Greetings Treat-A-Weekers,

It has been a while — I’ve had lots going on and insufficient treat-related inspiration to inform you about for a while, but I’m back with some atypical treats.  As you know, I read and watch a lot of fluff and I like it (and I think many of you readers do, too). That said, as it is when you go to the movies and gorge on too much junk in one sitting — coke, twizzlers, buttered popcorn –one can feel ill after a surplus of mindless goodies.  That’s how I feel when I consume too much fluff with little to make me truly think over a short period of time.  When that happens, I force a cleanse of sorts on myself wherein I make myself read and/or watch something that I am unfamiliar with that exposes me to new information, perspectives or experiences.  When I initially embark on this sort of reading, I must admit that I don’t perceive it as a treat — sometimes I have to force myself to read for several chapters until I get more invested in the story, narration or information.  However, once I have fully explored the cleanse read, I do view it as a treat because I can feel and appreciate the personal and mindset growth that has taken place in me as a result of it.  I encourage you all to do a periodic reading cleanse where instead of gravitating towards your favorite comfort genre, you pick up something to read that makes you really explore and try to understand another person or group of people, who seems vastly different from yourself.  I think you’ll find, as I did, that at the heart of everyone’s story, their kernels of yearning, hopes and dreams are quite relatable, and probably the same as your own.  Below, please find two books that had a powerful impact on me.

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

I finished reading this book on Thanksgiving and there could be no better day for me to do so.  Why? Because Hillbilly Elegy is Yale Law, Ohio State, and Marine Corps grad J.D. Vance’s unique memoir on how the love of extended family allowed him to succeed in life despite growing up poor in dysfunctional households in Appalachia and Southwestern Ohio rife with addiction, turmoil, and violence.  Vance’s memoir also serves as important social commentary – seeking to provide answers and observations about the views and the plight of poor, white Americans in today’s culture, economy and political environment.  Reading Hillbilly Elegy changed the way I looked at segments of American society and it made me feel closer to those that Vance self-identified with even as with each page I read I recognized how different my own upbringing, life and views were to his.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

My soul sister Sabeena who gets me better than anyone else recommended this book to me and I am so glad she did.  Americanah is the story of two Nigerians, bright, young, college lovers, who leave military-ruled Nigeria for the West in search of better lives.  Ifemelu, the young woman, emigrates to America to attend graduate school while her boyfriend, Obinze, emigrates to London, England for work.  Much of this book read like it’s alternative title could have been, strangers in a strange land, but this novel is masterfully written in that explores and conveys several different narratives, themes and ideas at once.  Americanah is a novel about immigration, assimilation, identity, community, isolation and race, but it is also an affecting love story.  What Ifemelu and Obinze endure in their respective new homes to make money to eat and live is so destructive, so difficult, that it tears them apart for several years.  Their reuniting in Nigeria several years later after they both have independently accomplished a level of personal and professional success fulfills the definition of the word homecoming on every level.  More than any other novel I have read to date, this one exemplifies the view that to be fully known and truly loved may be life’s greatest gift.

Well, that’s it for now, Treat-A-Weekers, until soon, I remain,

Very truly yours,

M