Known and Strange Things: Essays, 2016, Teju Cole ***

Teju Cole writes so well, Known and Strange Things is a collection of essays neatly written, divided into four sections; Reading Things, Seeing Things, Being There and Epilogue (which consists of only one essay). In total, over 50 essays.

Here goes some of my favourites:

Aciman's Alibi: What we missed was not just Egypt. What we missed was dreaming Europe in Egypt" - what we missed was the Egypt where we'd dreamt of Europe"

Guergui Pimkhassov: ...Behind this dispiriting stream of empty images is what Russians call poshlost: fake emotion, unearned nostalgia. According to Nabokov, poshlost "is not only the obviously trashy but mainly the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive."

Palace of Desire (The Cairo Trilogy #2), 1957 by Naguib Mahfouz

At long last I am finally done with this novel. Last two years I read the first part of the trilogy which I thoroughly enjoyed, please click here. In Palace of desire, the family saga continues. Al-Sayyid Ahmad is done mourning the death of one of his sons who died in the first sequel, he went back to his life of alcohol and women, though he realised he has aged. He decides to keep a young mistress. 

Kamal his youngest son falls in love with a

When We Speak of Nothing, 2017, Olumide Popoola ***

I am not really into the "new release fever", I basically read what I can set my hands on. However, I bought "When We Speak of Nothing" by Olumide Popoola when I visited Atlantis Books  in Santorini. I had no idea who the writer was, however, I know the publishing house Cassava Republic  based in Nigeria and I've been longing to read more books published by them, so, coming across this novel was an opportunity.

This book is about many things and nothing in particular. Nevertheless, it emphasizes on the life of Karl, born Carla, by a Nigerian father and British mother in England. He lives with his mother and never met his father before. After some ups and downs in his relationship with his mother, he decides to travel to Portharourt in search of his father. What arouse my interest is first and foremost, the gender identity in a Nigerian (African) literature, a topic that Olumide addresses so

Ghana Must Go, 2013, Taiye Selasi ***

I am glad I did not purchase this book when it was first published, with all the marketing hype and I am not even sure still why the title "Ghana Must Go". To make matters worse, firstly, I have not read any novel so far with so many short sentences, sometimes even without an action word, the verb, making my reading experience somewhat disengaged and I struggled through the first (not few) pages. Secondly, there is a lot of going to and fro in a confusing way. For instance, it goes without saying that the narrative of pieces of memory combined with actuality could be poetic, artistic and different, however, requires effort to comprehend.Thirdly, I dislike all of the characters, none of them has stamina.

Kweku immigrates to the U.S.A where he studies Medicine and becomes one of

Little Boys Come from the Stars, 1998, Emmanuel Dongala ***

"Little Boys Come from the Stars" is a story told from the voice of one of triplet brothers, Matapari (Michel). He was born a day after his twin brothers were born, sort of a miracle child. In my opinion, an account that did not add much to the story.

He narrates about the political life in the Republic of Congo, its independence from the French, the role he, his beloved grand father and his father  played. He narrates about corruption, nepotism, coup d'etat, revolution and democracy in his home country.

His father like his grand father is very learned and just in his ways. His mother is

The Official Wife, 1993, Mary Karooro Okurut ***

The Official Wife is the story of Liz and her husband, upper middle class Ugandans. She narrates on how her husband falls out of love with her and starts to love another woman and is determined to be a polygamist. Not only that, he also comes to be psychologically abusive. First of all he develops a tendency to promiscuity, has  an affair with the housemaid, disgraces his wife in front of her house employees. Liz, on the other hand, instead of walking away from a man that apparently do not value her worth, she decides to win back his love. One of the most demeaning chapter to read was when she learns the name of the hotel and the room number where her husband is lodged with his lover, she decides

Yoruba Girl Dancing, 1991, Simi Bedford ***

1950, Nigeria is on the edge of independence, Remi's father wants her daughter to be one of the leaders of the country and so decides to send her to England to get a proper English training. That is the story of Remi, Yoruba Girl Dancing, the trauma of her uprooting at the age of 6 from her sunny home in Lagos to a gloomy, cloudy and rainy England.

...Then as the sound of her footsteps retreated, fueled by undiluted terror, I started to scream. Nobody came. Eventually I fell asleep. I was six years old and I had been in England four days.

Remi, is left in boarding School in England for a whole six years without contact with

Madam's Maid & Other Stories, 2016, Ayibu Makolo ***

This  is a collection of short stories, let me say the first story, Madam's Maid is more of a novella,  and the rest Invisible, A Trip to Jamaica, The Point of View are relatively, short stories.

In Nigeria there is a widespread social approval of the use of children from poorer families as house maids. To say that these children are treated with disregard is to say the least. More often than not, they are abused and enslaved, by so doing denying them their right to be children. The worst part of the situation is that it has become an established standard of behaviour to which everyone is expected to conform. Madam's Maid is the story of a young girl who lost her father, the only breadwinner of the family, as a result her mother sent her to the city to a madam (a family friend supposedly) where she almost lost her belongingness.

Another disturbing situation about the country narrated on in the book is the reckless driving of state governors travelling in convoys. For instance, Festus Iyayi,

Oil on Water, 2010, Helon Habila ***

Oil on Water is a story that could be read from different perspectives. The first  would be how to become a journalist in Nigeria. The second a glimpse into the life of European expatriates working in the oil industry in the Niger-Delta. The last and most important in my opinion is the oil pollution in the Niger-Delta. I find it agonising to learn how oil is recklessly siphoned off by western oil companies without caring about the people that live on the land.
Let me go with the words of late Ken Saro Wiwa to describe the situation for you;

• A blighted country and atmosphere full of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.
• Polluted streams, creeks and rivers without fish.
• High-pressure pipeline crisscrossing the surface of farmlands  and villages dangerously 

If you'd like to read more about this ecological disaster I strongly recommend A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary by Ken Saro Wiwa.

Investigation is carried out, the oil companies say they do care, and as a matter of fact they

The Prophet of Zongo Street, 2005, Mohammed Naseehu Ali ***

I discovered Mohammed Naseehu Ali through his published story "The Manhood Test" in the  anthology "Gods and Soldiers" edited by Rob Spillman. Whose book I have since added to my TBR.

There are ten collection of short stories included in "The prophet of Zongo Street" most of the stories are mainly about people who live on this street, some few were set in the USA. However, let me talk about the ones that kept me on the edge of my seat;

Rachmaninov, yes you read well, the Russian composer and pianist. Well, that is the music in the background when an aspiring Ghanaian artist  and his date were under the effect of an overdose and everything else was in discordant; sex, hallucination, drug and

Whiteman, 2006, Tony D'Souza ***

I fell into the trap of reading this non-fiction novel by Tony D'Souza because I bought it unknowingly. Generally, before purchasing my novels I try to research a bit about the writer, book review and etc. However, some other times the book cover can simply incite me to buy without wondering about the content, that is the case of  "Whiteman". 

The narrator is a member of Peace Corps who is assigned to a small village in Côte d'Ivoire where he is accepted without reserve by the villagers. He was supposedly to help in the "supply of clean water" however

The Prisoner's Wife: A Memoir, 1999, Asha Bandele ***

The Prisoner's Wife; A Memoir is a non-fiction narrative of how the writer (Asha Bandele) fell in love with a man condemned twenty to life imprisonment for murder.

Asha's writing is poetical, lyrical, descriptive and graphical, there is no way you wouldn't grasp her narrative. Sometimes I just have to reread some paragraph, not because I do not understand but simply for the pleasure of it. She is a recognised poet by the way, a skilled she applied in the making of this book. She met Rashid, the prisoner, during

The Spider King's Daughter, 2012, Chibundo Onuzo ***

Let me start with saying it is a story about a rich man in Lagos, who got rich suspiciously. He is intimidatingly powerful, which makes the way he runs his household very questionable as well.

His presumptuous daughter Abike falls for a hawker, who use to belong to the Nigerian affluent middle class. What she did not know is that her father has a hand in the hawker's current situation by doing away with his father's life, the main breadwinner and the one who pays the bills. Will the hawker take this opportunity to avenge his father's death or

An Elegy for Easterly, 2009, Petina Gappah ***

An Elegy for Easterly is a collection of  thirteen short stories that expounds on the socioeconomic political situation of the actual and the good old days Zimbabwe.

Let me say that the stories are funny, witty and most of the time tragic. Tragic because of the corruption, inflation, despair, poverty, HIV and AIDS constantly present in every backdrop of each story. For instance the story "The Cracked, Pink Lips of Rosie's Bridegroom"  you can feel
the pressure on women to get married, Rosie is so desperate to tie the knot that she does not care that her groom is obviously down with AIDS. Everyone turned a blind eye, of course they will, let he who is not infected or has not buried a relative who died from the disease cast the first stone.

In addition, what baffles me is

Sundowners, 2003, Lesley Lokko ***

Sundowners is mainly the story of Rianne, Gaby, Nathalie and Charmaine and the boys they met while at boarding school in England. The story is set around the 80s and early mid 90s. Rianne is a white South-African, whose family is rich with exuberant lifestyle, they use their societal status (rich white privilege in apartheid SA) to take advantage of the less privileged, mostly blacks. She ended up falling in love with Riitho Modise, a black South-African, whose father is a political prisoner.

The story continued with Charmaine, who, not sure what to do with her life ran away with her "boyfriend" to

Half of a Yellow Sun the Movie ***

I am glad I finally watched Half of a Yellow Sun the movie. Let's keep in mind that movies are different form of art that cannot totally capture the real essence of a novel. With that said, the film was good although I did not enjoy it as much as I did the novel. To start with, Thandie Newton was amazing in her role as Olanna, she was quite impressive. Nevertheless, if I should give an Oscar to an actor in the movie, it would be to John Boyega, his performance as Ugwu was splendid. In my opinion, though it's been a while since I read the novel, I think he gave more substance to "Ugwu" than in the book.

Secondly, I did not like  Anika Noni Rose as Kainene, she was not convincing. Neither was Genevieve Nnaji the one who played Lara Adebayo. In my opinion Genevieve Nnaji should have played Kainene and they should have found someone else to do Lara Adebayo.

Furthermore, the actors' accent betrayed their origin. As an Igbo

To My Children's Children, 1990, Sindiwe Magona ***

To My Children's Children is Sindiwe Magona's autobiography that narrates on her growing up and coming of age in South Africa during apartheid. Written as if she is, precisely, narrating her life story to her children's children. Hence, the title. The book started with:

I was born in the Union of South Africa before Great Britain handed over our land to the Afrikaner;..... Then, we were called Natives by polite white people, and kaffirs by the not polite ones, basking in the impunity they enjoyed before the law

Born in rural South Africa life flowed easily, until death interrupted the rhythm. Curiously, at the same time, the Afrikaners came into power bringing along with them their apartheid government that lasted from 1948 to 1994. In the township, where she

Dew in the Morning, 1982, Shimmer Chinodya ***

I actually started reading "Dew in the Morning" in 2014 and finished in 2015. Narrated through the voice and eyes of a young boy, Godi. His parents not being able to afford to take care of him and his siblings in the city, send them along with their mother to live in the country side. For the most part, the novel is a narrative on Godi's coming of age in rural Zimbabwe and getting used to its custom, for instance; the dew in the morning, the rearing of cattle and farming. Not to forget the superstitious village people whose belief continuously baffle him. And how he aimed to win the heart of the girl he loves. His father remained in the city, alone, working very hard in order to send them to school. In my opinion the writer was in a way comparing the style of life in urban and rural Zimbabwe.

I am not sure if I really enjoyed this novel. Actually, it was a well written and easy narrative. Perhaps, it's the too much information about the rearing of cattle, ploughing and farming. Though, I totally understand they are part and parcel of rural life. Perhaps, it is simply because it is very young adult-oriented.

Dew in the Morning is Shimmer Chinodya first published novel, I look forward to reading more of his work not because I thoroughly enjoyed this book but because he won the 1990 Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best Book, Africa with his novel Harvest of Thorns Though from its title it seems to be set in rural Zimbabwe too. I would also like to read his novel Can we talk and other Stories (1998), very well reviewed on African Book Addict.

My first novel read and reviewed in 2015, as well, an addition to my Reading African Writers Series Challenge. Lastly, I would like to point out that I love the painting on the book cover.

Have you read anything from Shimmer Chinodya? How was your reading experience? Do you recommend?

Cloth Girl, 2006, Marilyn Heward Mills ***

Cloth Girl is a novel set in Gold Coast today's Ghana, during the end of the British colony. Innocent fourteen-year-old Matilda, caught the eye of Robert Bannerman. A prestigious black lawyer from an important family, who knew that the only way he could have Matilda is making her his wife. Since he was already married, he made her his second wife by their tradition. Poor Matilda had no idea what was happening to her neither had she control over her life and somewhat lived in a state of confusion. Nevertheless, her family members were so excited to be associated with the Bannermans. They couldn't care less.

On the other side of the colony Audrey, a British lady was on the verge of madness as she discovered that the Gold Coast was not a place for her. However, she could not take her courage in both hands and leave without her husband. Fortunately, her meeting with Matilda changed the course of her destiny. In their meeting each other, Matilda also came to discover the actual meaning of love, as well as realising that she, in fact, does not feel anything for her husband. Though at that time she had already borne him five children (there around). Will she deny her fate and surrender to real love?

Cloth Girl was not a novel that swept me off my feet, I just have this feeling that something was lacking, I cannot pinpoint what exactly it was. Perhaps, the novel should have been shorter, perhaps the author should have just concentrated on the life of Matilda and her surroundings and not Audrey who was more often than not, inebriated. Perhaps... perhaps. It was an acceptable but not outstanding read, anyway. According to my fellow blogger Nana Fredua-Agyeman, he said  

"This is a book I would highly recommend to all those who love to read and all those who enjoyed Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood".

Please click here to read his review on this novel. The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta is my favourite novel and in my opinion far enjoyable than Cloth Girl. Have you read both novels? What is your opinion?

Unwinding Thread,1994, Women in Africa (Charlotte H. Bruner) ***

Another addition to my African Writers Series Challenge. "Unwinding Threads" is a collection of short stories written by women in Africa and edited by Charlotte H. Bruner. It is divided into four parts; stories from Western, Easter, Southern and Northern Africa.
I did not particularly take pleasure in the reading experience since some of the stories where extracts from novels that I happen to have already read and enjoyed. I read them again anyway. For instance, "A Man Needs Many Wives" by Buchi Emecheta was an extract from the "Joys of Motherhood", "Rejection" by Mariama Bâ from "So Long a Letter" There were also some more extracts from other novels. Therefore, instead of purchasing this book to read extracts from novels, I'd rather recommend you buy the original novel and read the story from beginning to end. Unless, you feel like experiencing and discovering, all at once, classical female writers from Africa  the likes of  Ama Ata Aidoo, Mariama Bâ, Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta, Hazel Mugot, Grace Ogot, Doris Lessing, Nadine Gordimer, Bessie Head, Marguerite Amouroouche and so on, then this is your book.

Even so, some featured real short stories, in my opinion, were not engaging enough. Finally, I am not sure if to recommend or not., it's up to you.