I used good reads to set up a challenge and chose 20 books as a year challenge which is quite low for me. I did two posts earlier on some of which I read early in the year so I won’t have to go into them in this blog post. You can read about them here and maybe even go further to see wise words I picked up from Maya Angelo’s book
Surprisingly for me, I ended up reading more than 30 books. 32 of which I remember clearly and the rest are probably forgotten about.
The shortest book was she felt like nothing which is a poetry book by R. H Sin. Frankly, I barely remember what this book was about. Obviously short poems about heart break and moving on and being strong and something along that line. Soo many ands in one sentence. This book wasn’t my best but I don’t remember enough to rate it as my worst.
The longest was Americanah by chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This was my least favorite among the book of hers I have read soo far. It mostly speaks about Ifemelu and how she deals with racism going on in America where she moved to. There is also a mix of her love life in there and a past lover back in Nigeria. Along the line she returns back to Nigeria, reignite a spark with her childhood lover and the story goes on. I make it look like it is a love story mostly when really it has a lot to do with race. The love story aspect of it is what made me finish the book because I was curious about her future with this Obinze guy. Some might like it but one of those people certainly ain’t me.
An American marriage by Tahari Jones. I didn’t think I would enjoy this book even after I started reading it but I did. This book like its topic is about marriage of two university lovers who later decided to tie the knot. Due to certain circumstances, the husband is being arrested for the rape of an old woman who wrongly identified him and with that, their marriage is set to test as he faces several years in jail. This book really had me feeling bad for the husband who had to lose most part of his life for something he didn’t do and at the same time had to fight for his marriage. Apart from the cliche fight you sometimes read in books this gave another view into marriage from that of a prisoner and his newly wedded bride and the sort of obstacles that they go through.
After the darkness by Tilly Bagshawe published as a Sidney Sheldon. Tilly Bagshawe wrote this using Sidney Sheldon name and obviously when you read this, you would know it’s definitely not as great as an original Sidney Sheldon book but this was a good read. I find it similar to a typical Sidney Sheldon book with all the mind twist and surprise. So this book looks at two wealthy couple whose life change for the worse when the husband is found dead ashore. Now his wife is out there seeking answers after being put in jail for a crime she knows nothing about . You know how a typical Sidney Sheldon book goes, you can never have answers till you finish the book. I wouldn’t want to ruin the million number of surprises in it.
A stranger in the mirror by Sidney Sheldon. I knew of this book since my secondary school days and was shocked that although I came across the book a few times, I never read it. This book screams suspense in every way and no one does it better than Sidney Sheldon. Two Hollywood celebrities with tragic ending😂😂. I shouldn’t be laughing at that but oh well…..
Between two worlds by Zainab Salbi. This book is memoir written by Zainab Salbi on her growing up in Iran during the tenure of Saddam Hussein. Salbis’s dad was a personal pilot to Saddam Hussein which gave us a look into what his social circle was like and a look into the persona of the deceased dictator.It tells us how her family tried to escape the clutches of Saddam and how her parents had to get her married off to protect her from the eye of Saddam. It was quite a read especially for someone like me who knew nothing about Saddam Hussein and the Iran-Iraq war. This books also gives us a brief view into what made Iran the country it is today.
A long way gone by Ishmael Beah.This book is based on the experience of a child soldier, Beah in the Sierra Leone war. It looks into his experiences and how kids his age were being taken advantage of. It also looks at the rehabilitation stage after the war was over. He speaks about the violence, drug use, raping, brutality and even the killings he had to experience. His book open eyes into the reality of child soldiers in the world today.Today Beah speaks up for the children who are now used as weapons during conflicts and wars and tells the world his story to create awareness on how grave the situation is.
Diary of a young girl by Anne frank.We all know Anne frank whose book is one of the only documentation of life during the holocaust. Anne and her family were victims and during this period, 15 years old Anne gave an update of her life during that period in her diary. Just like every other teenagers out there, she had dreams she wanted to accomplish and having a published book was one. It’s sad she never got to see that day. This book is not edited or top notch Grammer free so don’t expect too much from the way the book is written. Just keep in mind that this was her diary.
The wife between us by Greer Hendricks. I gave this book a two star rating. The wife between us is a mystery book with a good plot but something about the way the author wrote this book made it less interesting and quite disappointing. I did like the ending but wish the author would have done much better to give this book a little justice.
Ayesha at last by Uzma Jalaluddin. This book was nominated for the romance book of the year on goodreads and I believe it deserves it. Ayesha is a Muslim woman who is yet to get married and common in a typical Muslim home, the pressure is on her to get married. Then comes her spoiled cousin Hafsa and a guy Khaled who are not your everyday typical characters. I enjoyed every bit of this book from the drama to the love and the comedy.
We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families by Philip Gourevitch. After watching hotel Rwanda, I decided to read a little more into the Rwandan genocide. This book was the first I came across and so I gave it a try. This book went as far as giving us historical details of the relationship between the hutu and tutsi ethnicity before going further into the different narrations and experiences of the people during the genocide. He also gives a peek into Rwanda after the genocide period. If anyone is curious and wants a good long read on the Rwanda genocide, I would definitely suggest reading this book first.
Erotic stories for Punjabi widows by Valli Kaur Jaswal. Don’t judge a book by its cover they say. Nikki a Punjabi girl volunteers to teach English literacy to the Punjabi women who are mostly widows. This class becomes a safe haven for them where they feel free to openly talk about their sexual fantasies and stories they make up but of course in secret to avoid any problem from the brotherhood (a group of men who has made it their duty to keep women in check) . Unknowingly for the women, this class is the starting point in which they stand up to the men and injustice to women in their community.
My sister the serial killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. When I was reading this book, I kept seeing Sharon Oja as Ayoola. If this book is ever going to be a movie, she would fit the role perfectly. Kayodes’ night is being interrupted by a call from her sister after she’s killed for the third time. Kayode, a loyal sister, is always there to clean up the mess of her younger sister Ayoola. The one secret she has which keeps her up at night. With such a horrific past ,she has made it her duty to take care of her sister including getting rid of any dead bodies. This becomes an issue when Tade, kayode crush comes into the picture and korede is torn between having to choose family or the one she loves.
First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung. I first came across this on Netflix but never watched it. I was curious about it and finally decided to read the book first. This book is my first encounter with the Cambodian genocide and was quite a touching book to read.This is a narration of Loung Ung experience during the Cambodian War at the age of 8.I read this with a really heavy heart especially after seeing the horrors and heartbreak experienced during the genocide .
We should all be feminist by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This was a short read. Inspired by her Ted talk of the same name, Chimamanda decided to write this book detailing experiences where she was undermined due to her gender.
There was a country by Chinua Achebe. Desperate to find a book about experiences or history of the Biafra war also known as the Nigerian civil war, I came across this book by the legendary African author Chinua Achebe. This books is about Achebe’s experience as a Biafran during the war. He speaks of the resilience of the Biafran in fighting for an independent state and what they had to go through to persevere during that period. He speaks about the lack of attention of the international world and also the support received. Biafra war led to more than 2 million biafrans dead mostly due to starvation. I like that Achebe wrote based uniquely on what he saw and let his readers question a lot about the biafra war. One of this is if the biafra war can be viewed as a genocide or not. I definitely believe it should be but the Nigeria and international law think otherwise.
Slave:My true story by Mende Nazer. I never knew about Arab raiding of black indigenous people of Sudan in other to sell them as slaves. This book opened my mind to that. Slave trade is still an issue we battle in the modern world and there are still a lot of stories we haven’t heard. Mende was kidnapped from her village at a young age and was raped, abused and sold into slavery. She had to endure inhumane conditions under her new boss with no pay and rights. Soon ,she is sent off to London to stay with her boss’s sister. Here, she learns about her rights and the injustice that has been done to her over the years. This erases every submissive behaviour she learnt and with the help of two new friends she’s able to escape and seek justice but yet, this is the start of Mende story.
Murder in the name of honor by Rana Husseini. Honor killing is a cultural practice that is yet to be abolished. Women from around the world have their lives cut short due to the decisions of their male relatives. Honor killing is an act accepted and justified by these communities and the perpetrators are heavily praised even by family members.Such act amazes me and Rana Hussein bring to you stories of these. As a journalist in Kuwait who helped push for a law ruling it as a criminal law, Rana brings you on a journey of the “praised” honor killing which is a big injustice to women right.
#Girboss by Sophia Amoruso. I don’t remember much from this book. It is written by the owner of nasty gal, a shopping website. She gives a brief journey of how she made what is now a huge empire. She also drops a bit of advice that helped her along the way.
I do not come to you by chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani. After the death of his father, Kingsley is left as the breadwinner of his family and as the first born, feels a sense of duty towards his family. He turns to his cousin cash daddy for help and this way he’s introduced into the world of fraud, also known as yahoo yahoo or 419 by Nigerians.
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