Reading and its merits

Those who know me well...and I mean well, know that I love to put my feet up and ease into my hand-me-down couch to watch...Sex and The City:-) Friends, Harry Potter (the whole lot of them), Desperate Houssies, name them. I even got to watch the first series of Allie McBeal and Nip-Tuck. All of these I collect, and watch and rewatch until I get value for my money. And for those who try to dissuade me from this habit, I say, "this is not one of the ways to get out of this alive..."

But once in a while I sit down and read, and read a good book. Leave alone the usual academic sort. I mean, I slept really late reading a book on Media Theory. Now, that is not exciting. Exciting is when you read a book and become completely cut off from the world. I used to feel that way what I was younger. It was mainly with African Writers Series, and later Mills and Boon, Harlequinn Romance, name them...oooohhhh, the joy of getting lost in that world, so woolly, cozy, fantastic, so not part of the harshness of reality of everyday life, so nice, fine...

Anyway, the African novels always filled me with a sense of adventure. Even though I am an African, I always found stories written by Africans (in the age pre-dating discourse and theory-oh i miss those days), so rich and intense. For instance, it has been years since I read Kenjo Jumbam's 'The White Man of God', but ask any of my friends, it is a book I always quote. Its wierd that years later, after reading 'HouseBoy' (Ferdinand Oyono), I realised just how popular the theme of the young boy child and the white catholic father was. But when I first read Jumbam, I was hooked. I also remember a book called 'The Great Siege of Fort Jesus!' The adventures of war right outside my doorstep still make me shake with excitement.

But enough about the yesteryears.

I just finished reading this book by Hanif Kureishi called 'The Buddha of Suburbia'. It is a fascinating read about the identity crisis of a young man, whose mother is white British and father Indian. It explores in great detail his sexual experimentations, which are at once experimental and dangerous, yet daring and forward. It is nihilistic in a twisted way, and reads more like a humourous recording of everyday life. I found myself muffling bits of laughter that threatened to escape from my mouth every few minutes as I read into the night. Of course it was not a hard read, and the politics therein were concrete experiences of London and South London. Me, who is yet to travel to these places could see the place that was painted in Dicken's writing re-emerging even as the time represented changed. It was an awesome read.

And I remember having a similar experience with 'Spud' by South Africa's John van de Ruit. With characters bearing names like Spud, Rambo, Mad dog, Rain Man, Gecko, Fatty and Boggo, the book was surreal yet rooted in my own boarding school reality way back when I hated the experience. I say surreal because it does not always remain in-sync with my experiences-I went to a boarding school where frequent visitation was prohibited, so i only saw my parents once in a long while. Also, the school in 'Spud' reeked of privilege which is not what I can say of MY boarding school, but hey, boarding school is boarding school, miserable, annoying and desperately lonely. Survival is key, and this one must learn, even before figuring out where the toilets are upon arrival!!! Well, 'Spud' was a great read, and often i found myself laughing out loud. I had not read something so good in a long while. I must read 'Spud: The Madness Continues...'

so anyway, where was I? ah, the merits of reading books that make you smile. Reading generally is very active, as opposed to watching TV. you feel well rewarded after you start a book and find out it contains information, narratives, anything really that is beneficial to you, even if just in excercising your brains to stop them from vegetating from too much TV...


I know it when I pick a good book. I finish it.

I am right now contemplating my next read. I know. I have so much work to do right now, but it still makes me happy just knowing I can sneak a few chapters down the time line, even as I battle with bigger issues of planning and sorting myself out for the rest of the term/semester. Its just good to know sometimes that when you read, it is something you will enjoy. So this year, apart from resolving to read more of the newspapers, I want to make sure I produce book reviews of everything I read. That way, I will always come back to this website to self-grade, and ask myself if I had made any progress or if I was still stuck watching my series, and exploring You Tube and the like. I still believe life offers the greatest ironies. I had to get to this stage of my life to realize there are still things i care about that have nothing to do with the selfsih capitalist agenda of bettering my career or making money. It is something I enjoy doing, and its one of those things that comes naturally.

Nuff