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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2020. The year of giving audiobooks another try. Been listening to FACTFULNESS by Hans Rosling every night for over a week now. I keep falling asleep and starting again from where I last remember, then listen, then fall asleep and repeat every night. People!!! It's not working, I'm giving this my absolute best shot here. 😪 📚 I am now at chapter four. There was one time I listened when I was out and about and I got through one chapter in a short while. The thing however is that I'd rather have a physical copy of a book when I'm out and about, in commute or waiting. So this audio is a night time thing that I'm clearly not getting right. So, send help. 📚 I guess I'll keep trying. I quite like this book I've chosen and its easy to follow through though there's quite a bit of accompanying PDF of data to follow through while listening. It talks about how much we have gotten the state of the world wrong because of the fact that there is more misinformation than actual facts. It debunks many ideas with 10 questions in the first paragraph like the fact that the world isn't much poorer than before and that many countries we consider developing don't fit into the definition of what developing meant when it was first coined for countries yet we still see them developing. 📚 I might be able to do a proper summary of it if I can actually get to finish, you know. Really good read so far. . . . . #bookblogger #bookish #bookstagram #nonfiction #readersofIG #bookphotography #Audiobooks #factfulness #books #flatlay

Sharing three books from my shelf which I thoroughly enjoyed reading but for some reason, it felt like the literary world never quite caught up with them as much as I would have liked. Saying this based off my own judgement. I don't know what the marketing data for these books are, I just personally feel they are not talked about and recommended enough and they should be in more people's hands.📚 . . . 📖 Everything Good will Come by Sefi Atta - I first read this fourteen years ago, so I am a bit worried that newer readers may not agree with my sentiments. I liked it then and I hope age won't taint it if I attempt another read now. . . . 📖The Mothers by Brit Bennett - I read this just shortly after a difficult time in my life in 2018 and it broke me so much with its themes of loss but the gentility and intimacy of the story was like a warm blanket. . . . 📖Born on a Tuesday by Elnathan John - Follows the coming of age story of a young boy in northern Nigeria which begins in chaos and ends in chaos, giving a small window into the early days of the notorious Boko haram sect creeping up on Nigeria. 📚 Is there a book you've read that you feel deserves more attention than it currently does? . . . . . #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookish #bookphotography #fiction #Qotd #readersofig #literature #Africanliterature #bookpile #TheMothers #EverythingGoodWillCome #BornOnATuesday

PSALMS 119:130 The entrance of your words give light. It gives understanding unto the simple. 📚 To be simple is to present no difficulty. No drama. And my takeout from this verse of the bible is that only the simple will get an understanding of the word, which is God. The only way to approach God's word for any meaning (light) is as one who does not know. Even if you were raised a bible reader, your approach must still be as one who wants to know. Your approach must be fuelled by humility. Think about the parable of the seeds. Your soil has to be good for it to produce results. Not thorny, not rocky. No drama, simple good soil. 📚 Light makes things obvious, helps you see. Light illuminates and illumination is what happens when we encounter God's word. But there can be no illumination or light if we come to the word with antagonism. It's one thing to have questions it's another to be dismissive of things that don't make sense to you. How can you tell me someone died and woke up? So water become wine, isn't that daft. In the grand scheme of things, these questions are mostly irrelevant. 📚 If you come to the word with antagonism, you are saying your heart is not simple. You are saying that you already know, that you don't need any light. If you need light, your attitude will be different. You'll ask - God, what would you have me know with this rather odd story of a virgin birth? Or I feel like Vashti was treated unfairly but what are you saying to me specifically regarding her replacement by Esther. Our questions should be from a place of humility, not one who wants to argue. Pride is what makes us come with antagonism. The idea that we have used our brains and thought something through and there's no wisdom in it. Newsflash, there's no wisdom in us. Only God is wise. If you come with pride, you will leave with nothing. 📚 In humility is how the holy spirit breathes life into a random #bible story. To get here, we must believe first that God's word is potent. We must believe that God is. All scripture is given for training, for correction, for instruction.(2 Tim 3:16) Everything written in the word produces result for simple people who seek it.

My last random purchase of books in 2019 - Five #Faber short stories. I think there are twenty in this collection. I was walking past my local bookstore @bookcase_london and saw these displayed. I made sure to get a copy of every title left. Was sad to miss the one by Kazuo Ishiguro. Anyway, better luck next time. 📚 Petinah Gapah and Sally Rooney are the only two familiar authors of the five, so I'm looking forward to getting acquainted with the rest of the three. What better way to get to know an author than by a short story? 📚 Who has read any from the short story series? Which should I begin with? . . . . . #bookstagram #bookish #bookphotograpgy #pocketbooks #literature #fiction #bookblogger #readersofig #shortstory

#Giveaway Happy new year, everyone. I hope you all had a restful holiday season. Kicking off 2020 #bookstagram with a giveaway of two books I loved in 2019. 🍾 An American Marriage by Tayari Jones and Educated by Tara Westover. No, the prosecco and chocolate aren't included in the giveaway, sorry. 😊 🍾 As I always say with my giveaways, you don't necessarily have to be following me to win. If books are your thing, just respond on what your reading target is this year and what your strategy is to finish. Better to be realistic, don't get caught up in the bandwagon of heavy book numbers. If you've read these, you can win them for someone else. Also, tag someone who you think may like my account and introduce them to my books. Thank you. 🍾 I'll pick a random winner in a week. The giveaway is open to all everywhere and not affiliated with Instagram (I swear I don't know what that last line is about, but everyone writes it. So...) Anyway, best of luck. 🍾 Looking forward to this year's books. Can't wait to engage with you all, with your reviews and photos and art and follow your progress, whether slow or fast. Think I'm finally getting round to reading all the messages in my DM. Hopefully, finish and respond to all by next week. 🍾 If you think I haven't engaged with your account in a while, it may be the silly Instagram algorithm at work. So give me a wave 👋in the comments and I'll check out your account this weekend. I wish you all a prosperous new year ahead. . . . . #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookphotography #NewYear #2020 #reading #literature #fiction #nonfiction #womenauthors

Lets turn a fresh page, shall we? Here are the two Books I am beginning the new year with. Gravity is the Thing and Patsy. What are your new year plans? 📚 Also, in January, my blog will be eight years old. I now write most of my book reviews here on Instagram and send my writing out to journals and publications and literary prizes (of course prizes😋). But I have kept the blog active to remind me of the journey. I read my old writing sometimes and cringe. I even thought about deleting some. But why? That would be denying my journey. I wrote those cringy ones and I got better and wrote the good ones. I'll probably look back on the ones I call better now and still cringe. So here's to growth in the new year. To never arriving or being satisfied with the idea of arriving, but always in transit, getting better and better and better. 📚 So, look out for a giveaway on the 1st of January. I'll be giving out two books I enjoyed reading this year. 📚 I wish you all a prosperous new year. Here's hoping you are well recharged and ready to take 2020 by the horns. . . . . . #Bookblogger #bookstagram #holidayreads #newyear #bookishphotography #bibliophile.

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