Saturday Already ?

My word,i did only one post yesterday, but that was due tothe fact that on the whole it was a frustrating day. I also felt very tired when i got home and had an early night in.

Someebody here is going to supply a coffee table to me, whilst another willbe giving me some bedding,

I am just waiting for extra funds tocomein before i splash out anyway.

Book 9 - Elly Griffiths "A Dying Fall"

Elly Griffiths "A Dying Fall" (Paragon)





Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway is surprised to receive a letter from a university friend that she has not seen in 20 years; especially since she found out the day before that he had died in a house fire. The letter asks whether Ruth would be interested in helping on an exciting archaeological discovery he had recently made. Ominously, the letter also states that he “… is afraid. That’s it, just afraid”. Despite her misgivings her curiosity is peeked and she heads off to Lancashire. Coincidentally enough, DCI Harry Nelson (the married father of her daughter) is vacationing in the same place. Avoiding each other is not an option as strange things about the dig and the university come to light and both Ruth and Harry are drawn into the investigation.


This is the first i read of this author's output and it seesm to be part of a series. Do i succumb or not? A good read whatver i decide,

Fantasy

Sometimes we need more fantasy ....

Book 10 - Yaa Gyasi "Homegoing"

Yaa Gyasi "Homegoing" (Penguin)




The stories of each generation, told in individual chapters, focus on one descendant of Effia and one of Esi and they run parallel to each other on down through the family tree, showing the long arc of divergence and eventual convergence in this one representative family.

Each chapter captures a brief snapshot of life for the character in question leaving large swathes of time out of the narrative, focusing the reader's attention on the historical moment almost as much as on the character themselves. Each story is a distillation of that historical generation's experiences in both the US and Ghana. The family tree in the beginning of the book comes in handy in keeping everyone straight and for comparing how far from the original sisters each person is, giving the reader additional perspective since the characters themselves progressively lose pieces of their familial history as time goes on.

The novel is epic in scope but the chapters and stories themselves are each self-contained and tightly focused. The narrative starts out leisurely and captivating but speeds up in later chapters and the final chapters unfold with less nuanced pictures of the later characters' lives, highlighting their generation's historical moments more than their individuality and the ending itself, while clearly symbolic, might be just a little bit too much. Gyasi has written a sweeping and expansive novel of black history, in surprisingly few pages, that encompasses the biggest movements, tragedies, and outrages against a people in two different countries. It tackles not only the horrors of slavery and colonialism but also the truth and shame of complicity.

The novel is unflinching in its look at inhumanity and institutionalized hardship but it also shows instances of deep and abiding love, acceptance, and perseverance. A worthwhile and important read, no wonder it won or was nominated for so many awards.

Mo' jazz on A Saturday

Time for a music post - well it has been a few days since the last one.


Binker & Moses - At the Feet of the Mountain of Forever

( More jazz here )

Enjoy.

Good Night

... and sleep tight!