TERRY HAYES' I AM PILGRIM IN CAPITALS!

A Very Interesting Book

 The book ' I am Pilgrim' by Terry Hayes is such a  fantastic read that after I lost my new first copy when i was halfway though it (probably to another enthusiastic reader), I immediately bought another copy as soon as one crossed my sight and read it non stop till i finished it.
The characters in the story are so believable and so alive that i felt I was talking to them even as they ran the gamut of Europe's and Asia's secret side in the fight for and against terrorism. Each of the scenes are described so vividly that you could be touching the protagonists. Some too horrific that I turned my eyes away and actually did not read one or two paragraphs. 

Some of the current ongoing wars and their extent and horror, the author would never have imagined but he comes a close second or may even be ahead of some of the things the world has heard or seen. 

This is said to be the author's first novel though he is said to have written several screenplays. I can only say 'hats off to you Mr Terry Hayes'. You wrote not only a great book, you have changed my perspective and I am sure the minds of many even as they read your book. The book is great and I would recommend it to almost everyone.  If you need a good read, please go out and buy or borrow  'I am Pilgrim' by Terry Hayes, a thriller if ever there was one.

QUIET... PLEASE, SUSAN CAIN GENTLY SAYS

On the recommendation of my dear brother, I have been reading a book by Susan Cain titled "Quiet". It is a wonderful read and I will not say you can just race through it, I am still reading it...quietly. 

This book is for all people..the quiet by nature and the not quiet by nature and the in-betweens. People like me and you.  People who talk all the time and enjoy talking will learn a lot from it. So will people who do not talk much.  This great book makes you realize that some of our greatest thoughts,  even among talkers, come from our moments and times of quiet. Susan Cain makes you think about all the great things that have been done by quiet people who have not made any noise about what they have done and still continue to do go about life; making a difference. Many  quiet people do much of what really makes the world go round...and do not make noise about it. They live quietly without taking much credit for their great contributions. Some end up in the limelight as we call it, many more do not. Not being in the limelight or being known for their work, does not make their work any less important.

She also awakens us to the dangers of those who will magnetize  and mesmerize you with their many words and hype but are actually saying nothing.  All over the world, many of these would even milk people out of their hard earned little money using many words, noises and songs and are they loud? Yes sir, they are.  In a world where the loudest and not necessarily the most knowledgeable on a subject, are heard more, her book is a god-send to thousands who need to walk cautiously or end up being eaten alive or falling in a ditch amidst the noise.

Susan Cain argues the points so well, pointing us to many earlier writers  in psychology and communication.  She highlights many important issues and calls us to quiet down ourselves, celebrate the many quiet people among us and celebrate the quietness within and around us. In her book she encourages people to value quietness of soul and helping us all to value better, the quiet parts that reside in each one of us. Thank you Susan Cain for writing this great book and enabling us to question all the noise and to value silence and introspection.

Please go out and buy that book by Susan Cain soon as you can. The kindle edition is even cheaper at around 5000 Uganda shillings or 2.5 US dollars.

Meanwhile,

Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to You all.

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Nakibogo at Noonya

People of the Book; Reading now at Noonya

Thanks for dropping in at noonyabooks blog. We have been reading a great book lately. The book is called " People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks.

Geraldine Brooks is a great writer whom I have just recently discovered. Her book,  a fiction story about a young lady  who restores and studies ancient texts, an expert who is following the tracks of the Sarajevo Hagaddah was a great read and has made me think about many many things.  It combines both adventure, history and investigative writing and story telling
Geraldine Brooks  is Australian born and a Pulitzer Prize winning author as well. Our author of the month at noonyabooks.com in March 2012  and one of the best authors in recent times was from Australia too; maybe Australia is bringing more good stories to the market or just producing better authors, I dont know .

Something which the Ms Brooks may likely have known when she wrote but may not have fully realized is the impact that she and other  good writers have on many lives. . A great writer's gift or skill,  is that characters come to life before your very eyes and mind and  the questions they bring to the screen of your mind stay with you for a very long time. Right now, living in Uganda, I have feel i have visited post war Bosnia and have a tiny bit more understanding of the place and times. I value more, the archivists and restorers and the people who do it. My abhorrence for war is even stronger.

I can remember reading the war novel "The Passing Bells" by Philip Rock about a family and their trials and tribulations around the time of World War 1. Another book that struck my mind was How Green Was my Valley, a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn. I read these books more than fifteen years ago as a young undergraduate. In my mind, I still see the images the two writers described. I see the coal blackened faces in the once green Valley, I think about the carpenter who said he would never make coffins whenever i pass a coffin shop in my country Uganda where coffins are displayed on the roadside. From Llewellyns's book,  I took the lesson of the need for a quietness around areas of intimacy in the two loving people who never married because of the too early exposure of their afair to others.

When i think about war, i always remember the "Passing Bells" and the unlikely death of the nurse heroine who was the beloved of the main journalist protagonist.  I could still cry like I did then at the sadness of it all when i see the TV pictures in Egypt and  in modern Syria where children, nurses and mothers and fathers are dying,in war. Some books are just timeless.

From my reading of it, "The People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks will probably be one of those classics twenty years from now. I hope as many people or more read it but should they not, the writer has still left an indelible mark on civilization as i know it and for that I the reader am grateful. Please go read that book or borrow it from a library.

Author Geraldine Brooks

 Visit her official website at  www.geraldinebrooks.com for more of her great books  and articles.
 I have to go see the Sarajevo Haggadah online now as well, lots to do.

Till then,

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Noonya Books

Uganda, Land of Musical Greats

Have been thinking lately about Ugandan musicians  and African musicians in general. I think Uganda is gifted greatly with poets and singers especially in the traditional language lineage.

I read a book recently entitled 'One Little Guitar, (Fountain Publishers )by Katherine Barrett-Gaines where she has collected the songs of Paulo Kafeero and tried to translate them into english. She has also tried to document Kafeero's life in art in Uganda and share some aspects of his life.  She has done a commendable and wonderful thing to record for us one of the greatest artistes of Uganda in recent times. Thank you Ms Barrett-Gaines.  Her book should be required reading in the study of  music in Uganda.

Paul Kafeero (1970-2007), Kadongo Kamu Artist, Uganda

Paulo Kafeero. One of Uganda's greatest artistes of all time. We dont know what the earlier artistes were like.  I am sure we had a great many excellent ones, you cannot listen to the luganda old tradition songs and children's songs and not recognize the wonder therein, someone composed those songs and they were sung through time at firesides and in times of joy and sadness. Most of them were passed on through oral history and from family to family.  We thank God for the recent development in that the recordings of our artistes' music can be done for now and for history.
Paulo Kafeero was one of the greatest. When you listen to Walumbe Zaaya  (Death the Great Kidnapper) and Omukazi Ammennya http://www.hipipo.com/radio/117/Prince-Paul-Job-Kafeero/Paul-Kafeero-Omukazi-Amenya (She is Burdening me to death)..my direct translations of the titles,  you cant but wonder. Listen to the music, rhythm and the poetry  and humor in Kafeero's songs, you will recognize his great art and if you can understand the language it will evenbe better, if you cant, his music is still good because music is a language spoken internationally. Thank God for such men and women in Uganda.   Uganda's other great music artistes in my book include. Take some to listen to their music Philly Bongoley Lutaaya (Diana, Born in Africa, Elly Wamala, Geoffrey Oryema, Jimmy Katumba, Judith Babirye, Alex Mukulu, Peterson Mutebi and the Tames and last but not least,  the Great Afrigo Band). If you paste the urls below in the search engines you may be able to listen to some of their music. (The links are not yet working in my browser!)

Philly Bongoley Lutaaya  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92OzxKg_Ubs&feature=fvwrel

 Elly Wamala (Peninah) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfYN_vmSOXc

Geoffrey Oryema (Land of Anaka) http://www.last.fm/music/Geoffrey+Oryema/_/Land+Of+Anaka
http://www.last.fm/music/Geoffrey+Oryema?v=enabled&utm_expid=64146835-2 

 Jimmy Katumba (Congratulations, Twalina Omukwano) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfhiqQI8Qc0

Judith Babirye (Ekitiibwa Kyo Mukama) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHQqsfWJDRo&list=PL34A85EC0AA591A0E&index=9&feature=plpp_video

Alex Mukulu (Bannakampala nga Boogera, Bukedde; Wounds of Africa) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHQqsfWJDRo&list=PL34A85EC0AA591A0E&index=9&feature=plpp_video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUagWdXyhsc

 Peterson Mutebi (Bamulete)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrCeKLGWO6Y

 and of course the great Afrigo Band. ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZDpFKq70Uo

Many of these great men and women are still living and should be celebrated by us all.

Let us celebrate our great Ugandan artistes by going out and buying an original CD or DVD of their music and listening to it. Buy the book about Paulo Kafeero by Barrett Gaines (published by Fountain Publishers)  at a bookshop near you. Happy Listening.
Till then,

from us at Noonya