Reading and loving "Sunflowers in Your Eyes"

On my long flight from Harare to Geneva a week ago, I read three books: Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac, VS Naipaul's In a Free State, and Sunflowers in Your Eyes, an anthology of poems by four Zimbabwean women. I picked these three for their slimness, they fit nicely in one hand, and they were engrossing for different reasons. I loved Hotel du Lac, and will now hunt down Anita Brookner's other novels. I absolutely hated In a Free State, I cannot believe that a book this bile-filled and cynical not only won the Booker, but has been hailed as a deep and meaningful reflection on the agonies of post-colonial Africa. I loathed it with every fibre of my being --- and yet I have deep respect for Naipaul and love his early work.

I also read the wonderful Sunflowers in Your Eyes, an anthology of poems by four Zimbabweans: Fungai Machirori, Ethel Kabwato, Blessing Musariri, and Joice Shereni. I especially loved Ethel's spare and haunting lyricism. With the publisher's permission, I hope to post my favourite poems from each of the four writers soon. It was more than a little jarring to read the anthology after the Naipaul, the contrast could not have been sharper: Naipaul, an outsider with very defined notions of what Africa is, contrasted with these four women who grapple with their sometimes ugly reality without cynicism or bitterness. Marvellous.

And the bonus was that I was handed the book by one of the poets: I had coffee in Harare with Fungai Machirori, a poet and public health fundi. She writes prose too, she has a blog on society and mores, and is not afraid to tackle delicate matters. Read it here. And in the meantime, hi thee to the Book Depository, where Sunflowers in Your Eyes is a snip at £5.49, with free worldwide delivery. I have, incidentally, become a little obsessed with the Book Depository's real time purchase tracker, where you can see what books are being purchased where. Click here. It is great fun, but be warned, it is highly addictive.