Easy Motion Tourist goes into the Lagos many of us refuse to acknowledge, even as we move through it every day. This Lagos is cutthroat, hungry, enterprising and dangerous. When we join this story, things are shaky at best. The tension is high, everyone is on edge and all it takes is a single impulsive act of violence to blow everything up. Then comes in Guy Collins, a guy who has no business being in Lagos but has something to prove to himself. Not only did he volunteer to travel down to Nigeria to cover the elections, despite his […]
An Akè Festival Fairytale: How I Magically Acquired A Bookish Gem
Put aside logic, reasoning and science, do you believe in fairy godmothers or godfathers? I will narrate a tale of my meeting with a fairy godmother whose action will continue to shape my life. I had the privilege of attending the 2016 Ake Book and Arts Festival at Abeokuta. My first book festival.
Book Review – Welcome To Lagos
Welcome to Lagos brings together characters that would normally have nothing to do with each other and breathes life into their relationship. It follows a couple of soldiers gone AWOL, an ex-militant with a fake American accent, a runaway (battered) housewife and a girl missing her parents as they travel from Bayelsa to Lagos for various reasons.
Book Review – Homegoing
Publisher’s Summary Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader’s wife. The consequences of their fate reverberate through the generations that follow. Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to the cotton-picking plantations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel – the intimate, gripping story of a brilliantly vivid cast of characters and through their lives the very story of America itself. Epic in its canvas and intimate in […]
Book Review – Bomboy
Title: BomBoy Author: Yewande Omotoso Published by: Bookcraft Africa Year of Publication: 2013 Genre: Literary Fiction Pages: 181 Source: Bought Publisher’s Summary Leke is a troubled young man living in the suburbs of Cape Town. He develops strange habits of stalking people, stealing small objects and going from doctor to doctor in search of companionship rather than cure. Through a series of letters written to him by his Nigerian father whom he has never met. Leke learns about a family curse; a curse which his father has unsuccessfully tried to remove. BomBoy is a well crafted and complex narrative written […]
Book Review – Ake: The years of Childhood (Abridged)
This abridged version of Ake was created for children and I remember reading this story in primary school. Don’t ask me why i decided to buy this book again… Okay, the cover made me do it.
Book Review – Daughters Who Walk This Path
Publisher’s Summary Spirited and intelligent, Morayo grows up surrounded by school friends and family in Ibadan. There is Eniayo, her adoring little sister – for whose sake their middle-class parents fight stigmatizing superstition – and a large extended family of cousins and aunts who sometimes make Morayo’s home their own. A shameful secret forced upon her by Bros T, her cousin, thrusts Morayo into a web of oppressive silence woven by the adults around her. Morayo must learn to fiercely protect herself and her sister as young women growing up in a complex and politically charged country. My Thoughts This […]
10 books in 30 days – My September ‘to be read’ List
August was a great month for my blog ( 100+ WordPress followers, Yay!!!) and reading. I read 10 books in August, more than i anticipated and the best part is i didn’t read one terrible book. Sure, there were a couple that i could have done without but they weren’t so bad to be a waste of my time. I also bought a LOT of books in August, to the detriment of new shoes even but i have no regrets. I would like to say that i’ll be reading strictly from this list but that is not possible. There are just so […]