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Aya De Yopougon

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African Lit May 25, 2018

Throwback: Aya De Yopougon

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  • Recent Posts
    • #ReadCaribbean… 3 more books by Caribbean writers in my stacks!
    • Augustown by Kei Miller….A #ReadCaribbean Throwback
    • Independent Bookshop Week: 11 Indie bookshops to visit in London
    • Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari: Book Review
    • Book Review: Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, Claudia Rankine
  • About Me

    Charlene. A Londoner. About the book life. And other sorts of lives. And food. Runs this blog.

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    • June is over but these are a few more titles by Caribbean authors I have on my shelf to read 📚 Aunt Jen by Paulette Ramsay. There are so many narratives discussing the immigrant experience but rarely do we hear the voices of those they left behind. Looking forward to these letters from Sunshine to her emigrated mother. I have @booksandrhymes and her IGTV to blame for this one! 📚 Lesley-Ann Brown's Decolonial Daughter is also written as a series of letters- to her son about living in a supposedly post-colonial and post-racial world. Explores themes of migration, identity and nationhood through a lens of motherhood. @bookofcinz gave this such a good review, I picked it up 📚 Incidentally, these two women were fully lighting up IG Live for me last night with their discussions! If you aren't catching Literary Ancestry on Wednesday nights, start! 📚 A Brief history Of Seven Killings actually belongs to my guy. He bought it years ago and I'm pretty sure he is waiting for me to read it on his behalf so I can tell him about it. The problem with this books there are many MANY pages and the font is small 😂 I will definitely read it though, I've heard too much good about it not to. The premise has sounded fascinating to me since I heard about it 📚 📚 Have you read any of these or any books written as letters? Do you read anyone else's books on their behalf? 📚 📚 #readcaribbean #marlonjames #abriefhistoryofsevenkillings #manbookerprize #manbookerprizewinner #lesleyannbrown #repeaterbooks #becauseofblackreaders #oneworldpublications #pauletteramsay #mustread #bookstagram #readstagram #bookblogger #booknerd #booksofig #ukbookstagram #manbooker50
    • This is one of my favourite stories, I just love everything about it. I'm probably not even going to be able to do it justice in this post because it's been two years since I read it, it was my first booksta buddy read.It was also through this book that someone taught me what "Spanish Town" means! 📚 I love the folklore of it. I can honestly imagine sitting with my Grandad on the steps outside and listening to him tell this story on a hot day. I really think I have heard the myth about people floating up to the sky before but I can't remember where. I love that it's so entertaining but Kei Miller also managed to make an effective social commentary about class hierarchy in Jamaica- and ultimately, everywhere. Loved the idea of a myth as apocalyptic as the 'autoclaps' that slowly becomes believable. 📚 Even though it's not a long book, the characters are so strong that they stand on their own, especially Gina and Ma Taffy. It is quite character driven. A newspaper review of this I read described the story as 'panoramic' and I can't think of a better word. The characters and storylines tie together so well. This is a book I would recommend with no hesitation 📚 This is a big #becauseofblackreaders for me because had I not joined the buddy read, I dont know that I would have read this book so @reggiereads @aroundthewaybooks @colourlit @booklempt.gyal @luvnecia @neverwithoutabook, Thanks! I recently got The Last Warner Woman, looking forward to that. 📚 📚 #readcaribbean #keimiller #augustown #bookrecommendations #bookblogger #caribbeanliterature #blackliterature #wellreadblackgirl #booknerd #favouritebooks #ukbookblogger #blackbibliophile #bookstagram #booksofig #throwbackbook
    • Yesterday was the last day of Independent Bookshop Week! Been ordering (and pre-ordering!) from a few indie outlets but there's nothing like stepping into an actual bookshop. I started profiling a few bookshops local to my home and office on my blog a while back but haven't been able to visit many lately. Mostly due to a mix of lockdown and and the babies but pretty soon I expect to start paying a few visits again. I'm especially looking forward to visiting @roundtablebooks which I somehow missed the last few times I was in Brixton Village (looong time ago, feels like!) 📚 📚 Link in Bio for 11 beautiful independent bookshops to visit in London. Some are I already love and some I'm sure will become favourites! Look out for more posts 📚 Which Independent bookshop are you looking forward to visiting in your city 📚 📚 #londonbookshops #independentbookshops #independentbookshopweek #indiebookshopweek #bookshopsoflondon #hernehillbooks #hernehillmarket #librerialondon  #bookshopsofig #shopfronts #shoplocal #booksaremybag #bookblogger #wellreadblackgirl #bookspeckham #peckham #bookstagram #thingstodoinlondon
    • It took me months to read/listen to this but it was worth it! Sapiens is fascinating and so informative without being intimidating.It's quite surface level though, since he is trying to cover the entire progression of Sapiens to date, it's not an in depth study 📚 I had a lot of favourite moments. Something that has always fascinated me is that almost all the systems and cultures in place are only legitimate because we have agreed on a set of ideas. A Limited Liability Company only works as a structure because we have agreed on it. Money only has certain value because we agree- or were made to agree- that it does. Time zones are literally invisible lines that only exist because we agreed and accepted. What happens when we stop agreeing? Let's all stop and see what happens. 📚 Harari asks whether we domesticated wheat or it domesticated us. After all, Sapiens did change lifestyles from nomadic to sedentary to tend to the crop. Meanwhile the crop evolved from growing haphazardly in a few areas of the world to being grown everywhere in premium conditions, tended to by humans. I think we still won though because we eat it 📚 One thing I didn't like was the indifference with which colonialism and empire is approached. You will find this in most history books in the name of objectivity which I get but it will never sit well with me. 📚 I would say you have to take parts of the book with a pinch of salt. A lot of it seems to be Harari's interpretation and opinion of historical events rather than cold hard historical facts. Be open to disagreeing with some aspects or more importantly- coming up with your own interpretation. I'd recommend it. You will learn ALOT but it's not a perfect book. Full review going on blog, link in bio 📚 📚 Who else took forever to read this?? 📚 📚 #vintagebooks #lockdownreads #lockdownbookclub #audiobooks #audible #yuvalnoahharari #sapiens #briefhistoryofeverything #blackbookblogger #Bookblogger #flatlay #bookrecommendation #bookreview #ukblogger #nonfiction #bookstagram #bookasthetic #goodreads
    • I was gifted Citizen for Christmas a few years ago and still haven't read it yet. For some reason, I came across Don't Let Me Be Lonely, bought it and read it straight away. Now I know I have just been missing out on Claudia Rankine all this time for no good reason 📚 "Sometimes you read something and a thought that was floating around in your veins reorganises itself into the sentence that reflects it" 📚 The quote really sums up my feelings about alot of the book. Some of the ideas and sentiments are so recognisable but not necessarily in the questioning way Rankine has presented them.  The book is a series of reflections where Rankine somehow intertwines her thoughts about bereavement and isolation, American society, TV images she has taken in and everyday impacts of Big Pharma. Parts of the book begged a second or third re-read. At any time, this book would have kept me in my thoughts. During lockdown, a time when death rates were being broadcast as part of a daily routine, it was a stark reminder that lives are not stats. 📚 It was apt. Timely, even though published post 9/11, 16 years ago, she could have written it now, it feels very current. Although often sorrowful, the simplicity and clarity of writing makes it so captivating. I would recommend this with no hesitation.  It is a short book but it's not something to fly through, something to sit with and reflect on in a few sittings 📚 Its written as prose poetry, I would have just called them vignettes but I obviously dont know enough about the genre. Especially since I thought I didnt like poetry anymore but over lockdown, a series of books like Jay Bernard's Surge and Odubanjo's Why I Yet Live have been proving me very very wrong 📚 Have you read anything by Claudia Rankine? 📚 📚 #dontletmebelonely #Claudiarankine #bookreccomendation #roughly200 #ukbookblogger #Bookblogger #bookish #poetry #americanlyric #prosepoetry #bookflatlay #newyorktimesbestseller #bookstagram #booklover #lockdownreads #lockdownbookclub
    • On my sister's birthday, I was remembering some things we'd done in recent times. The one and only book event we went to together was Zadie Smith's talk for the release of Swing Time with London Review Bookshop at RIBA. It was a great night, Zadie Smith was amazing to listen to as usual,  we got our books signed and laughed at some things we probably weren't supposed to be laughing at 📚 Then we did a buddy read of Swing Time, I thought it was OK but was.....underwhelmed.  Especially since I loved Changing My Mind, the bar was high. Might mean I like Smith's Essays but not her fiction.  I don't know... so I'm going to give it another  go, I picked up NW from a charity shop so will read it at some point. I've got On Beauty too but I know I'm more likely to enjoy that. White Teeth was good on TV but I don't know if I'd like it as a book 📚 Does anyone else prefer Zadie Smith's Non Fiction to her fiction? Or vice versa 📚 📚 #bookstagrammer #ukbookblogger #Bookblogger #zadiesmith #bibliophilelife #londonreviewbookshop #penguinbooks #blackbookblogger ##wellreadblackgirl #blackbritreadinglist #fridayreads #bookcoverdesign #bookcoverappreciation #throwbackbook
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