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REVIEW: THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR

Author : Yewande Omotoso My Rating : 5 Stars Genre : Fiction Year Published : 2016 ISBN : 978-978-54604-2-1 Date Read : 18/01/2018 SUMMARY Hortensia and Marion are next door neighbours in a charming, bougainvillea-laden Cape Town suburb. One is black, one white. Both are successful women with impressive careers behind them. Both have recently been widowed. Both are in their eighties. And both are sworn enemies, sharing hedge and hostility pruned with zeal. But one day an unforeseen event forces the women together. Could long-held mutual loathing transform into friendship? Love thy neighbour? Easier said than done. MY THOUGHTS   The story is centered around Hortensia James and Marion Agostino; two women who appear different on the outside, but who have quite a number of startling similarities. The first thing, other than all the mini instagram reviews I read of this book, that drew me to it was the fact that the protagonists were elderly. I recall thinki
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MY TOP BOOKS OF 2017

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”  ― Dr. Seuss 2017 for isn't a year I'm especially proud of, because at the beginning of the year I planned to read a max of 52 books, but ended up reading only 9. I definitely failed at that lol. But with a new year comes new goals and opportunities, so this year I plan on reading a minimum of 24 books (making that at least 2 books a month). I believe it's an attainable goal and I pray that come 2019, I can proudly say that I read 24+ books in the previous year. To some people, 24 might seem like a small number but oh well **shrugs shoulders**  In 2017, I read a total of 9 books and they are: Paper Towns by John Green (It isn't included in the picture above), A Cowrie of Hope by Binwell Sinyangwe, The Enemy Within by Steve Jacobs, Nine Lives by El Nukoya, Bury Me Come Sunday Afternoon by Nike Campbell-Fatoki, Teenagers Are People Too! b

REVIEW: A COWRIE OF HOPE

Author : Binwell Sinyangwe My Rating : 3 Stars Genre : Fiction/ Literature Year Published : 2000 ISBN : 9780435912024 Number of Pages : 152 Date Read : 03/12/2017 SUMMARY 'These were the nineties,' reflects the narrator of A Cowrie of Hope , and for the young widow Nasula they are years of relentless economic hardship and privation. She dreams of a better life for her beautiful daughter, Sula, free from poverty and independent of marriage. But when Nasula finds herself unable to pay for Sula's education, her hopes seem to have been extinguished - until a friend advises her to go to Lusaka and sell her last sack of highly sought-after Mbala beans. Nasula makes the journey, but in the city she finds herself exposed to new, and predatory, dangers. MY THOUGHTS The author's writing style was pretty basic. The plot was kind of predictable, nothing mind-blowing, but pretty decent. I especially loved how the story gave me Joys of Motherhood vibes.

Review: Say You're One of Them

Author : Uwem Akpan My Rating : 3.5 Stars Genre : Fiction/Short Story Year Published : 2008 Number of Pages : 258 Date Read : 14/07/2017 SUMMARY Each story in this jubilantly acclaimed collection pays testament to the wisdom and resilience of children, even in the face of the most agonizing circumstances. A family living in a makeshift shanty in urban Kenya scurries to find gifts of any kind for the impending Christmas holiday. A Rwandan girl relates her family's struggles to maintain a facade of normalcy amid unspeakable acts. A young brother and sister cope with their uncle's attempt to sell them into slavery. Aboard a bus filled with refugees—a microcosm of today's Africa—a Muslim boy summons his faith to bear a treacherous ride across Nigeria. Through the eyes of childhood friends the emotional toll of religious conflict in Ethiopia becomes viscerally clear. Uwem Akpan's debut signals the arrival of a breathtakingly talented writer who gives a matter-

REVIEW: SIXTY PERCENT OF A TRUE STORY

Author : Osisiye Tafa Year of Publication: 2015 Genre : Biographical / Fiction Number of Pages : 270 My Rating : 3 Stars Date Read : 14/04/2016 SUMMARY Sixty Percent of a True Story’ is a window into the different realities of three undergraduates. Osisiye arrives the University of Lagos on a windy morning with dreams of high grades but must explore the fleshpots of the city, freedom of the campus and spiritual diversity of the bustling city of Lagos, Nigeria. Will he find a balance soon enough and will his dalliances with drugs, women and new friends be his undoing? The story moves on to Korede, a depressive introvert. He takes one through the vagaries of growing up as ‘different’ in a society that sees things in black and white and does not forgive men who do not act as men. Chris is a staple in Nigeria’s urban lore, the internet fraudster. Through his eyes, we understand the various motivations for this career choice and explore the process that births such d

Review: The Enemy Within

Author : Steve Jacobs My Rating : 4.5 Stars Genre : Fiction/Literature Year of Publication : 1995 Date Read :16/08/2017 Number of Pages :185 ISBN : 9780435909987 SUMMARY A black man, brutalised by apartheid, murders his wife. His fate is in the hands of a young Jewish lawyer, Jeremy Spielman. As Jeremy prepares to defend his client, he discovers uncomfortable facts about his own life: the racism of his girlfriend, the injustice of the legal system and his own weakness in the face of his country's enemies . MY THOUGHTS The Enemy Within   is one of numerous books, which are part of the African Writers Series (AWS). If you don't know what the African Writers Series is, click  here  to educate yourself :) This book was really quick and easy to read, yet it carried so much depth in it's pages. This is a quality that all the AWS books I've read all possess and for this reason, I hope to read all the books in the series- all 200+ of them. I caught a gli

African Literature > Generic Literature

I believe as Africans, we ought to embrace every aspect of our culture, down to the littlest things. We, as Africans, tend to disregard anything that is affiliated with Africa and this has generated stereotypes that define us till this day. African Literature to me is a form of art that deserves all the laud and appraisal it is currently not receiving. Below is a list of reasons why African lit will forever have a special place in my heart. It is very relatable .  It depicts Africa as the giant it is and it blots out the false perception the rest of the world has about Africa. It is unconventional  This post was inspired by Chimamanda Adichie's interview with The Atlantic,  which I came across a few months ago on  Brittle Paper  . The award winning author's interview talks about stereotypes and what makes them problematic. The interview was designed as an animation and she did the voice-over. It was so brilliant. It's like she took the words right out of my mouth