A short story collection, a memoir & reading parties?

The Reading Nook #5

The end of the first month of the year has finally come to an end. Whew. How was it?

On today’s agenda:

1. January reading journey

2. Reading parties??

Remember in the last edition of The Reading Nook where I said my reading goal for the year was 30 books? Haha, I changed my mind.

I noticed how last year, even though I didn’t push myself to read books I didn’t enjoy, sometimes I rushed through books so I could add to my book count.

I’ve decided to let go of the pressure to hit a target and take my time reading. Let’s see how it goes.

I read four books this month.

1. How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’ve had this book since 2021 but I never read it because of a comment by one of my friends on Goodreads and someone told me they wouldn’t read it because the book sounded ‘too serious’ so I assumed I wouldn’t like it.

It’s about a fictional village in Africa called Kosawa. The people of Kosawa lived a beautiful life before Pexton, an American oil company, found oil under their land and began operations to extract the oil.

Since then, things started to fall apart (haha). Death became a frequent visitor in this formerly peaceful village, carrying mostly children along with it. The air wasn’t clean, the rain was acid, the wells were contaminated, the rivers turned black, crops were dying, there were oil spills every other day, and nobody was doing anything about it until Konga, the village madman decided to do something.

The book is narrated from the point of view of a little girl, Thula, and her family members and through the collective narration of ‘The Children’ of the village.

We follow the years-long struggle of Kosawa for justice.

The book deals with the subject of imperialism, corruption, a bit on the patriarchy, the roles women are subjugated to, etc.

I liked it, Mbolo is a beautiful writer and yes it deals with serious topics but there’s enough drama to keep you hooked for most of the book.

2. Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Storygraph recommended this book to me (as they knew I’m down for anything that explores social media and beauty standards). I finished it in a little over a day.

It’s about a former Instagram influencer who is about to go through a risky and potentially life-threatening surgery known as ‘Aesthetica ™️’. This surgery claims to reverse all the cosmetic procedures a person has gone through on their face, botox, fillers, rhinoplasty, you name it.

The narration goes back and forth to the day before the surgery when the unnamed protagonist is 35 years old and to when she started her influencer career at 19 years old. We see how opposed her mother is to her career choice and all the things the protagonist does to acquire social media fame.

The ending was a bit unsatisfying for me; I wanted more. But the book was intriguing and a bit dark.

TW for explicit drug use and rape.

3. How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a memoir (yes I read a nonfiction book). I added it to my TBR list because I liked the cover and when I found out it was a memoir I was about to dump it then I saw that about four of my Goodreads friends gave the book five-star ratings and I was like whaaat.

The author gives us an account of her Rastafarian childhood. Living under her Rasta father’s strict and confining rules and growing up with her siblings as the only Rasta children in their school in Jamaica, life wasn’t easy for them.

We get to see her journey as she leaves behind all she has known from childhood and chooses the life she wants.

This book was obviously amazing and the fact that the author is a poet means it was beautifully written. The scenes in the book, through her candid details and amazing portrayal of emotions, came to life and had me crying and sometimes smiling.

I also learned a lot about Rasta culture which I had so many misconceptions about. (Did you know Rastafari is a religion and Rastafarians were a minority in Jamaica?)

I recommend it a thousand times over!

5. A Broken People’s Playlist by Chimeka Garricks⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was everywhere at a point but I never read it because of that. When I started, I didn’t want to like it. But as I went on, I couldn’t deny that the stories were good.

They were funny sometimes, but a lot of the time they were sad. All twelve stories are set in Port-Harcourt which is refreshing. They deal with infidelity, confra culture (Fine Boys by Eghosa Imasuen is referenced), police brutality, broken homes, and so much more.

And what’s intriguing is that each story is titled with the song that inspired the story.

If you like short story collections set in Nigeria, give it a go.

YouTube recommended this video to me about a group of friends in Brooklyn that started holding ‘book parties’.

These are organised meetups (not book clubs) in a cosy place where people come with whatever book they are reading. Everyone reads their books silently for a while and then breaks off to discuss with other people.

The books they are reading act as ice breakers and people are meeting new friends(and romantic partners) and it’s a nice alternative for popular ways of socialising.

I think it’s a really cute idea and I’m so down for it if I ever have the chance.

I’m all for having communities of people who are interested in a certain hobby (Btw I’m starting a virtual reading club and writers club soon, watch out!)

Watch the video here:

Yeah, that’s it. How was your reading journey this month?