Category: Fiction

Fiction, We Chit Chat

We Chit Chat: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

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“But home isn’t where you land; home is where you launch. You can’t pick your home any more than you can choose your family. In poker, you get five cards. Three of them you can swap out, but two are yours to keep: family and native land.”

Taynement: So what did you think?

Leggy: I thought it was okay.

Taynement: Wow. Just okay? I absolutely loved it

Leggy: I have to say. I really didn’t like the blurb the publishers wrote for this book. I hate that they told us exactly what was going to happen so I spent like the first 50 pages just waiting for the “event”. It made my reading experience seriously unbearable.
You know I had the hardcover so the blurb was literally there. I didn’t even go seeking any spoilers

Taynement: Oh per usual, I didn’t read one. Well I’ve always said that you’re a destination vs. the journey person. Because, I don’t think the actual event and circumstance mattered and was more about everyone’s reactions to it. What I loved about the book is that as I get older I’ve been saying how human relations can be so complicated and I think she captured it with this story. The complexity of it all, especially within a marriage.

Leggy: I had intense anxiety just waiting for the event to happen. I was literally like “here it comes, here it comes”. Anyway, what did you think of their marriage before the event? Did you think they were even going to make it even if the event never happened?

Taynement: I don’t think we had enough information to know if they would or not. Roy came off as a fuckboy, albeit a reformed one, but they did seem to have a connection.

Leggy: He really did. I didn’t quite like him

Taynement: Even though, as we got to know him better, he seemed like the embodiment of “masculinity so fragile”

Leggy: Yes, there were so many moments I was just like “screw this guy”

Taynement: But here’s where I give kudos to the writer. It was a complicated scenario. Yes he was in jail but they all knew he was innocent and that has to be the worst thing ever. I give kudos because I could see both sides. I certainly didn’t expect him to be rational.

Leggy: I know the author made it clear to us that he was innocent right from the beginning but a part of me only 100% believed it right at the end when he made that gesture. It redeemed him in my eye and I thought that was the absolute best way to resolve the situation

Taynement: Him not being innocent would have been such a cheap twist to have.

Leggy: What did you think of Andre? Were you ever mad at him at some point? Did you ever agree with Celeste’s father?

Taynement: I didn’t like Andre. I really thought the whole thing was a dick move. And I just saw him as a weak man

Leggy: I hated him so much, What a weak man! You had all your life to get with her.
All your damn life and you waited till this situation happened? I agreed with her dad.

Taynement: I’m trying not to give spoilers but I don’t even care that he’d loved her this whole time. So it was circumstantial love?

Leggy: He’s an arsehole. God and then that whole thing about going to talk to him first to inform him? That was such a dick move. Celeste owed him that trip, she should have been the one to tell him first. I was just disgusted with the both of them for that

Taynement: Roy Snr. for the win, btw! Anyway, If Celeste was as fierce and independent as they intended her to be she wouldn’t have been in this pickle, she came off as unsure. But then I thought of the speech her dad gave her saying she was one of those “lucky” people who’ve never been through much.

Leggy: That’s why her arse thinks she’s so strong and independent when she’s just playing at it

Taynement: Oh there was something I really liked about the couple. Where people have a safe word for sex. I liked that they had a safe word for when their fights were getting too intense. They really seemed to love each other. But it was so new, so who knows if it was young love.

Leggy: Yes, loved that! I’m going to adopt that. I think Roy was just impressed with her and her family. I don’t think they were suited but who knows? What did you think of the whole situation with Davina?

Taynement: I thought him and Davina were convenient, but I liked it. Also, about just being impressed by her family pedigree, that’s a possibility. Roy seemed like he was fighting himself. One of those African Americans who thought themselves bougie because they are educated with money in the pocket, when he was just a big ball of insecurity.
I won’t mention some of the harsh things he wrote in his letters to Celestial but I noted two quotes after his release that showed the kind of man he is. First when he is trying to win her back and he says “Ask me and I’ll forgive you” I’m like excuse you?

Leggy:Omg!! I caught this too. It infuriated me. Like what?!!! You were gone for five years and you need to forgive her? The nerve!

Taynement: And second, when he thought “I swear I didn’t want to hurt Celestial but I needed to know if I could”. This goes back to what I meant about this book encapsulating all of human complexities. There were a lot of emotions and common human feelings expressed so well. I feel like in the hands of a less skilled author, this book could easily have been a mess. There were like 500 different stories going. Family secrets included and not one time did it feel convoluted

Leggy: I think this book would be fantastic for a book club (coincidentally Oprah just made this part of her book club). So many themes to explore and discuss
Is this the author’s first book?

Taynement: Nope. Apparently she has 3 other books. I guess this book helps with your reading goal on reading more African American and female writers that you mentioned here. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was an adult book for lack of a better word. Always good when a book meets it’s hype.

Leggy: Yes, it definitely does. I’m conflicted on this book. Discussing it with you now I’m totally on board and I’m talking about all these layers and human complexities, but when I step away from it I feel a tad bit underwhelmed? I feel like I need to sit with this for a few more days but anyway for now, I gave it three stars and would definitely recommend. Also, can I just say that the cover is absolutely GORGEOUS in person?

Taynement: It is? nice. I gave it four stars.

Let us know your thoughts if you’ve read it. We’d appreciate your comments!

 

Taynement & Leggy

Chick-Lit, Fiction, Uncategorized

Love Between The Pages – Romance Novel Recommendations

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Ah. ‘Tis the season for love. Valentine’s day is ’round the corner just in case the aisles in your grocery store haven’t reminded you. In honor of lover’s day, I decided to make a list of my favorite Romance books for you lovers out there. I rarely read romance novels these days because many of them are corny, not well written and just make me roll my eyes.

When I was in secondary school (high school for my Americans), I loveddddd romance novels. In fact, I read my first Mills and Boons when I was in Primary 3 (third grade) and I actually still remember the name – “A Night of Possession”. I read romance novels right up to Secondary school then just sort of got tired of the repeated tropes. If you’ve read one, you’ve read them all. But I’m not going to be a grinch. This is my contribution to the “holiday” and my way of spreading love to you guys out there. Here are a few of the romance books that  I have enjoyed over the years:

  • The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller:

“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”

Miller retells the story of one of Greek Mythologies’ greatest heroes through the eyes of his best friend Patroclus. Staying true to the big points of Greek mythology, she weaves the story of an intimate friendship and eventual romance between Achilles and Patroclus with the Trojan war as a huge backdrop for their love. This book was absolutely fantastic and is a take on Homer’s Illaid, the romance is slow burning and believable.

  • Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella:

I love British chicklit. Whenever I want to tune out and cleanse my reading palate, especially after a very gruesome read, Sophie never fails me. I love that her books are funny and fast paced. You can read most of her books in a day. Twenty-eight year old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital and does not recognise herself – she’s skinny, perfect teeth, designer bags- and she has a millionaire (of course!) husband that she does not recognize either. Sophie takes us on a hilarious ride through Lexi’s past and her struggle to come to terms with her current self.

  • One Day by David Nicholls:

“You know what I can’t understand? You have all these people telling you all the time how great you are, smart and funny and talented and all that, I mean endlessly, I’ve been telling you for years. So why don’t you believe it? why do you think people say that stuff, Em? Do you think it’s a conspiracy, people secretly ganging up to be nice about you?” 

I love a good “will they? won’t they?” romance. I love friendship turned lovers stories. I love unrequited love and “I don’t want to ruin the friendship” romance tension. This book is everything I love about a love story all tied into one and has all the aforementioned. Dexter and Emma meet on the last day of college, spend a night together and can’t stop thinking of each other but they slip into the comfortable confines of friendship and the author takes us through the snapshots of their life on the same day – July 15th- over twenty five years. We see so many missed opportunities, so many fights, so many squabbles and breakdowns as they both try to come to terms with how much they really matter in each other’s life.

  • The Sun is also a Star by Nicola Yoon:

“Stars are important,” I say, laughing.

“Sure, but why not more poems about the sun? The sun is also a star, and it’s our most important one. That alone should be worth a poem or two.” 

Don’t you just love it when you see the title of a book inside the book? I just feel like the author is winking at me from afar. Anyway, this is a YA romance novel. I found this author last year and I’ve read two books by her and this is by far the better of the two. I really enjoyed this book. Natasha is a girl whose family came illegally into the states from Jamaica and they’re currently being deported and she’s trying a last hail mary to get a stay before they have to leave in a couple of hours, Daniel is a young man who is on his way to his Yale interview that he is contemplating skipping because it’s just not what he wants and he feels pressured by his parents, who are also immigrants. This book is about their chance encounter and the 24 hours they spend together afterwards.

  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” 

Ahhhh, the classics! I am an avid member of the Austen cult, I have read all the Austen books and even the Austen dupes. I know a lot of uptight people dismiss Austen as trivial and chicklit but what do they expect a middle class English woman to possibly write about in the 1800s? Sci-fi? Austen writes and constructs characters that she knows and her observation of human interactions has stood the test of time. There are no wasted plot devices in this book, the plot is tightly woven and not a single word is out of place. Pride and Prejudice is about the proud Mr. Darcy and the very witty and sharp tongued Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues. The Bennet family will not disappoint you with their hilarity and every day living.

I hope you all have a fantastic Valentine’s week. Are you celebrating? Do you like romance novels? Tell me some of your favorites! I’d love to add some to my ever growing TBR list!

leggy.

Fiction

We Chit Chat: What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky

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“When Enebeli Okwara sent his girl out in the world, he did not know what the world did to daughters. He did not know how quickly it would wick the dew off her, how she would be returned to him hollowed out, relieved of her better parts.”

Leggy: So we finally read this book after weeks of calling it “man falls”.

Taynement: Yes. Finally! I’d been avoiding it because Lord knows I hate short stories.

Leggy: Uggh, I do too, just when you’re settling into the drama it ends all of a sudden.

Taynement: Like! It’s so unfulfilling. But this book had a lot of good reviews and me and my FOMO. Can’t be left out.

Leggy: I only read it because you reminded me everyday to, and I promised you I was going to read it before Sunday. So yesterday, I just sat down and finally read it. I was quite pleasantly surprised.

Taynement: Yes, same here. I’m not going to lie and say I went in with an open mind. I remember telling you how I wasn’t quite feeling the first two stories – “The Future Looks Good” and “War Stories”. But I have to say while “War Stories” didn’t really hit me in the face, in hindsight it was one of the many taboo subjects (in Nigeria) that she wove into a variety of stories in a subtle way. In this case – mental illness/ depression.

Leggy: I absolutely loved “War Stories”. I thought it was subtle and well done. I loved the conversation between Nwando and her father about the war:

“So what happened to the lieutenant?” I asked, wanting another story to erase this one.

“He died, Nwando; they all died.”

“How come you didn’t die?”

“Because,” he said, “when the time came, I ran.”

I thought it was very well written and conveyed a lot of hidden emotions and explanations for Nwando’s father’s mental health state mixed in with the guilt he must be feeling.

What was your absolutely favourite story though?

Taynement: I’d have to say it was between “Light” and “Glory” but I’ll go with “Light”  because the end of “Glory” was absolutely infuriating and I have no idea what it was!

Leggy: I loved “Light” too. It was so well written and it sort of broke my heart. I enjoyed “Glory” till the absolute last sentence where I just felt like she deserved all her bad luck if she ended up making the decision I’m scared that she made.

Taynement: Yes, I found that Lesley’s writing shone more when she wrote about family relations within the Nigerian culture. And her weaknesses showed more in the futuristic/sci-fi type stories.

Leggy: I think she could have used a better editor. Some of the writing was awkward.

Taynement: Yes, I agree. I had to reread a lot of things many times over to grasp what she was trying to say.

Leggy: But this is a debut and I expect most good debuts to just be a show of potential not a show of genius.

Taynement: I remember the first story, I read the first few lines so many times trying to make sense of it and I found myself doing that later in some of the other stories.

Leggy: I couldn’t grasp what metaphors the sci-fi ones were trying to portray or maybe they were just stories and I’m thinking too hard.

Taynement: You have to be referring to “Who Will Greet You at Home“. I’m not sure I got what that was about. Even at the end.

Leggy: I actually really loved that one as a story in terms of its writing. It’s the ant one I did not get at all – “What is a Volcano?”. I was like okayyy, and sooo? What is the point of this? I understood the end being a metaphor for a volcano and the story being about natural disasters and how a volcano came to be? I don’t know, it just wasn’t tight enough or well done.

Taynement: Goes back to the awkward writing. Which I think as time progresses she will iron out as she has so much great potential as seen in the premises of her stories. They are very ambitious. She is able to create a world in which the reader is interested in what happens to the characters.

Leggy: Yes, I would really love to read a full length fiction book from her with Nigerian characters. I think she does that so well. Like “Light” could have been a full blown book, I wanted so much to read more about the characters in that story. Can we talk about “Windfalls” please? How disturbing was that?

Taynement: Hella Hella disturbing and to be honest, I read those characters as Americans. Just couldn’t imagine them as Nigerians in my head. I felt grossed out and couldn’t wait to finish the story. It didn’t fit in with the rest of the theme of the book. When I say themes, one of the things I liked about the book was how it had a consistent theme of Nigerians of two cultures who either lived in America and went back or lived in Nigeria and came to America. That would be very relatable to a number of Nigerians.

Leggy: I guess it’s a case of write what you know. The author was born in the UK but moved back to Nigeria for a couple of years and now lives in the US. Did you absolutely hate any of the stories?

Taynement: Hate is a strong word and I’m sure this would be an unpopular opinion but “Who Will Greet You at Home” just required so much mental labor and I was annoyed by that. I wasn’t prepared for that kind of story and when I thought I was easing in, I got confused again.  Then I felt there was a point being told but for the life of me couldn’t pick out what it is so yeah…

Leggy: I liked that one but I do understand what you mean about the mental labor required to get through that story. It’s a little draining.

Taynement: I feel like you liked more stories than I did.

Leggy: There wasn’t one particular story that I didn’t like. I thought they all had a little something that worked for me even if the general story didn’t. A line here, an image there. She always has a flash of potential that stops you from absolutely hating any of the stories.

Taynement: Actually this is interesting because I think I liked the book but the more I go over the stories, I find there weren’t many stories that I loved. I just liked them enough. But the ones I loved and liked enough, I strongly did. And yes, you have a point. Every story showed her potential which is easy to appreciate.

Leggy: I also think it’s easy to think a book was absolutely great when it exceeds your expectations. I didn’t expect to actually like this book. So because I was pleasantly surprised I thought it was better than it actually was until I started talking about it to you just now. I ended up giving it 3 stars on goodreads because I “like it” but didn’t “really like it”.

Taynement: Heeey, don’t make me sound like the villain. I gave it a 4 but now I think I may have been too generous.

Leggy: Yes, absolutely too generous. ha ha ha.

Taynement: Overall though, I would recommend the book especially if you like short stories. There was something for everyone and I think it’ll be interesting to see what stories resonated with people.

Leggy: Yeah, I would absolutely recommend it and I’m going to keep an eye on this author. She’s going to write greater things in the future.

“If you can’t please the gods, trick them.”

 

Taynement & Leggy

 

Fiction, Uncategorized

Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo

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Sometimes I think we have children because we want to leave behind someone who can explain who we were to the world when we are gone.

Yejide and Akin haven’t had a child after four years of marriage. Akin’s mother convinces Akin to marry another wife and give her grandchildren which he agrees to do. The introduction of a second wife into her almost perfect marriage drives Yejide to desperately seek children from anywhere that promises her some. This is an emotional story about polygamy, tradition and love.

What would be left of love without truth stretched beyond its limits, without those better versions of ourselves that we present as the only ones that exist?

It took me such a long time to read this book after it came out because I thought it sounded like every Nollywood movie ever made in book form. I felt like it would turn out to be like “Baba Segi’s Wives” which I found entertaining but not very well written. I think a book should have a story that hooks the reader but when you are raised in Nollywood like I was, most nigerian books just become a caricature of themselves.

I finally read this at the very end of last year when I was desperately trying to complete my goodreads challenge and absolutely loved it. I did not expect it to be an emotional read! This book made my heart hurt for the characters and all the pain they were going through. It is such a treat to find a new Nigerian writer that manipulates words and sentences and makes you want to go back and read that sentence over and over again. It had so many beautiful lines that had me highlighting over and over again.

“I loved Yejide from the very first moment. No doubt about that. But there are things even love can’t do. Before I got married, I believed love could do anything. I learned soon enough that it couldn’t bear the weight of four years without children. If the burden is too much and stays too long, even love bends, cracks, comes close to breaking and sometimes does break. But even when it’s in a thousand pieces around your feet, that doesn’t mean it’s no longer love.” 

Something else I loved about this book was the fact that it was not written in a vacuum. We are given a time period in Nigeria and the writer paints us a picture of exactly what our setting looks like and the changes that were happening in a newly independent country. We see the changes in government, the military coups, the radio broadcasts. This book is set against a backdrop that feels alive. As Yejide and Akin go through the ups and downs and setbacks of their relationship so does the country and city that they are living in and I thought that was very well done.

Shame is such a huge part of this book, the shame of not being woman enough, the shame of not being man enough, the shame of looking your loved ones in the eye and admitting that the version of you they know is a constructed illusion. Akin thinks that all he has to do to repair his marriage is to give Yejide a child no matter what, and this drives him to so many lengths and into too many desperate actions that led to so much pain and despair.

“I was armed with millions of smiles. Apologetic smiles, pity-me smiles, I-look-unto-God smiles—name all the fake smiles needed to get through an afternoon with a group of people who claim to want the best for you while poking at your open sore with a stick—and I had them ready.” 

I do not know what sex education was like in Nigeria in the 70s but it was hard to believe that Yejide was that naive about sex and all it entails. I also thought that Akin could have stepped up to the plate and saved everyone the heartache by just telling a woman he claimed to love the truth. Ultimately, I thoroughly enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would.

Rating – 4 out of 5 stars

 

Leggy.

Fiction

Our Best and Worst Books in 2017

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OUR BESTS

Taynement

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

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Leggy recommended this book to me and I took my time reading it for no particular reason. Beartown is written by Frederick Backman. The same author who wrote A Man From Ove (which I enjoyed and Leggy didn’t. She read it before me and tried to sour it for me but in yo’ face!) I hadn’t even gone a quarter way before I knew this was going to be my favorite book of the year. I had no idea what the book was about (You will learn that about me, I usually go in blind) and it turns out the subject matter is rather delicate especially in this climate and could be triggering.

It tells the story of the people of a small town who eat, live and breathe hockey until an unfortunate incident befalls them and the town citizens have to choose between hockey and doing the right thing.

I call the entire book a wave because from the start of the book you could tell something bad was coming and Backman uses his words oh so well in helping us ride that wave till it crashes. I was so invested in all the characters and while I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to them all, I could also wait because I was thoroughly enjoying the journey to the destination.

If there are people who don’t like how it ended, I can understand why but I was okay with it. There are also so many quotables and life lessons in the book. I definitely recommend!

Leggy

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

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Taynement messaged me after she read this book and said to me “please read this book and lets talk about it”. So I did and boy, was it something. I read this book in January and it has stayed with me since then. This book is about a relationship between two individuals that will challenge everything you’ve ever thought was right and will have you rooting for everything you ever thought was wrong. I had to read this book in bits because it was terribly gross and I had to put it down every now and again to take a shower and wash its stink off of me.

I ultimately gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads because even though it was incredibly well written, the subject matter was too shocking for me in good conscience to give it the five stars it deserved. I think good art is art that makes us feel something and this checked every category for me. This book would also make a very good book club pick because there is so much to talk about and discuss or it might just lead to you getting thrown out of said book club if you pick it.

I definitely recommend this book. If you do read it or have read it please let me know what you think or thought.

OUR WORSTS

Taynement

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

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Guys, I honestly can’t tell you how much I hated this book and I hate myself more for not dumping it earlier. A friend recommended it to me and I hated the character from jump. The book is about socially awkward Eleanor who lives life on a strict schedule which she doesn’t deviate from and does not understand how the rest of the world operates. She meets a guy who disrupts her schedule and we watch Eleanor try to adjust to her “new life” so to speak.

There is a twist in the book which explains why Eleanor is so awkward but honestly, I hated the book so much that I really didn’t care and just wanted to be done with the book. In retrospect, I wonder if it was more of hating the character so much vs. actually hating the book because it was truly a typical rom-com type Brit book.

I don’t have the energy to decipher. I do know that I get annoyed all over again as I see this book pop up in “best of 2017” lists and all I can ask is “HOW?!!”

 

Leggy 

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

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In the era of “Gone Girl” copy cats, it is insanely difficult to find a good thriller. Thrillers these days are so obsessed with “the twist” that no one is writing anything intelligent or worth reading. Authors blow whole plots and logic out of the water just to give us a twist that has nothing to do with anything. This book could have been a 3 stars or solid 2 star thriller if the ending hadn’t been so WTF.

It’s about a character named Adele who becomes friends with the woman having an affair with her husband and the story plays out from this central plot point. Also, there is a fantasy element to this story so bear that in mind if you decide to go forward with reading it. I hated the ending of this book so much that I gave it a 1 star. This is the only book that I gave a 1 star this year on Goodreads. The ending was like getting to the end of Harry Potter and having J. K. Rowling say – “HA HA, there is no Harry! and Voldemort was a robot and this is all a dream”.

I don’t think it made any logical sense at all and I was put off by the fact that the publishers pushed this book with promises of how you’d never see the plot coming. When your whole premise is built on surprising the reader at the end, you make some stupid plot decisions to get there. After I read this, I went on a long arse rant on twitter and told anyone who had any interest in reading the book to just message me and I’d tell them the ending and save them a couple of hours reading this book. That offer still stands.

Well those are our picks for the year, have you read any of the books? We’d love to hear your thoughts if you have. And if you haven’t let us know what your best and worst picks were.