The Heart of a Woman

I feel as if I go through ebbs and flows with my blogging. I get really passionate for a little while, then I get busy and forget all about it. However, the other day I realized, I am reading all of these books and have no record of it save Goodreads, but because I read so much, how can I possibly remember the plot of all the books I've read? Now that I have included audiobooks, I am really going to forget. Suffice to say, here I am, giving this another go. With a new job and more time on my hands, I am hoping I stick with this much more. With the encouragement of my fiancé and the many books I have acquired in the past two years since I last posted, I think we may have a bright future ahead of us.

Now, all the books I am currently reading are not on the 1001 Book list. For instance, I just bought five books from Amazon and none of them are on the list. I will be reading them as I go along. Now, I won't be blogging about some of the mysteries I read that are a part of a series such as Agatha Christie's Poirot series but stand alone books unless there is a book I read that is part of a series that I think people would really be interested in.

I just finished this morning, The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou. This is my second Angelou autobiography. The first one, which goes without saying, was I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She wrote a series of autobiographies starting with Caged Bird and ending with Mom & Me & Mom. I received a copy of this book from a former coworker and this book happens to be in the middle of her life and covers a three year span. Her son, Guy, is a teenager and she moves him out to New York City where she becomes engaged to a bail bondsman but ends up falling in love with an African freedom fighter named Vus.

In this part of her life, we see Ms. Angelou getting more involved in the struggle for Black America for equality and their rightful place in society. In her previous biographies, Angelou has never been so immersed in black society as she was in New York City. She lived in a black community in Brooklyn, (the books starts off with her getting a place in Laurel Canyon, all white community so her son would go to the best school) gets involved in the Harlem Writers Guild, and gets a gig at the Apollo Theater. In the first half of this book, Angelou is the embodiment of a strong, black American woman. She gets her own job, provides for her son, goes toe to toe with racists and gets a job at SCLC and meets Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. As strong of a woman as she is, when she meets Vus, everything changes. He doesn't want her to work, he wants her to be a "good African wife". Angelou is in love with him at first and while she is not used to being home, keeping house and not working, she preservers. Guy has a father figure, Vus is a great provider who is out fighting for the African cause, to bring down colonialism and to help his brothers escaping from South Africa.

Angelou is bored in this period and I am amazed at her transformation. I always took her to be someone who would never take the backseat to a man, but I can imagine, at least in the beginning, this was a new role for her. She was no longer the breadwinner, but was on an allowance and being an exemplary African wife supporting her freedom fighter husband who provided for her and her child. Guy even called Vus "dad". This was my least favorite part of the book only because I was getting angry at Vus' treatment of her. He didn't want her to work, didn't want her to act in a play but only agreed to because another man said she should, and doesn't even pay the damn bills. Yet, she stays with him! And he whisks her off to Cairo, where he continues to cheat on her, still doesn't pay the bills, and allows her to get a job because a MAN said she should. That infuriated me. I realize it is a different culture but I felt personally victimized by her husband, as if he was doing all of this nonsense to me (which goes to show how GREAT of a writer Maya Angelou is). I love the way the book ends which leaves me wanting to read the rest of her books.

She is a great writer and I think everyone should have a required reading list with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on it, which would hopefully spurn others to read the rest (I read so many books, I can't keep up). I gave this book four stars on Goodreads (you can find me there). I am trying to be more discerning with my ratings. I find I give five stars to lots of books, in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have. Great writing and such a quick, easy read.

I am currently listening to another biography on audiobook called Marie Antoinette: The Journey. This was the book that the movie starring Kirsten Dunst was based on. It's good so far, I won't be reviewing it but it's a pretty good listen. My next book is Watership Down, suggested by my fiancé. It's a little over 400 pages so I hope it's a good one. I also have the third book in Lost Illusions by Honore de Balzac to read to finish out the novel and then I have Glamorama which I have been trying to read for almost a year but the book is terrible. Why it's on the 1001 list, I can't even describe. I am halfway done but refuse to abandon. It will take me another year to read, I bet.

Until next time, happy reading!