Zadie Smith

Wow, my first Post! This is rather exciting!

Having been whisked away in the excitement of finally creating my own blog, I must admit that I am at something of a loss now that it comes to actually posting on something that might be interesting to read!

I will however take this opportunity to share with you all something that is bringing me great joy at the moment. I’m on holiday right now (from college at any rate) and have had a bit of spare time. The time off has afforded me to indulge in a little pleasure that I seem to find little time for when real life is on the go: lying flat on my back for hours reading. I finally got it together to join the Cape Town City Library in the City Hall and took my first loan. Although I’ve already read it, I couldn’t but help myself from plucking ‘White Teeth’ by Zadie Smith off of the shelf.

Smith is a young novelist with three novels to her name at the moment and a number of short stories. I am such a huge Zadie fan and am so enjoying ‘White Teeth’ all over again. The characters and the context that Smith creates are so amazing and colourful. Each book is like a box of quality streets with a million different sorts of chocolates where no two are the same. She’s incredible.

Her most recent title is ‘On Beauty’. I won’t even attempt to summarise the story, but it’s possibly my favourite book ever. The cover art is beautiful and as you read it seems to add so much to the story. At least that’s how I felt and chose to communicate to the publisher in an exceptionally nerdy moment. They seemed to appreciate it though and felt that “Zadie would too”.

I was actually flung into something of a light depression when finishing ‘On Beauty’ earlier this year, not because the novel has a sad ending, but rather because I was ad it had ended. I recall telling Rebecca, who shares my love for Smith, that it seemed as if there was one less thing to live for. She agreed. So here’s hoping it’s not too long until her next novel!