by
Ryan Clement
WHO doesn’t like a good read? To each her/his/their/its own. It’s personal. For me, I like, nay, love a book that transcends me to a place beyond the surface of the plot alone or has an underlying theme that gets me thinking further about a subject matter or challenges a thought I possess or once possessed. Although mathematics was my first love, for which I gained a distinction in later years, I recall frequently writing stories at school just for fun. Even later in life I did a creative writing course, a screenwriting course and, later still, a BA in English Literature. I liked most of the books on my degree and loved some. It felt great studying The Color Purple, with which I was already familiar, because Alice Walker was and is one of my favourite authors; I have read all her work and had the pleasure of seeing her both in London and Edinburgh. She sits amongst some of my other favourites, Toni Morrison (whom I also met), Dr Maya Angelou (whom I regret never meeting despite my grave attempts, twice!), Richard Wright, James Baldwin and more.
The earliest influence on me was The Greatest – My Own Story – by Muhammed Ali. I read this book when I was in Primary School and was mesmerised. It exposed me to a world – or, rather, people in the world – that showed the good, the bad and the indifferent. It began to open my eyes. As years went by, I read many books that I could either relate to at the time or would later. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, being one of these. I was brought up at a time when beauty and beautiful were not used in association with or about people with whom I shared a particular characteristic. The Bluest Eye reminded me of what some people were trying to become. I can still see those skin lightening creams in my mind’s eye as I now write. In those days, beauty was not truly in the eyes of the beholder but in the constructive eyes of the society in which I lived.
I love biographies and have read too many to mention. I read Alex Haley’s Roots at a very young age. I read it over the space of a week. I put it down occasionally to take in the cruelty against humanity about which I was reading. It was a lot for my young fertile mind to take in and digest. I have never seen the television series – either of them – and so it shall remain. It would be remiss of me not to mention Long Walk to Freedom, the autography of Nelson Mandela. This book had an effect on me on many levels. It was a world that was so far removed from my own and yet spoke to me in a language I thought I understood. The strength of Mr Mandela is a beacon for us all. Of recent times, Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope were books I read over two weekends. However, a book I read in one sitting over one weekend was, Michelle Obama’s Becoming. What a read! What a book! Brilliant!
I read a lot for my professional work, so I rarely get the time to read for leisure. However, three books in particular moved and enlightened me last and earlier this year. In no particular order. First is Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste. There is a story behind this. My then 13-year old son bought me this book for my birthday. I knew I would read it someday but did not do so until I heard Edward Enninful – he, of many accomplishments, including the editor of Vogue – claimed, on the BBC’s Desert Island Discs, that it would be the one book he would select were he to be a castaway on a desert island. So, that very said Sunday, I started to read it. What a powerful book. I once wrote a short note about why, as a relatively educated professional with many degrees and post-grads, I was still playing catch-up on my ancestor’s history? I knew more about 1066 than what took place around 1526 or colonisation. Caste tackles big issues about which I am still learning. Another book that opened my mind’s eye recently was Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireland. I read this on the back of Caste. In my view, the two complemented each other because it was filling in the gaps in my real education. How learned are you when you have no knowledge of your own ancestry? In some ways, Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man springs to mind. When I was researching for a book, I read plenty on genetics and sought to discover how different we truly are, biologically. I wanted to make sure that I had my facts right before making any profound statements in print. I concluded, which wasn’t very profound at all, that there was one human race, period. A book that I enjoyed was Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind. I mention this book because it links to the last book I finished recently.
Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting a very dear friend of mine, Tanja, for dinner in London. We spoke about the arts, politics, history and books, to name a few. Ashamedly, as well as eating my own meal of monkfish and a dessert of Knickerblocker Glory, I could not resist sampling some of her sea bass and dessert of Fig and Pistachio Feuilleté. I apologised to her husband, also a very dear friend of mine, profusely on the mobile for doing so and offered to pay for the fast food she would undoubtedly have cause to consume when we part. However, before we did that, she recommended, highly, that I read Viola Davis’ biography, Finding Me, and texted me the link so that I wouldn’t forget. OMG! What a read! I read it one sitting. It is brutally honest and at times, many times, unbearably painful. But it is a page-turner. It’s deep! Sometimes you read a biography and you question how much is real. After all, unless you set out to write your life’s story at the age of 5, how can you recall so much. When a successful person says, ‘I always knew from the age of X that I would make it,’ I question the authenticity without corroborative evidence to support such a bold and ambitious statement. But her biography grips you. It feels real. You are on a journey with the good, the not so good with warts and all, and the downright horrible. For me, it made me love her and her artistic work even more than I did before I read it. When I think of how tough some times have been, I shall simply think of her journey to become the bright star she is today. She is a true inspiration to us all. Thank you for the recommendation!
Oh, finally, the link. After this, my dear friend recommended another book to me, but thought I may already have read it. She was right, I had. It was Sapiens. There is one race, the Human Race, being that to which we all belong and of which we are all a member!
Ryan Clement, LLM, BA, BSc, FRSA barrister
https://www.youtube.com/@RyanClement1
Copyright © Ryan Clement 2023
Ryan Clement 