How are you getting on? Hoping that you have had a good week, all things considered! With the Beehive this week, I joined in doing some of the gardening in Paradise Gardens. During lockdown, trapped inside more and where walks are more of a treat than usual, I feel like I have definitely appreciated nature more. So, being able to help out, making the park look a bit nicer was great fun. We do this each week and you are welcome to join! Has anyone else made the most of bookshops opening? Being able to take time roamIng around a room surrounded by books, filled me which such joy. I had my eye on two in the end, ‘The Brother Karamazov’ by Dostoyevsky and ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
This week’s book is ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe. Achebe has written five novels, many short stories and an impressive array of poetry, essays, and lectures. He fights for the right of Africans to write their stories in their own ways, instead of the representation given by European writers. This book was published in 1958 and is set during the ‘Scramble for Africa’ in the late 19th century. It tells the tale of how a village that managed to stay unchanged over the generations began to break and alter once the English arrived.
The lead character, Okonkwo, does not want to accept the changes that the English are implementing and that the other members of his clan seem to be willing to accept. This book is an incredible opportunity to be able to see and understand the culture and customs of the affected community. Knowing that the author is giving his own personal perspective, rather than as an outside observer, makes the book feel more real and believable. The sharing of books can be such an amazing way to be able to hear history from both sides of any given situation.
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