Readathon Updated

Well, I’ve been reading for several hours so far! I took a short break to read online and decided to participate in one of the mini-challenges. The Adventures of An Intrepid Reader ask that we share a bit about the places in the books we’re reading about.

The first book I finished, Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill began in London in the early 19th century but we’re

 

A 15c map of the world. Do you see Africa on this map?

 

quickly in Bayo, a village in west Africa. Throughout the story we realize how little regard the British have for the continent of Africa in the way they never really know its name, never take time to learn the names of the various places on the continent or even to map it properly. Aminata, the main character of the book is taken from her home during the slave trade and her deepest desire is to return. She becomes extremely well-educated for a person of that time (for a PERSON of that time, let alone a Black woman of that time) and she does all she can to learn how to get back home. Maps are sparse, ancient, decorated with bare breasted women and wild animals and the names of the places are not well-known.

Aminata spends a brief part of her life in London, but she is also taken to America where she arrives on Solomon Island, the entry port of most enslaved Africans to America. She lives in Charleston SC, New York City and Nova Scotia.

While reading the book, I made the connection between Aminata’s name and the significance of the title, but would have missed the connection with place names without this little activity!

In the book, when describing her journeys to a British woman, Animata states “We are a travelling people.”

5 pm update

Unexpected break: My son and soon to be daughter in law are in town and stopped by to drop off a birthday present: a Nook!!!

That made for a nice break. I’m into my 4th book, will get some dinner when I finish and probably move into a longer book.

13 thoughts on “Readathon Updated”

  5. Loved your post about Someone Knows My Name. It’s a terrific book. (In Canada, it was published as The Book of Negroes and was very, very popular here.) Good luck for the rest of the read-a-thon!

    Like

  9. A thought to mull over: “The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts.” — John Greenleaf Whittier

    Enjoy your reading!

    Like

Comments are closed.