Book cover: "Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun"

Thought I'd go with something recent, rather than from back yonder in the 20th century...

• Title: Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun
• Author: Sarah Ladipo Manyika (1968-present)
• Illustration: Anne Whiteside 
• Book design: Allan Castillo Rivas
• Publisher: Cassava Republic Press
• Year: 2016
• Pages: 118
• Format: Paperback
• Excerpt from front flap: Morayo Da Silva, a cosmopolitan Nigeran woman, lives in hip San Francisco. On the cusp of seventy-five, she is in good health and makes the most of it, enjoying road trips in her vintage Porsche, chatting to strangers, and recollecting characters from her favourite novels. Then she has a fall and her independence crumbles.
• Dedication: "For Us"
• First sentence: The place where I live is ancient.
• Last sentence: [Redacted: Slight spoiler]
• Random excerpt from middle #1: I keep the books that used to belong to my mother in my bedroom.
• Random excerpt from middle #2: So like the other day, I found all these books just dumped onto the sidewalk. So I picked them I and I gave some to friends, who like to read, you know.
• Random excerpt from middle #3: I wish I'd packed more than one book. I reach again for my earthquake bag, just to double check because it feels heavy enough to contain another book.
• Rating on Goodreads: 3.85 stars (out of 5)
• Excerpt from Goodreads review: In 2016, Jessica Jeffers wrote: "This is not really a book about a plot, it's more of a character study. It's almost Woolfian in its stream-of-consciousness style, but we get the points of view of not just Morayo, but also the Palestinian shopkeeper she befriends, her neighbor, an aide at the home, a homeless woman she crosses paths with, and her ex-husband back in Nigeria. My only complaint about this book, really, is that I wanted more."
• Rating on Amazon: 4.3 stars (out of 5)
• Amazon review: In 2019, J. Hill wrote: "If you like stories that tie up nicely in a bow with no questions asked, this is not the book for you. But if you like intriguing and lovable characters, snapshots into everyday life and the trials we have or will face in some way, then it's worth the eyeball time. This book lingers but remains unsolved, and I found that refreshing."
• My Goodreads rating: 5 stars
• Joan's Goodreads rating: 5 stars