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A broken people’s playlist by Chimeka Garricks 💐. Have you read this book? Let me know what you think in the comments section.  Set in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, the author takes us through the lives of different characters in this collection of twelve short stories. I lived in Port Harcourt for a short while and so I understand some parts of the story to a great extent. I love the way the author humanizes the characters; their flaws, their hurts, and traumas, their imperfections as well as their strengths and weaknesses.  It was a rollercoaster of emotions for me as I read the book and I shed a tear or two as some of the stories are outrightly heartbreaking, it was also heartwarming to see some of the characters mature in future stories. It’s a 5 star rating for me and I highly recommend this brilliant work.  #chimekagarricks #abrokenpeoplesplaylist #bookworm #books #bookclubbook #bibliophile  

  We should all be feminists🌟  “Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.”  The definition is so simple yet it carries so many negative connotations and controversies. In this essay, Chimamanda Adichie takes us through what feminism is and why it is important for everyone, women and men, to take action. A very enjoyable read. I kept nodding my head in agreement while reading because I understood without having to look too far away for examples of the points that were raised. We should not have to be stifled or fit in a certain type of box and be limited just because we are women. Why not focus on individual skills and basic independent living skills for ALL. The fact remains that we need to do better and we should in fact all be feminists! “Some people ask, ‘Why the word feminist? Why not just say you are a believer in human rights, or something like that?’ Because that would be dishonest. Feminism is, of course, part of...

Notes on Grief @chimamanda_adichie  “How is it that the world keeps going, breathing in and out unchanged, while in my soul there is a permanent scattering?” A personal account of the writer’s experience with grief. A Testament to a love so profound that you can literally feel it. It is tangible.  I love chimamanda so much, I can’t stop saying this because I really do. It’s her firmness, her brilliance, her ability to weave words together that even when she writes about grief - a personalized account, you can feel the life in every word, every sentence.  Insightful ✨✨✨✨✨ #notesongrief #bookstagram #books #bookishbrief #bibliophile #naijabooklovers #bookstagramnigeria

 I read the secret lives of baba segi’s wives a few years ago and I really enjoyed it. Glad I picked it up again this January 😀 Baba Segi was a very hardworking and successful businessman who saw having children as a measure of his success, prosperity and “manliness”. Trouble began when his last wife could not conceive and this made him unsettled. Having a backstory for each of the characters and narrating from their points of view added to the beauty of the story.  The themes cut across polygamy, infertility, jealousy, family strife and envy. Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? #thesecretlivesofbabasegiswives #bibliophile #africanliterature #books #bookstagram #bookishbrief

Purple Hibiscus remains one of my favorite books.  Beautifully written with a compelling story✨. The story was narrated from a teenager, Kambili’s point of view.  No child deserves to grow up in such a home with so much emotional instability and physical pain. You could literally visualize the scenes and the characters in the story and the plot twist at the end was not expected at all. I read this book with so much anger for the abuses and the religious extremism and I like how the Author balances different themes such as fanaticism, dictatorship, teenage, family ties and relationships.  Have you read it? What are your thoughts? #bookstagram #bookishbrief #purplehibiscus #books #bookreview #chimamandadichie #bibliophile  

 Review✨ *What it means when a man falls from the sky* The Book📚 - A collection of 12 short stories. Many of the stories had teenage characters, from “war stories” to “light” to “wild” and “Redemption”. The themes span across abuse, parenting, relationships, love and so forth. Some of the stories will leave you sad.  Favorite quote from the book: ”Girls with fire in their bellies will be forced to drink from a well of correction till the flames die out"  Favorite stories: All the stories are amazing, “Buchi's girls”, “Light” and “Redemption”are my fave faves👌.  My thoughts✨- As much as short stories are amazing, I feel like the characters are usually “snatched from us” just when we begin to enjoy the stories, leaving us to yearn for more at the end.  Rating-  5/5 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️    #bookstagram #bookreview #books #booklover #bibliophile #africanliterature #naijabooklovers #bookishbrief #naijabookstagram #whatitmeanswhenamanfallsfromthesky

I have read this book up to  four times and and each time I take it up, I find something new and enlightening to reflect on.  Some of the themes include colonization, customs, family ties, and religion. Underneath his weaknesses, Okonkwo was just a man who clung tenaciously to his convictions and who was formed by his experiences.  My favourite quote from the book - “ Those whose Palm kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble" #bookstagram #bookishbrief #thingsfallapart #chinuaachebe #books #bookstagramnigeria

  Whew! It’s been a minute here. I’ve been away for 4 months! I can’t believe it😀. Adulting takes so much from you, you barely have time to do the things you love, at times. To the main gist, I have read so many good books since my last post, let’s hope this post is the beginnings of more to come in quick succession. Creatives deserve a medal for the work they put in to getting things done, from taking perfect pictures to creating captions for posts and staying consistent at their craft.   I’ve read books like:  “Nearly all the men in Lagos are mad” by Damilare Kuku .“ Notes on Grief” by Chimamanda Adichie, “What it means when a man falls from the sky” by Leslie Nneka Arimah “Butter, Honey, Pig, Bread” by Francesca Ekwuyasi  “The first Woman” by Jennifer Makumbi and I can’t wait to share the reviews with you all!

 Onye ji onye n'ani ji onwe ya: "He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down was one of my favorite proverb from the book. Reading the book felt like listening to an elder's narration of different topics such as colonialism, imperialism, and politics among others, and having the elder chip in personal experience/opinion for clearer understanding. The book is a collection of 16 essays by Chinua Achebe some of which were delivered as speeches on different occasions from the 90s through the 2000s. Storytelling is a powerful tool, so powerful that it can effect a change. Chinua Achebe talks about redefining his relationship with Nigeria and he also mentioned in his next reincarnation, he wants to be Nigerian again. The author talks about the importance of taking charge by writing our own stories. He also mentioned language and diversity and I quite agree with him, "linguistic pluralism" as he puts it is an important determinant of t...

  Apart from the cover which I find absolutely fascinating, the Book was worth the hype. It drew me in to a world of fantasy and it was so nice to see it. A lovely fantasy set in  a place called Otera with diverse Characters. Deka the protagonist, was such a beautiful young girl and although she had a lot of traumatic experience, she  was able to rise up to her call. I absolutely love the plot. Some parts of the story were predictable yet it was satisfying to watch them unfold. I mean, I was literally playing out the war scenes in my head. I really enjoyed the book and I like the fact that it emphasises the friendship bond and looking out for one another, the way Britta, Deka and the girls looked after one another. And the end? wow, I never expected it. It's a 5 star rating for me!

This has been on my reading list for a while now and I am glad I finally picked it up. Set in the 80s in Lagos and Kano Nigeria, the book tells the story of a young girl named Ogadinma who found herself at a disadvantage in gaining admission into the university and a series of events that followed in quick successions such as sexual abuse, pregnancy, abortion and domestic violence including physical assault. Her non-objection may seem like consent but it was definitely abuse, she was just 17 years old and they made it seem like getting married was a chance for her to right her wrongs. When she was going through the abuses they advised her to stay through it and endure because that is what marriage is supposed to be about and she should not disrespect her husband. Although I kept yearning for more at the end,  it was a good read overall and it further shows the way society heaped unreasonable expectations on females back then and even now and how there is still more to be done. ****...

  Queenie!  Strong, fierce, firm, vulnerable, and funny. A delightful read, made me have a rethink about bottling up emotions and taking it all in.  Queenie is a story of a British-Jamaican woman in her twenties. Set in south London, the book openly talks about sex, contraception, relationships, mental health, and STDs.  There is something about being black, being young, and navigating a career path as a young woman, it is tough! and for Queenie who carried the childhood baggage of trauma, it is worse. And yes, it is okay to seek help, enough of the stigma . Trauma changes us in ways that we do not expect and we can only hope to not just be able to recognize the changes but also to seek help to mitigate the damages.  Quite a lot of sex scenes, but it is a great read overall and yes go get it girl.

Safe to say Makumbi is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. This book is a collection of short stories set in Uganda and Manchester. Manchester happened to Katassi in addition to teenage problems. she wanted to dissociate completely from her culture and heritage we also see Luzinda been so worried about his mother and he badly wanted to go back to Uganda for reasons best known to him. Theirs was a dysfunctional family and although Luzinda''s attitude may be regarded as a tantrum, he was just a child who was reacting to all that was going on around him.  I love how it explored the effects of migration on people especially, Africans in the diaspora. Migrating can be beneficial especially when it comes to seeking a job and accessing good quality education but it also takes its toll on people's mental health. Adapting to a new environment and culture shock is portrayed in the lives of the different people in this book. The grass is not always greener on the other side like...

  "Kintu felt for Gitta. He knew the snare of being a man. Society heaped such expectations on manhood that in a bid to live up to them some men snapped." "Primigravida, fourteen years old?" Beautifully written, Makumbi takes us back in time through different branches of the family tree. The book is a journey through generations, delicately addressing important issues in a way that is easy to understand. At a point, you want to bring the story to an end so you can solve the mystery, but each story addresses different themes. History, Religion, Family ties, War, Masculinity, Sexuality, and incest.  "The awakened had shaken off most of Ugandan culture yet aspects of traditional manhood persisted. Cooking is unmanly". As in Kanani's case, that a man would subject himself to eating horrible food even when he cooked better, just because of culture is astonishing. Interesting, enjoyable and quite long💬

The first book of the year💪. A collection of 15 short stories. Set in Nigeria, Toni kan takes us through the life of the different characters excellently and honestly. Many of the stories are relatable, albeit heart-wrenching. The stories are quite too sad to take in at once. Shame, guilt, corruption, and infidelity are some of the themes used in the stories.  "God is listening" and "Devil's overtime" are my favorite stories from the collection. Children should not be left to fend for themselves, it puts them at risk.  

x Body shaming is not just a fancy word. It is what you do when you constantly feel a need to refer to someone's bodily fault and imperfections, whether as a joke or not.  Although, it refers to physical appearance. It affects both physical and mental wellbeing and it may alter the way people see themselves.  People body shame others without realizing they have done so. I find it offensive when people feel a need to constantly remind you of flaws that you are well aware of. Sometimes you want to look them in the face and tell them bruh, it is none of your business!! They say things like: "you look so fat" or "look at your thin legs", like what are you talking about, I am not in this world to please you, your opinion does not even matter to me, so, just shut up! Sometimes, you just want to be emotional, breakdown, and cry in front of people to make them see that you have been trying to keep in shape. You run every morning and evening, you have not even taken your...

  Sense of humor: #nigerian national treasure As always, we are being bullied into silence and people have begun to give up, with hashtags such as #visa #redsea #canada trending on Twitter. Nigerians are a special breed, masking deep pain with a good sense of humor. Devastated, disappointed, sad, does not come close to describing how I have felt since the national broadcast yesterday. For a moment, I thought there was hope. Events unfolding in the past days have left me speechless. Poverty is so deep in the system, that with peanuts people are willing to give up the truth and sell their future. Let us just see how events unfold, but to win this fight, poverty needs to be dealt with, because not everybody will fight on an empty stomach. We can take words to the grassroots as much as we want, educate the old and young, and still not achieve anything because they have created a system where people only care about what goes into their pockets and mouths.  Money is a very sca...

  We sometimes over attach to people we call friends and we find our actions being met with indifference and our energy being unmatched in this one-sided relationship. Don't overestimate your place in people’s life. Make friends with people that are ready to make friends with you, familiarize yourself with people that want you to, don’t force things, don’t push too hard, normalize having a strong small circle if possible. However, do not forget that people get attracted to success so they may flock around you when it comes, still, live your life! You look down on yourself every day thinking you are the smallest in your circle, a lot wish to have what you have but they do not, and until you place that value on yourself, only then can others see it, you are valuable, no matter what, stop playing small. Never force relationships, I know it hurts but you gotta give yourself some respect baby girl. In essence, life is short and we can die at any time, we should try to make every day...

  Another quite complicated book, right from the beginning of the book, evil loomed in that household for unexplainable reasons. Spiritual, mysterious. One would have mistaken Ikenna’s outburst as normal teenage problems, the withdrawal, and all. But it was beyond this, evil was bound to happen and as if compelled by a force to move into doom, he kept making mistakes. Also, the importance of jointly raising children as parents were emphasized, especially boys, they tend to need male models and boundaries to be established because once caution is thrown to the wind it could be very deadly and dangerous even for the family. On each page, there is particular suspense that hangs in the air and makes you want to proceed to the next page to find out. Quite enjoyable to read but also unpredictable and not your regular kind of story.

*No one told us that sometimes evil is found much closer to home, and that those who want to harm us can have the most soothing and familiar voices * * My legs were thrown apart. I felt a sharp pain as bros T pushed into my unwelcoming body, my spirit floated high up to the ceiling…….i felt pain, deep pain inside me.* Morayo’s pain was so relatable, so real, so well described. This was a girl who was raped before she even knew what it meant, way before her first period, she had sex, got pregnant, and aborted without knowing what it actually meant. Bros T was evil! she had to not only bear the pain of it all but the uncomfortable silence that filled the home thereafter and a strained relationship with her mother. This book broke my heart and it made me cry because it is the reality of many girls around the world with no one to shield them from the wickedness. Aunty Morenikeji’s was a sad one also, it was an obvious power play and a game of oppression by chief Komolafe. There a...