THINGS FALL APART

No Longer at Ease

Heinemann (1960)

Chinua Achebe

I first came across Chinua Achebe when obsessing over The Roots’ THINGS FALL APART. Great album, great book. It’s similar to how I encountered Norman Mailer: ‘paint a picture with a pen like Norman Mailer’ RAPPED TALIB KWELI ON GET BY in 2002. Spying Achebe’s No Longer at Ease in a recent trip to Islington Library, it made sense.

LEAVE MY LONELINESS UNBROKEN

A Gun for Sale
Heinemann (1936)
Graham Greene 

I’ve always read Graham Greene novels. It’s a symptom of being born in Brighton (Rock). Greene was a prolific author so there appears to be a never ending supply of books I still haven’t come across. In a recent visit to an Islington library, I picked up A Gun for Sale. Having only recently read DEATH AND THE PENGUIN I wonder if I’m attracted to lonely male characters. 

MAN'S BEST FRIEND?

Death and the Penguin 
Vintage(2001 - English version)
Andrey Kurkov

How does one write a book review without ruining the story for everyone else? Let’s try... Over the festive period, I met an old work acquaintance in a bar. This expert in his field, it turns out, also writes obituaries for a well-known national newspaper. I was introduced to his chums and discovered that I had inadvertently gatecrashed an obituarists' Christmas Party.