My Books of 2016

2016 was a riot, as it turns out, for everyone. For me it started with lots of promise as well as uncertainties. It is ending much about the same way. But in-between all the busy schedules, job-hopping, raising a young son, and living in Lagos, I managed to finish a few books. Here they are, and a few thoughts on some of them.

The ones I read to the end (some for the second time).

1. Introduction to Occitan: from One Novice to Another by David S. Luton
2. Musings of a Tangled Tongue by Yẹmí Adésànyà
3. Known and Strange Things by Tẹ́jú Cole
4. Never Look an American in the Eye by Okey Ndibe
5. Lights of Pointe Noire by Alain Mabanckou
6. Settle for More by Megyn Kelly
7. On Becoming by Tókẹ́ Mákinwá
8. The Pleasure of Finding Things Out (audiobook) by Richard P. Feynman
9. Longthroat Memoirs by Yẹ́misí Aríbisálà
10. Route 234: An anthology of global travel writing by Nigerian Arts and Culture Journalists.

All nonfiction, it turns out. I bought David S. Luton’s book just to prepare myself for a trip to Ostana to receive a prize. The book was helpful but insufficient for the real life language immersion I was to experience in Italy in June. Okey Ndibe and Alain Mabanckou’s memoirs were a delight with a lot more in common than one would assume from the start. The two authors both lost a parent in 1995, both of them are currently on the watchlist of their country’s security services, both of them were highly influenced by cinemas, and both their books diligently retrace memories and journeys in the most evocative of prose. Tẹ́jú Cole’s book didn’t disappoint. I reviewed it here. Richard P. Feynman’s book, a collection of many of his essays and autobiographical narratives is one book I typically return to. This is my third or so time of reading it, though this time through audiobook, which I highly recommend. It was good company through many of Lagos’ traffic days. Megyn Kelly and Tókẹ́ Mákinwá’s books were easy reads which follow similar trajectories, though different in parts. Both are successful media people. Both had huge setbacks at first and triumphed. Both dealt with men issues in notable and sometimes public ways. Both show the power of reclaiming one’s narratives in pursuit of strength. My elder sister Yẹmí Adésànyà’s debut poetry collection was fun to read, edit, and write a foreword to. The success of the book has also been sort of a pleasant surprise, especially because the author’s primary occupation is banking/accountancy. As for Yẹ́misí Aríbisálà’s brilliant memoir, I’m not going to say much here as I’m working on a long review. Listen to me read a portion from it here. The book beautifully situates Nigerian food and related cultural norms in the canon of stimulating literature. Highly recommended. (Edit: I realised that I also read three more non-fiction works that I reviewed here in April).

Those I started but haven’t finished.

1. The Art of Language Invention by David J. Peterson
2. Born on a Tuesday by Elnathan John
3. The Antidote (Happiness for People who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking) by Oliver Burkeman
4. Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte
5. Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun by Sarah Ládipọ̀ Manyika
6. Dream Weaver: A Writer’s Awakening by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
7. Out of Africa by Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen
8. One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina
9. The Story of Queenstown (Kweniama) by Chief I.A Obomanu
10. Too Cold for Snow by Jon Gower

I got Jon Gower’s collection of stories from the author himself in Cardiff in February, but I lost interest half way through although I remember being quite enchanted with it at the time. He was a kind and engaging man with a lovely family. I also can’t put my finger on why I haven’t finished Binyavanga Wainaina’s memoir, which I’ve had since over a year. It is funny and stimulating and engaging. But for some reason, I keep putting it down to return to it. I recently got his countryman Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s new memoir and it is engaging from the start: the story of one of Africa’s most notable writers, one with a distinct voice and enormous influence. I look forward to finishing both of them either during the holidays or early next year. I loved David J. Peterson’s book for its brilliant examination of conlanging, the process of inventing new languages, usually for entertainment purposes. He was the linguist behind the languages Dothraki and Valaryan in the Game of Thrones, and I’ve always been interested in the subject. I think I got more interested in it in the middle of the year when I ran into a colleague at the Google office in London who could speak Dothraki having learnt by watching the show and following a few online group discussions. I don’t want to speak the language, but I’m interested in the process behind creating an authentic usable artificial language which can then take a life of its own outside of the creator. Other books on this list I am really looking forward to finishing are Sarah Ládipọ̀’s acclaimed novel and Nicholas Negroponte’s classic work on the direction of digital innovation. I loved Chief Obomanu’s book because it is self-published solely for the purpose of transmitting a personal family history which is also a story with large national significance. It is the story of the Queenstonians from Opobo from the time of Jaja to the present day.

The granddaughter of Chief Obomanu gave me this book.

Books I bought but never started.

1. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
2. Season of Crimson Blossoms by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
3. The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt
4. What’s Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyèyẹmí
5. My Inventions by Nikola Tesla.
6. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
7. We the People by Juan Williams.
8. Illuminations by Walter Benjamin.
9. Up Country Girl by Phebean Ajíbọ́lá Ògúndípẹ̀
10. Home and Exile by Chinua Achebe

Here there is no excuse except, perhaps, for the fact that the zeal with which one buys a book isn’t always sustainable for more than a few days. Four of the books here are also fiction, which are usually a luxury to sit with. But out of this list are a number of books I have looked forward to for a while, some of which make good companions on dry days when there’s plenty work to do but little zeal to attempt them. Nonfiction usually gets me out of that state, after a few hours. This makes Juan Williams (a Fox News commentator), Walter Benjamin (historian), Nikola Tesla (inventor), Chinua Achebe (novelist) and Ajíbọ́lá Ògúndípẹ̀’s books a much closer to the top of my “next reads” than any of the rest, unless by some miracle of extreme cheerfulness, tedium, or plenty time (or a compulsion to review, or interview an author) which gets me back into the hands of fiction pretty fast. I did remember starting Achebe’s book at some point, but I have put it here because it is likely that I have to start all over if I ever pick it up again.

Books in which my work appeared

1. Literary Wonderlands Edited by Laura Miller

My complimentary copy of the work

I was part of the about 100 authors who contributed to Laura Miller’s Journey into the Greatest Worlds Ever Created from Spenser’s The Fairie Queene to Wells’s The Time Machine to Murakami’s 1Q84. The book “ explores the timeless and captivating features of fiction’s imagined worlds including the relevance of the writer’s own life to the creation of the story, influential contemporary events and philosophies, and the meaning that can be extracted from the details of the work.” My entry was on Nnedi Okorafor’s enchanting work about an alien invasion of Lagos titled Lagoon.

There’s a slightly mean but thorough review of the work on New York Times, and a short but nicer one on the Sydney Morning Herald, and a nuanced one on Globe and Mail.

2. The Premio Ostana Prizebook, Eight Edition

This is not a book for sale. It is a publication containing the works and translation of works by prizewinners in the 2016 Premio Ostana prizes held in Ostana (Cuneo) Italy. Two of my poems, all written in Yorùbá are features therein, all translated into English and Italian, and sometimes to Occitan. You can see me reading one of them, in Yorùbá, here on Vimeo. It also has interviews with all prizewinners, also translated into either English or Italian. Sometimes both.

3. The Sail. Vol. 2.

I almost forgot this one because it seems like a lifetime away. This writing project started last year when I taught at Whitesands School. I don’t work there anymore, and I didn’t when I edited the second edition, remotely. It is a compilation of literary and visual arts work by high school students. It is not for sale either, but each student, teachers, and members of staff of the school was given a copy. You can also read it online. Like the first edition, we had two writers help judge the writing competition that produced the work in the book. For this edition, the co-editors were Dami Àjàyí and Rótìmí Babátúndé. More about it here.

I have high hopes for this project and I’ve got word that it will continue in my absence. My higher expectation is that more books like this are published to encourage writing from a young age. But even for upcoming writers, projects like the annual Best American Short Stories have helped new and established writers reach new audiences. Adapted for the Nigerian environment — call it Best Nigerian Short Stories, if you will, with rotating editors every year — we can expand the audience of our readers while also giving writers new platforms to show off their work. Anthologies do well for this purpose. Any publishers interested in this?

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I’m sure that a few new books will be published in 2017 that I will buy without thinking. Some I will read immediately if the subject sustains my attention. Some will be dropped halfway for one reason or the other. Some will not be open at all, or read only till the end of the foreword. In any case, I hope to be able to read a lot more than I did this year. In some way, my journey through these works have made the year a lot more easier to deal with.

What books did you read this year?