Tope Owolabi

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Category: Book Review

CRAZY RICH ASIANS by Kevin Kwan

My initial idea for props for this photo was to attempt to use some designer stuff I have but then it occurred to me that with #CrazyRichAsians designer and designer aren’t quite on the same level so I respected myself. #CrazyRichAsians is your typical love story – Boy meets girl, girl has no clue boy…

BIRTHMARKED

Author – Marvellous Michael (Nigerian) Genre – Crime fiction Number of pages – 317 Independently published at Patridge Africa. My very first thought while reading Birthmarked last year was that the dialogue is better suited for film.

PACHINKO REVIEW

Author – Min Jin Lee. Publisher – Apollo (an imprint of Head of Zeus) Number of Pages – 537 Pachinko has been quite tough for me to review because it is quite easy to hate it for the very reasons you love other books like it, and I will explain what I mean….

Sympathy is more complicated then we think: A Review of THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY: A Family History, by Amara Nicole Okolo.

Alithnayn Abdulkareem has written this review on Amara Nicole Okolo’s spectacular memoir story – THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY; A FAMILY HISTORY, published in August by Catapult. You can read here if you haven’t or just for a refresher to understand it better. The story is so heavy and so dense a second read has had me…

APRIL BOOK REVIEW – HOMEGOING

AUTHOR: Yaa Gyasi (Ghanaian) GENRE: Historical Fiction PUBLISHER/YEAR OF PUBLICATION: Viking (Inprint of Penguin) PRICE: £12.99 NUMBER OF PAGES: 305 (my copy)

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Happy #TopeRecommends Day 😊 Today, we are taking it to #boyhood stories. If you liked Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner", you'll enjoy ElNathan John's "Born on a Tuesday." 📚 With similar themes of boyhood, friendship and coming of age, both stories unfold in the back drop of violence - specifically the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Boko Haram in Nigeria. 📚 The Kite Runner tells the story of two young boys who fly kites as a past time through the changing political structure of Afghanistan. Their friendship is a typical growing up one, until one of them is violated by a local bully and the other has to live with the guilt of doing nothing to save his friend forever. 📚 In Born on a Tuesday, our protagonist is born into poverty and attends religious school, until he needs to survive. A gruesomely violent event he is a part of sees him fleeing to Sokoto where he finds solace and mentorship in a mosque. We experience him through journal-like entries where we see him learn and unlearn things and watch his life settle. However, despite this new turn of his life, his story nearly seems to start and end the same way as he is accused of being part of a terrorist group, but he isn't. 📚 Both stories in my opinion deserve very wide readership. They are both books I've recommended over and over. Have you read any? #Eclecticrecs #eclecticreads #Abooklikethis #Reclectic #Treccs #eclectictope #bookblogger #fiction #bookstagram #bookphotography #literature

AND AFTER MANY DAYS by Jowhor Ile. I have decided this is one of those books your either love or hate. No inbetween. And I can make a case for both sides. 📚 Paul, the first born of his family leaves home one afternoon carrying a backpack but never returns. We have no hint as to what may have happened. Most of the story after this is a flashback to when Paul was still present. 📚 Those who hate it will do because not much in the flash back gives a clue into the kind of person Paul was. In fact, what we get is an understanding of Ajie and Bibi - Paul's siblings. Their characters seem to develop through the pages. We know what kind of food they like, which haircut suits them, we get a glimpse into the teenage "issues" they face. But not Paul and it is him the reader turns the pages for. It is him the reader is grasping for. 📚 But those who love this story can argue that no clue should be given about Paul because the family clearly didn't live their lives prior to his disappearance knowing that he may someday be lost. 📚 The story is set in 80s Nigeria which made some of the banter familiar. As the story flashes back, the reader gets a sense of crude oil exploration and violence in the region that is Nigeria's largest producer. We get a sense of damage caused to farms and rivers after the arrival of big oil companies. 📚 Early chapters for me ended on such highnotes, like something promising was coming but it often fell flat. For instance, we think Aunty Julie's arrival at the end of chapter one will move the story along, it doesnt. At the end of chapter two, we get a dreadful sense that Ajie could have saved Paul from getting missing, as though he had secret details. But he doesn't. Continuously reading chapters that put you on the edge only to fall flat can put you off a story completely. Though this wasn't a bad read, I would have liked more. This, in addition to minor inconsistencies (like the flight from PH to Lagos) 📚 I see how a reader might read this and wonder "What is this story about?" It is tricky but the story carries the sadness and hope of Nigerian living side by side. This for me is the book's biggest point. . . . . #bookstagram

"When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are to become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No … don’t blush. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away. Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? But it is!" Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières 📚 Happy Valentine's day everyone. I hope that you have love and that you give it too. . . . . . #bookstagram #bookblogger #Valentine #bookish #bookphotography #romanticlove #romance #romancefiction.

Happy #TopeRecommends Day.😊 📚 If you liked Sally Rooney's Normal People, I think you'll like Helen Garner's The Spare Room. 📚 They both have similar themes of friendship. Normal People follows two characters, from high school to university. We see them come of age and navigate early adult frustrations of education, sex and belonging while also dipping their toes in and out of dating. 📚 While The Spare room follows two much older friends, women - one sick with cancer and seeking alternative treatment and the other saddled with the responsibility of nursing her in her small guest room after years of not seeing each other. 📚 Both plots are largely different but explore similar themes of loneliness and estrangement. How a strain can be put on friendships and the difficulty in coming out of it. 📚 What's more is the beautiful job of both authors to fuel the two stories by the activities of only the characters. Nothing more. There are not many extras in the two stories which gives the reader a deeper look into the characters and why they do what they do. The language of both stories are soft, intimate but still we get a sense of the exhaustion or joy or pain or whatever the character is feeling. 📚 Both are relatively short too. Have you read any? #Eclecticrecs #eclecticreads #Abooklikethis #Reclectic #Treccs #bookstagram #bookish #NormalPeople #faberbooks #canongate #bookblogger.

This week is Children's mental health week in the UK and schools have taken part in various activities to raise awareness. My kid has been randomly saying #namaste to me because they incorporated yoga into all their learnings this week while teaching them about feelings and the bravery to express them. 👨‍👦‍👦 Children internalise many things that adults may consider trivial and even our response or approach may be another form of stress trigger. Many things can affect a child's mental health but two popular ones are bullying and bereavement. 👨‍👨‍👧‍👧 So we must teach kids to find the bravery to express themselves. We can gently nudge them to try new things as this has proven to help build their confidence over time. Built confidence means being able to speak about things including uncomfortable ones. Kids too can learn to cope with tough situations in a positive way. But just as equally, we must let them know that it is ok not to feel brave too. Just as we nudge them out of their comfort zones it is important to be aware that we may be forcing things on them, possibly trying to live our lives through them. All the kids in class may be doing high intensity activity, football, ballet, karate but your own child may prefer to be alone solving math problems. 👨‍👦 Here are a few books for little readers which focus on feelings and how to express them. These books serve as really good conversation starter. They arm the child with age appropriate words for what they are feeling. 👦 Something in my child's class they started this week which I think even us adults can adopt is class secret angel. The teachers assigned each child someone they have to be angels too. Your job as the angel is to look out for the child in your care. If they don't eat at lunchtime, ask them why. If they aren't joining in on the playground ask them if there's something specific they want to do. If they need help with something, offer if you can or tell the teacher if you can't. I think this is thoughtful. Be an angel to someone today. . . . . #childrensmentalhealth #bookstagram #childrensbooks #drseus #earlyreaders #UK #parenthood #bookblogger #mentalhealth #readersofIG

GIVEAWAY Happy publication day to Marina Kemp, Nightingale is out everywhere today. Check my previous post for a review. Buy it in bookstores, order it online and request it in your local library. I enjoyed it and I'm giving away one copy of this novel because I want you to enjoy it too. 📚 To participate, make sure you are following @4thestatebooks, tag one person who likes books and tell me in the comments what Marina considers a necessity. Hint-- answer is in the Q&A I had with her and it posted on my blog. Link in my bio. 📚 The #giveaway is open to all, no matter where you are. I will pick a winner at random and @4thestatebooks will send a copy to your preferred address. Winner will be announced in my instastories on Monday the 10th. Best wishes.😊 Congratulations @marinakempull . . . . . #bookblogger #bookstagram #bookish #fiction #newrelease #readersofIg #publicationday #Nightingale #womenauthors #France #4thestatelive #bookish

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