Five books of great interest this season

As it is with literary seasons all over the world, the end of the year brings lots of interesting books and interesting reads. Publishers are rushing to get people to shop books for Christmas and readers are trying to finish or read that book kept for the holiday. I have already dived into my holiday books and begun to devour them early. As it is with me every year, I return to these books that I may have bought earlier in the year. It’s slow downtime, but also time to start to wind up the year, activities and things you should have done in January. Lol. But all creatives can be procrastinators. That’s just how our brains are wired when you do what is urgent last and frontload the one you can do later. Two winks. Been there, done that. But the most important thing really to quiet the storm of procrastination is discipline, so honestly just call yourself aside and advise yourself to get on it. So here are the books I am currently savouring because in the face of multiple pains, of citizens shackled in rehabilitation centres, kidnappers on the loose and a general society that is losing its kindness, books free you and give you moments of joy and snatches of heaven at such a time as this. Here goes.

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1) I am a writer and proponent of short stories. So any short story collection gets me. I love the twists and surprises and sometimes the unusual and I like the fact that unlike a novel, it ends quickly so I can read three in a day and float around afterwards satisfied that I have entered the amazing word life of a writer who like Anthony Doerr says is “using black marks on a white page to conjure people and places out of nothingness…” Ah... the joy of meeting characters and places on a page and care about them is phenomenal. And as Heidi Pitlor puts it in the introduction to the book I am about to recommend. On what a good story can do, she says,” A good narrative can slow the mind that’s moving too quickly. A great story is its meditation and at the risk of sounding even more woo-woo, its kind of out of body experience. A ceding of one’s heartbeat and focus to another place and time. What a gift this is, especially now.” Indeed, I hear Heidi, stories do that to me and more. And so it was with utter joy that I received from my dear son, Joseph, the beautiful gift of The Best American short stories edited by Anthony Doerr. In a flaming orange cover with a great foreword and introduction which must be read slowly, I jumped into it right away. Great stories with a kick, others slowly taking you in, others full of adventure and tenderness. Grab a copy. Read slowly and enjoyably. Love, love, love the book. Amazing.

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2) As gifts go, it was my birthday two weeks ago and another daughter of mine, Pamela decided to gift me with a lovely book I have been hankering after. Remember the CNN correspondent Isha Sesay of Sierra Leonean descent? Remember some of the facts in her book that the federal government had to react to and debunk? Well, so here it is. A book we all must-read. The problem of not reading enough is that we are then not writing our own stories. Even if we are not reading, we should document. We neither like to read nor write. Two skills that can give anyone an edge. And so it is that Isha Sesay writes this book, not only giving her perspective but making some cool cash on the side. A TV brand is always iconic and she has leveraged on her brand to write a book on Boko Haram and the North East. See? So where are the Nigerian writers? I can say for free that Tricia Adaobi Nwaubani had gone in there and written her book, Buried Beneath the Baobab tree on the same subject matter ahead of this book and Isha’s book seems like a twin except for the journalistic perspective and the political slant. Here then is Isha’s perspective on the North East. Beneath the Tamarind Tree. Having broken the story of the Chibok girls, she had unfettered access and then writes about those moments only an award-winning journalist can see. She also delves into the politics of Nigeria. Did she get it alright? Not really. Did she dare to write? Of course. Go out there, read it, write about it and write your perspective, if you have the facts and information.

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3) At The Eugenia Abu centre, we have been making several interventions throughout the year including but not limited to workshops, masterclasses and outreaches. Two months ago we delved into wellbeing dwelling on wellness, wellbeing and selfinterrogation. Our maiden intervention was with ten graduates of the accountability lab. Accountrapreneurs and it was soul-lifting. Next week Thursday, we will host senior management and top-level staff of ministries, department and agencies, including directorate level staff along with a top-level staff of non-governmental organisations to a three-day intensive Executive Masterclass on Public speaking. People forget that there is a major nexus between leadership and communication. As long as English remains our official mode of communication, as leaders we must build our skills in this field to deploy authority and boost our confidence. Ahead of that masterclass, I have been reading again, Public Speaking by Duane Liftin. An old book but, a new book for this time as I am a Lead Masterclass Tutor along with several top-level public speaking experts.

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4) As is often the case as the year rolls to a close, cooking increasingly becomes a thing. Go out there, get a good cookery book and attempt to cook some Non-Nigerian dishes. Try now. Thai chicken salad, a kidney pie. No, don’t try to cook egusi or jollof rice. Think out of the box.

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5) My end of the year go-to book is Life Lessons, Things I wish I’d learned earlier by Lesley Garner. Part hilarious, part humbling, everyone must read it again and again.