
Princess. She lives in Elderhaime and she has just turned 18 and is engaged to
a man she’s never met, the King of the neighboring country. They’ve been at war
for a long time. The idea is that if they marry there will be peace again. On
her way to the wedding their carriage is attacked and Katherine’s father is
killed. Her Fool/Bodyguard promises to get her home, or get her to the King, to
help get her married, whatever she prefers. It’s fun, it’s exciting, there’s
running around. The language feels really natural. It’s told through different
perspectives and the voices feel very distinct. It was funny, and a nice romp.
The Fool was incredible, and I wanted to hang out with him. He’s a badass. 
Is It Just Me? By Miranda Hart